Primary Care Considerations for Asian American Women

A Brief Review of Racial/Ethnic Differences and Disparities

  • Jonathan Li Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University


Classically, the Asian/Pacific Islander (API) population in the United States have commonly been understudied and underreported in the medical literature.  Recognition of this disparity over the past 20 years has been growing and has prompted increased efforts to understand and appropriately report the medical challenges this population faces.  Many inherent barriers exist such a cultural conflict of traditional and contemporary medicine, immigration status, distrust of the healthcare system, language barriers, understanding of medical conditions, and broad diversity with the API population itself.  The disaggregation of data within the API population has significantly impacted our understanding of the broad heterogeneity between subgroups and unique differences in disease burden. Presented below is a brief review of the recent literature to illustrate the emerging differences that have been reported between API women and other races and within the API population itself.