Racial disparities in access to health care and preventive services between Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders and Non-Hispanic Whites.

OBJECTIVE Large-scale comparison and comprehensive estimate on the access to health care and preventive services between Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) and Non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs) has not been available. This study examines the racial disparities in access to health care and preventive services between AAPIs and NHWs in the USA. METHODS Cross-sectional study of access to health care and preventive services among AAPIs compared to NHWs, using data from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2005 to 2007 among 908,154 respondents aged > or = 18 years. RESULTS The percentages of AAPIs (aged > or = 18 years) who reported having a personal healthcare provider, a Pap test (women aged > or =18), a fecal occult blood test (aged > or = 50) a sigmoidoscopy/colonoscopy (aged > or = 50), a PSA test (men aged > or = 40), blood cholesterol checked (aged > or =18 yrs), and pneumococcal vaccination (aged > or = 65 yrs) were 76.7%, 83.1%, 27.5%, 47.5%, 35.5%, 74.2%, and 51.2%, respectively. Compared to NHWs, AAPIs were significantly less likely to have a personal health care provider (adjusted odds ratio: 0.69 [95% confidence interval: 0.63-0.75]), a Pap test (0.18 [0.13-0.28]), a fecal occult blood test (0.50 [0.39-0.631), a sigmoidoscopy/colonoscopy (0.64 [0.50-0.81]), a PSA test (0.35 [0.26-0.47]), blood cholesterol checked (0.71 [0.64-0.80]), and pneumococcal vaccination (0.52 [0.42-0.65]). CONCLUSION This study suggests that disparities exist between AAPIs and NHWs in 1 of 4 selected health care access indicators and 6 of 8 selected preventive services.