California Health Interview Survey or CHIS is one of the largest state health surveys in the United States. It is also one of the few surveys that provide a breakdown of the Asian-American groups under the ethnicity category, providing us a rare glimpse of this group's health status. The information obtained from CHIS is used extensively for health planning, policy-making, and for advocacy actions.
(please click the graph to enlarge)
Filipino-Americans are the second largest Asian-American group in California in 2005.
The survey is conducted over the phone reaching thousands of households every two years. The first CHIS was conducted in 2001. The most recent one was in 2005. The results of the 2007 survey will be rolled out later this year.
The 2005 CHIS results offered interesting yet disturbing statistics about the health status of Filipinos in California. Compared with other Asian-American groups, the Filipino-Americans reported worse health conditions and health behaviors.
The prevalence of stroke, high blood pressure and breast cancer were highest among Filipino-Americans ages 18 to 65, all genders, in 2005.
More Filipinos were also diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes, borderline diabetes and cancer compared with other Asian-American groups.
Although not the worst, the prevalence of binge drinking (5 or more alcoholic drinks in the past month) and smoking were also high among the Filipinos, further increasing their health risks.
Obesity is practically an epidemic in this country. Over-all, Asian-Americans are at the lower end of the obesity scale, but a different picture emerges when this group is broken down. Among Asian-Americans, Filipino-Americans tend to be more overweight and obese. Ironically, the Filipinos also experienced the least food security in 2005. Furthermore, compared with other Asian-Americans, Filipinos also eat the least servings of fruits and vegetables both believed to help decrease the risk for some diseases.
Obesity is practically an epidemic in this country. Over-all, Asian-Americans are at the lower end of the obesity scale, but a different picture emerges when this group is broken down. Among Asian-Americans, Filipino-Americans tend to be more overweight and obese. Ironically, the Filipinos also experienced the least food security in 2005. Furthermore, compared with other Asian-Americans, Filipinos also eat the least servings of fruits and vegetables both believed to help decrease the risk for some diseases.
The CHIS survey showed that more attention must be given to the health patterns and behaviors of Filipino-Americans if to prevent or decrease the serious consequences of the chronic diseases that result from them.
1 comment:
Congratulations on the launching of this site. I was honored to be one of the Cultural Adaptation consultants hired by CHIS in 2005 and 2007 along with consultants from other ethnic communities to help ensure that the CHIS surveys were culturally appropriate before they were actually conducted. It's nice to see that someone is making the effort to give the survey results grassroots-level relevance within the Filipino American community. Keep up the good work.
alcidea
Sacramento, CA
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