Grouping Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander pregnant people into a single health category has been concealing critical disparities in pregnancy-related high blood pressure, according to research examining 772,000 pregnancies in California.
When researchers broke down data into 15 specific ethnic categories, they discovered Filipino and Pacific Islander pregnant individuals develop dangerous high blood pressure at three times the rate of Chinese women. Guamanian women experienced pregnancy-related high blood pressure 13 percent of the time, while Chinese women had it just 3.7 percent of the time. Hawaiian, Samoan and other Pacific Islander women showed similarly elevated rates, as did Filipino women.
Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese women had the lowest risk, comparable to Chinese women. These hypertensive disorders represent a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States, raising risks of heart attacks and strokes during and long after pregnancy.
Jennifer Soh, who led the research while pursuing her master’s at Stanford, emphasized that known methods exist to prevent and treat high blood pressure during pregnancy. She noted the findings can help healthcare professionals identify higher-risk patients.
Even after accounting for age, insurance status and other health factors, Filipino and Pacific Islander women faced dramatically higher risks, suggesting factors beyond genetics are involved. Soh explained that future research should examine structural and social factors like neighborhood conditions, food access or air quality that might explain these elevated risks.
Most medical systems continue tracking these diverse groups together, preventing doctors from knowing which pregnant patients need closer monitoring and blocking public health officials from directing resources to communities facing the greatest need.
See: “AANHPI label might be hurting pregnant people’s heart health” (January 15, 2026)
