{"id":265,"date":"2013-05-20T09:15:26","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T15:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/?page_id=265"},"modified":"2013-05-28T09:30:48","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T15:30:48","slug":"asian-indian-american-community-health-status","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/?page_id=265","title":{"rendered":"Asian Indian American Community Health Status"},"content":{"rendered":"

Obesity and High Blood Pressure Soar Among Asian Indian Minnesotans, Males Found To Be Most At Risk\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Asian Indian American community is a highly educated population that has doubled in number in the last decade.\u00a0 With over 80 percent of Asian Indians identified as foreign-born, the population grew from just over 16,000 in 2000 to approximately 33,000 in 2010 (1<\/a>).\u00a0 Asian Indians primarily immigrated to Minnesota through family reunification and for professional opportunities (2<\/a>). Due to their highly educated and highly skilled population, Asian Indian Americans also have the highest household income compared to other AAPI ethic groups with an average income of $91,151 per household (1<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Obese and Overweight with Less Physical Activity<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Asian<\/a>

Asian Indian American community members discuss community health issues in the Spring of 2012.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the spring of 2012, APA ComMNet\u00a0invited Asian Indian American leaders to openly discuss the health issues affecting their community. \u00a0The discussion was recorded as a radio show and broadcasted on\u00a0Radio ASIA (106.1 HD Radio). \u00a0\u00a0Asian Indian leaders were particularly concerned about the increasing obese and overweight members in their community. \u00a0 In a recent survey conducted by APA ComMNet with 101 Asian Indian Americans, results show that nearly half was obese or overweight (see figure 1).\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Asian Indian American men were more likely to be obese or overweight compared to Asian Indian women.\u00a0 In fact, of the Asian Indian males surveyed, approximately three out of four, or 75 perecent, were found to be obese or overweight (see figure 2). \u00a0Radio show guest Punkaj Parikh shared the reason for this growing health problem in his community. \u00a0\u201cPeople are overweight, do not exercise and have poor diets.\u00a0 This causes such problems.\u00a0 The environment is cold, thus people do not get to walk outside as much.\u00a0 The people also eat food outside instead of eating at home because they are in a hurry,\u201d said Parikh.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/a>

Figure 1: BMI Distribution in the Asian Indian American Community<\/p><\/div>\n

Mitesh Trivedi, another radio show guest, recognized the need for community organizations to encourage physical activity among its members.\u00a0 \u201cYes, people [should] organize community gatherings and walks.\u00a0 They make different activities such as running, walking or bicycling. Other such games include cricket, choho or Kabadi,\u201d said Trivedi.<\/p>\n

Rising High Blood Pressure, Stroke and Asthma Rates<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/a>

Figure 2: Obese and Overweight Asian Indian Americans<\/p><\/div>\n

The rise of obesity and overweight may be related to the increasing rate of high blood pressure and stroke within the Asian Indian American community.\u00a0\u00a0 APA ComMNet Health Survey results indicate that compared to other Asian American\/Pacific Islander ethnic groups, Asian Indian Americans had the highest hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, and stroke rates at 36 percent and 7 percent, respectively.\u00a0 In addition, the community has a relatively high asthma rate at 14 percent (See figure 3).\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Asian Indian men were diagnosed with these diseases at a much higher rate than Asian Indian women.<\/p>\n

Radio show guests stated that they noticed many in the community, particularly elder Asian Indian Americans, who do not have yearly checkups.\u00a0\u00a0 Community member and radio show guest Deepali Jain listed a number of factors for why Asian Indians fail to visit their doctors regularly.\u00a0 \u201cOne of the reasons is transportation.\u00a0 A second reason is the language barrier.\u00a0 Third, many do not think that it is not healthy to have yearly check ups because they believe in home remedies.\u00a0\u00a0 Other reasons include [lack of insurance],\u201d said Jain.\u00a0\u00a0 Radio show guest Punkaj Parikh added that Asian Indian Americans also believe at times that \u201cthe doctor will give them the wrong medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/a>

Figure 3: Percentage of Asian Indian Americans Diagnosed with Select Chronic Diseases<\/p><\/div>\n

Cultural and Spiritual Practices for Better Health <\/i><\/p>\n

Asian Indian American radio show guests stated that spiritual exercises such as meditation and yoga can help community members feel better and improve their health.\u00a0 \u201cThe Gita [Indian religious text] helps educate us too.\u00a0 This is one of the most important assets to our community.\u00a0 Yoga and other such techniques were written years ago and now people around the world are using those techniques,\u201d said Radio show guest Trivedi.\u00a0\u00a0 Asian Indian community members added that their religious organizations often provide invaluable health education and services to members of the community.\u00a0 \u201cSwami Narayan Temple has bloodmobiles and they also have people that help with general health [called Shibirs]. \u00a0SV Temple and Hindu Temple has yoga and meditation to help with general health,\u201d added Parikh.<\/p>\n

Other social and environmental factors such as having a clean environment, good resources for youth and better transportation were identified as factors help Asian Indian Americans maintain their quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is the second article in a series examining the health and wellbeing of Asian Americans in Minnesota based on the information collected by the Asian Pacific American Community Network (APA ComMNet), a collaboration led by Asian Media Access (AMA), through a grant from the National REACH Coalition (NRC) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).<\/p>\n

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1<\/a> Council of Asian-Pacific Minnesotans (CAPMN).\u00a0 2012.\u00a0 The State of Asian Pacific Minnesotans: 2010 Census and 2008-2010 American Community Survey Report.<\/i>\u00a0 St. Paul, MN.\u00a0 Published by the Council of Asian Pacific Minnesotans.<\/p>\n

2<\/a> Minneapolis Foundation. 2004.\u00a0 Immigration in Minnesota: Discovering Common Ground. Minneapolis, MN<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Obesity and High Blood Pressure Soar Among Asian Indian Minnesotans, Males Found To Be Most At Risk\u00a0 The Asian Indian American community is a highly educated population that has doubled in number in the last decade.\u00a0 With over 80 percent … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":180,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-265","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/265\/revisions\/284"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biculturalhealth.apacommnet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}