Posted on: Monday, September 20, 2004

Upbeat health study called deceiving

Associated Press

A recent study that shows Hawai'i has some of the lowest rates of death for women in the country doesn't accurately reflect health problems of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific islander populations in the state, a top doctor says.

The report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the rate of women in Hawai'i who died of major causes, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, was 543 for every 100,000, the lowest per capita rate in the country.

Dr. Virginia Pressler, vice president for women's health at Kapi'olani Medical Center, said the figures aren't surprising because of the large numbers of women of Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and other Asian ancestry who frequently lead healthier lives.

However, Pressler said Asian ethnicities in the report are grouped with Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders, who have high levels of obesity and smoking.

"Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders die younger, have more heart disease and cancer," Pressler said. "And the smoking and obesity rates are major drivers in the health statistics of these populations.

"You lose the whole picture when you pool those groups together."

The report, entitled the "Women's Health and Mortality Chartbook," was released last week and billed by the CDC as the first study to compare women's health information on a state-by-state basis. It collected data from 1999 to 2001.

According to the study, Hawai'i also had the lowest per capita number of women who died from coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

The state was third nationwide with 92.2 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 64 who had health insurance coverage from 2000 to 2002.

According to the report, Hawai'i's rates for the number of obese women, smokers and those who smoked during pregnancy were among the lowest in the country.

The state's obesity rate of 15.2 percent was second to Colorado at 15 percent.

But numbers compiled by Kapi'olani Medical Center and state health officials show another story by breaking down the ethnic groups further.

Native Hawaiians have an obesity rate of 30.5 percent, while other Pacific islanders have a 47 percent obesity rate. Obesity rates for Asian women include 7.8 percent for Japanese and Chinese women and 10 percent for Filipinos, the numbers show.

The rate of Native Hawaiian women and Pacific islanders smoking is at 26 percent, while Chinese are 9.2 percent; Japanese, 10 percent; and Filipinos, 12 percent, according to Pressler.

Those local numbers are part of a joint report titled "Hawaii Women's Health Status: Databook for Planning and Development," which is scheduled for release in the next few weeks.

"The CDC report is technically correct," Pressler said. "However, by lumping together the lowest- and highest-risk ethnic groups ... you mask health problems facing a segment of our population.

"You really need to break it all down."