Peter Koutoujian

"When I was first appointed health care committee chairman, one of my priorities was to create a commission to investigate health care disparities," said Koutoujian, adding that the commission was officially launched the week prior to the hearing.

"We’re not talking about how we can throw money at this issue," he said. "We’re talking about why health care outcomes are different and what can be done to improve them."

Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States, noted Howard Koh, associate dean of public health practice at HSPH and former Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner. The number living in Massachusetts has increased more than 50 percent from 1990 to 2000, he said.

Major health concerns within the Asian-American community include cancer, heart disease, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, tobacco use, violence, and asthma, said Koh. Liver and stomach cancers in particular appear to disproportionately afflict Asian Americans.

Complicating matters are language barriers, which can make accessing appropriate health care more difficult for any person not fluent in English, he said. As Commissioner, Koh helped implement a state law that requires interpreter services in emergency rooms.

Koh advised that notable differences in health status exist between sub-groups of Asian Americans and require further study–a message shared by Christine Ferguson, current Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner. For example, Laotian and Thai women in the state appear to be at greater risk for giving birth to low-birth-weight babies than other Asian-American women, she said. Ferguson called for services that take into account differences between cultures and languages.

Asian-American adolescents were more likely than young people in other racial or ethnic groups to both attempt suicide and be injured through a suicide attempt, according to a study described by Jay Silverman, assistant professor of society, human development, and health in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health. Suicide among adolescent Asian Americans and Asian immigrants is in need of much greater study, he added.

Violence against women in Asian-American communities is another understudied area, said Silverman. For example, data has indicated that although Asian adolescent girls in Massachusetts are more likely to abstain from sex than girls in other ethnic groups–among girls reporting having had sex–they are twice as likely to be victims of sexual assault.

The HSPH hearing was the first of three planned meetings. The second hearing, held at Western New England School of Law, focused on Hispanic-American health care disparities. The final hearing is being scheduled. For more information, call 617-722-2130.