Cultural factors in preventive care: Asian-Americans

The Asian-American population in the United States continues to grow rapidly. In 1990, there were 6.6 million Asian Americans in this country, representing 2.7% of the population. The 2000 Census showed the Asian population has grown to 10.1 million, now 3.6% of the population. A breakdown of the major ethnic groups revealed: Chinese 24%, Filipino 18%, Asian-Indians 16%, Vietnamese 11%, Koreans 10%, and Japanese 8%. According to the 1990 Census, 66% of the Asian-American population was foreign-born, 40% reported that they do not speak English 'very-well', and 25% were in linguistically isolated households. Due to the differences in their ethnic background, language barriers, cultural beliefs, socioeconomic status and distrust in Western medicine, providing care to this population constitutes a formidable challenge for primary care clinicians.