Comparison of Selected Health Status Indicators, All Races and Asian/Pacific Islander: 2007
Health Indicator All Races Asian/Pacific Islander1
Crude birth rate per 1,000 population by race of mother, 2007
14.3 17.2
Percentage of live births of women receiving prenatal care first trimester, 2007
67.5 69.8
Percentage of live births of women receiving third trimester or no prenatal care, 2007
8.4 7.7
Percentage of live births to teenage childbearing women—under 18, 2007
3.4 0.9
Percentage of low birth weight per live births >2,500 grams, 2007
8.22 8.10
Infant mortality per 1,000 live births, 2006 6.7 4.5 Cancer—all sites per 100,000 population, 2007 446.7 322.0 Lung cancer incidence per 100,000 population, 2007 Men: 65.4 Men: 52.4
Women: 47.4 Women: 27.0 Breast cancer incidence per 100,000, 2007 122.5 98.0 Prostate cancer incidence per 100,000, 2007 158.3 93.3 Male death rates from suicide, all ages, age adjusted per 100,000 resident population, 2007
11.3 9.0
Male death rates from homicide, all ages, age adjusted per 100,000 resident population, 1999/2003
6.1 3.3
1Pacific Islanders are clustered with Asian health statistics when indicated. Source: National Center for Health Statistics. (2010). Health, United States, 2010: With Special Feature on Death and Dying. Hyattsville, MD. 2011: Author. pp. 102,106, 107, 110,124, 137, 180–181, 184–185, and 204. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus10.pdf, November 15, 2011.
long hours in restaurants and laundries and receive the lowest possible wages for their hard work. Many cannot afford even minimal, let alone preventive, health care. Americans of Asian heritage frequently experience unique barriers, including linguistic and cultural differences, when they try to access the unfa- miliar health care system.
Language difficulties and adherence to native Chinese culture com- pound problems already associated with poverty, crowding, and poor health. Many people still prefer the traditional forms of Chinese medicine and seek help from Chinatown “physicians” who treat them with traditional herbs and other methods. Often, Asian people do not seek help from the Western sys- tem at all. Others use Chinese methods in conjunction with Western methods of health care, although the Chinese find many aspects of Western medicine distasteful. For example, they cannot understand why so many diagnostic tests, some of which are painful, are necessary. They do, however, accept the practice of immunization and the use of x-rays. An example of a modern health care practice that may cause a problem is the drawing of blood.