Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations face dramatically different cardiovascular disease risks that are masked when these diverse communities are lumped together as a single group, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions.
The PANACHE study analyzed health records from approximately 700,000 adults in California and Hawaii, revealing stark contrasts across ethnic subgroups. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults showed obesity rates of 41 percent, nearly four times higher than the 11 percent seen in Vietnamese adults. High blood pressure ranged from 12 percent in Chinese adults to 30 percent in Filipino adults.
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations faced the highest 10-year predicted risk for cardiovascular events. Filipino, South Asian and other Southeast Asian groups also showed elevated risk compared to non-Hispanic white adults. All Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander subgroups had higher rates of Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol than their white counterparts.
Lead study author Rishi Parikh noted that these populations have been wrongly grouped together in research, which masks important variations in both risk factors and disease burden. Despite being the fastest growing population in the United States, existing studies remain limited by inadequate sample sizes and exclusion of major subgroups.
The researchers plan to examine immigration history, discrimination experiences, and other social determinants that may uniquely influence cardiovascular disease risk in each community, aiming to develop tailored prevention strategies.
See: “Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian and Asian American populations show varying heart disease risk factors” (March 6, 2025)
