Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders: Disparities in the Prevalence of Multiple Chronic Conditions

PurposeTo examine multimorbidity prevalence by race/ethnicity and unique health disparities for Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders (NHPI).DesignCross-sectional study.SettingThis study uses combined data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2014 NHPI-NHIS.Sample38,965 adults, including a representative sample of 2,026 NHPIs.MeasuresSelf-reported diagnoses of ten chronic conditions and race/ethnicity, including Non-Hispanic (NH) Whites, NH Blacks, NH Asians, NH NHPIs, Hispanics and NH Mixed Race. Covariates include age, sex, marital status, education, family income, and employment status.AnalysisWe used multinomial logistic regression models to evaluate the adjusted association between race/ethnicity and number of chronic conditions: none, 1, and ≥ 2 (multimorbidity).ResultsCompared to Whites, Asians and Hispanics (aRRR = 0.39, <i>P</i> < .001 and aRRR = 0.59, <i>P</i> < .001) had significantly lower odds of having multimorbidity relative to no chronic condition. In contrast, Black Americans and NHPIs (aRRR = 1.27, <i>P</i> < .001 and aRRR = 1.22, <i>P</i> < .05) had significantly higher odds of multimorbidity compared to Whites. Of note, NHPIs showed significantly higher odds of multimorbidity compared to Asians (aRRR = 3.07, <i>P</i> < .001).ConclusionOur findings highlight significantly higher risk of multimorbidity for NHPIs relative to Whites as well as Asians. This underscores the importance of disaggregating NHPI data from Asians as a whole. Future studies should incorporate additional social factors relevant to the NHPI community.