Asian American/Pacific Islander Health Issues

Persons in the United States with ancestral origins in Asia or the Pacific Islands (Polynesia, including Hawaii, Micronesia, Melanesia, and other islands) have often been grouped together for the purpose of gathering health information and calculating statistics. However, this is an extremely heterogeneous group, with national origins that cover one third of the globe. Until recently, there have been relatively few persons in the United States from Asia, and grouping them together was a way to fit these populations into the racial classification system used in data collection in the United States. There is widespread recognition that describing the group in [Page 47]aggregate might mask important health issues that are particular to one or more subgroups. The Asian American and Pacific Islander population (AAPI) comes ...