Diabetes and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

  • In 2018, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders were 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, as compared to the non-Hispanic white population.
  • In 2018, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders were 2.5 times more likely than non-Hispanic whites to die from diabetes.
  • In 2014, American Samoans had the highest diabetes rate among surveyed Pacific Islander sub-populations. Their rate was 2.8 times higher than the national white population.

Diagnosed Cases of Diabetes

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over with diabetes, 2018
Native Hawaiian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteNative Hawaiian/Pacific Islander / White Ratio
19.88.02.5

Source: CDC 2021. Summary Health Statistics: National Health Interview Survey: 2018. Table A-4a.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/shs/tables.htm

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over with diabetes, 2018
PopulationPercentPopulation / White Ratio
White7.9--
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander15.21.9
Native Hawaiian14.21.8
Pacific Islander17.72.2
Samoan22.12.8
Guamanian or Chamorro14.81.9
Other Pacific Islander15.82.0

Source, CDC, 2017. Health Conditions and Behaviors of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Persons in the United States, 2014. Vital and Health Statistics, Series 3, No. 40. Table 9.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_03/sr03_040.pdf

National Diabetes Surveillance System
National data not available at this time.

Death Rates

Age-adjusted diabetes death rates per 100,000 (2018)
Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteNon-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male56.524.32.3
Female40.114.32.8
Total48.118.92.5

Source: CDC 2021. National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 69, No. 13. Table 10.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/nvsr69-13-508.pdf [PDF | 2.05MB]

Risk Factors

There are several risk factors related to diabetes. Some of these risk factors are:

Obesity and Overweight - See Obesity and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders
Hypertension - See Heart Disease and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders
High Cholesterol - See Heart Disease and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders
Cigarette Smoking - See Heart Disease and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders

Treatment

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over with diabetes who had a foot examination, 2017
Native Hawaiians/Pacific IslanderNon-Hispanic WhiteNative Hawaiians/Pacific Islander / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
56.6 70.00.8

Source: CDC 2021. Healthy People 2020 Database. Table D-9.
http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/Data/default.aspx