Native Hawaiians More Likely To Have Asthma, Diabetes: Study

NEW YORK, NY — Although Hawaii regularly ranks among the healthiest states, a federal survey found Native Hawaiians — descendants of the state's original Polynesian settlers — are in unusually bad health.

Native Hawaiians are in worse health than many other Americans and were more likely to suffer asthma, diabetes and obesity. They also were more often under severe psychological stress, and were less likely to say they are in good health, according to the report released Friday.

The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the first national look at the health of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. It's based on interviews with 11,000 people in 2014, as part of an effort to get better health data from these populations. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Hawaii ranked No. 1 for five consecutive years, according to rankings released annually by United Health Foundation.

But "we have always contended that our ranking fails to acknowledge some of the severe disparities in our population," said Ranjani Starr, an epidemiologist with the state State Department of Health.

The state's health profile is complicated.

"It attracts healthier people with higher incomes who can afford to live there," said Sela Panapasa, a University of Michigan researcher who studies the health of Pacific Islanders.

Roughly a quarter of the state's population is considered Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, and many of them are low-income.

The latest results echo smaller studies. But it's important because it offers the best look yet of health conditions in different groups of Pacific Islanders, experts said.

A striking finding: 1 in 4 Native Hawaiian children and adults have ever had asthma, making it nearly twice as common in that group than in other Americans. Hawaii health officials believe it's related to Native Hawaiians' higher smoking rates.

Other findings:

— Obesity and diabetes are more common in Samoans than in any other group of U.S. adults. American Indians and Alaska Natives fare worse in many other categories.

— Nearly 40 percent of Native Hawaiians are obese. That's about the same as what the survey saw in black adults, who have the highest obesity rate among the largest U.S. population groups.

— About 14 percent of Native Hawaiians have diabetes, higher than whites and Asians.

— About 5 percent of Native Hawaiians said they experienced recent and severe psychological stress, compared to 3 percent of U.S. adults overall.

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

Photo credit: Ronen Zilberman/Associated Press