Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health Report Released

Once every two years, the Arizona Department of Health Services releases a report entitled “Differences in the Health Status Among Race/Ethnic Groups, Arizona." The latest edition has just been released, and I would recommend that anyone interested in Arizona health disparities give it a quick review. It’s a comprehensive source of comparative health statistics by race/ethnicity.

As in previous editions, data for Asian Americans is not disaggregated by ethnicity. This masks poor health indicators by ethnic subgroup, leading to very good health rankings for Asian Americans as a whole. Indeed, Asian Americans rank “better than average” in more indicators than any other racial/ethnic group.

That being said, the report is definitely worth a review. Credit should be given to the state health department for continuing to publish this important information.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

In 2009, Asian residents of Arizona ranked best or second best among race/ethnic groups on 53 of 70 indicators, including measures of utilization of prenatal care services, low infant mortality, low incidence of teen pregnancies, and reportable diseases. Asians median age at death was the second highest among the race/ethnic groups in Arizona in 2009. Asians also had the lowest risk of injury mortality in motor vehicle accidents, as well as drug-induced deaths and firearm-related mortality. In 2009, not a single Asian or Pacific Islander of the State died from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. However, following an improvement in their overall score from -21.9 in 2005 to -37.4 in 2007, the 2009 average score of -29.2 signified no further improvement. The rate of fall-related deaths jumped from 3.9 in 2000 to 10.8 in 2009 (See Comparative Rates and Ratios for 2000-2009). The total mortality rate of 472.8 deaths per 100,000 Asian or Pacific Islander residents of the State was the lowest rate among the race/ethnic groups, but it was the highest rate for Asians since 2005. So were the mortality rates for cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, diabetes, and fall-related injuries.

APCA will soon be reviewing its progress on goals and objective in its two-year strategic plan (2009 – 2010), and data from this report will be an important source of information in developing future goals and objectives.

-Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director