Contact:
Jennifer Choi
NYU Medical Center
Email: Jennifer.Choi@nyumc.org
(212) 404-3555

National Institute of Health Awards $1.8 Million to NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health

Study Needed for Disturbingly High Rates of Heart Disease in Filipinos

*51% of Filipino Men and 61% of Filipino Women Over 50 Have Uncontrolled Hypertension

New York, NY, March 27, 2006 – Currently, heart disease claims the lives of a third the Filipino American population. In order to address this health disparity, NYU School of Medicine’s Center for the Study of Asian American Health (CSAAH) was recently awarded a $1.8 million grant by the National Institute of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCHMD).

About a third of Filipino men between the ages of 18 and 49 suffer from uncontrolled hypertension. The rate increases to 51% for those over the age of 50. The corresponding rate is 61% for Filipino women of the same age range, a figure that is 1.7 times higher than whites and 1.4 times the rate for black women. Health professionals believe these disparities in cardiovascular health are attributed to several factors. Among them include a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate screening and educational materials for Filipinos, environmental factors after immigration to the U.S. (such as increased availability and affordability of processed foods; employment in high stress occupations), heredity of heart disease and a high fat, high cholesterol, and high sodium Filipino diet.

The grant will be used to launch Project AsPIRE (Asian American Partnerships in Research and Empowerment), a collaborative endeavor aimed at improving health access and status for cardiovascular disease in Filipino Americans residing in New York City and New Jersey. Project partners include NYU Center for Immigrant Health, along with Johns Hopkins University, and Kalusugan Coalition, which is comprised of health professionals, community organizers, students, artists, and Filipino organizations.

Project AsPIRE is aimed at addressing these health disparities by (1) creating a network conducive to community-based participatory research (CBPR), (2) examining the Filipino American community’s knowledge of heart disease risk factors and health care options (3) assessing the efficacy of a community health worker intervention in improving health access, along with hypertension control among Filipino Americans, and (4) evaluating CBPR as an approach for addressing and eliminating health disparities. It is anticipated that the Filipino American community health workers will help improve hypertension management by bridging the cultural and social barriers between the community and the health care system.

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