First-Ever Data on Asian-Americans Released

The number of Asian persons in the United States grew by more than 40% between 2000 and 2010. Asian persons now make up 4.9% of the population. To address the scarcity of health information based on physical measurements of Asian persons, non-Hispanic Asian persons were oversampled for the first time in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2012. A new report presents the prevalence of hypertension, abnormal cholesterol, and high body mass index (BMI) in non-Hispanic Asian adults aged 20 and over. Abnormal cholesterol and high BMI are defined based solely on measurements, while hypertension is defined based on blood pressure measurement and reported medication use.

Key Findings from the Report:

• One-quarter (25.6%) of non-Hispanic Asian adults aged 20 and over had hypertension in 2011–2012.
• Approximately 1 in 10 non-Hispanic Asian adults had high total cholesterol.
• Just over 14% of non-Hispanic Asian adults had low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
• Just under 40% of non-Hispanic Asian adults had a body mass index greater than 25 kilograms per square meter.