Diabetes and Asian Americans

  • Asian Americans are 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.
  • In 2017, Asian Americans were 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with end stage renal disease than non-Hispanic whites.
  • From 2017-2018, Asian Indians were 70 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, as compared to non-Hispanic whites.

Diagnosed Cases of Diabetes

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over with diabetes, 2018
AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
11.48.01.4

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 adults age 18 and over diagnosed with diabetes, 2018
Non-Hispanic AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteNon-Hispanic Asian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
10.07.81.3

Source: CDC 2019. National Diabetes Surveillance System.
https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/diabetes/DiabetesAtlas.html

Age-adjusted percentage of diagnosed diabetes for adults age 18 and over, 2017-2018
Non-Hispanic AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteNon-Hispanic Asian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men10.08.61.2
Women8.56.61.3
Total9.27.51.2

Source: CDC 2020. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2020. Appendix Table 3.
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics-report/index.html

Age-adjusted percentage of diagnosed diabetes for adults age 18 and over, 2017-2018
PopulationPercentPopulation / Non- Hispanic White Ratio
Non-Hispanic White7.5--
Asian9.21.2
Asian Indian12.61.7
Chinese5.60.7
Filipino10.41.4
Other Asian9.91.3

Source: CDC 2020. National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2020. Appendix Table 3.
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics-report/index.html

Death Rate

Age-Adjusted Diabetes Death Rates per 100,000 (2018)
Non-Hispanic AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteNon-Hispanic Asian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male19.0 24.3 0.8
Female12.7 14.3 0.9
Total15.4 18.9 0.8

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 Asian Americans
Hypertension - See Heart Disease and Asian Americans
High Cholesterol - See Heart Disease and Asian Americans
Cigarette Smoking - See Heart Disease and Asian Americans

Related Conditions

Age-adjusted percentage of visual impairment for adults with diabetes (2017)
Non-Hispanic AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteNon-Hispanic Asian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
6.0 16.10.4

Source: Source: CDC 2021. National Diabetes Surveillance System.
https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/diabetes/diabetesatlas.html

Hospital admissions per 100,000 for uncontrolled diabetes without complications, age 18 and over, 2017
Non-Hispanic AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteNon-Hispanic Asian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
18.236.40.5

Source: National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query: Table 5_4_1_1_1_.2a. [Accessed 2/22/2021]
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Hospital admissions per 100.000 for lower extremity amputations, age 18 and over with diabetes, 2017
Non-Hispanic AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteNon-Hispanic Asian / Non-Hispanic White Ratio
8.226.80.3

Source: National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query: Table 5_4_1_4_1.2a [Accessed 2/22/2021]
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Age-adjusted incidence rate per million of end stage renal disease (ESRD) due to diabetes, 2017
AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian / White Ratio
210.5 131.0 1.6

Source: National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query: Table 6_4_3_6_1.2a and 2b [Accessed 2/22/2021]
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Treatment

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 40 years of age and over with diabetes who had received an influenza immunization, 2016
AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian / White Ratio
63.8 62.0 1.0

Source: National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query: Table 6_4_1_5_1.2a and 2b [Accessed 2/22/2021]
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 40 years of age and over with diabetes who had a foot examination, 2016
AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian / White Ratio
58.3 70.5 0.8

Source: National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query: Table 6_4_1_4_1.2a and 2b [Accessed 2/22/2021]
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 18 years of age and over with diabetes who had a foot examination, 2017
AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian / White Ratio
63.2 70.0 0.9

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

Age-adjusted percentage of persons 40 years of age and over with diabetes who had a retinal eye examination, 2016
AsianNon-Hispanic WhiteAsian / White Ratio
58.3 65.8 0.9

Source: National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. Data Query: Table 6_4_1_3_1.2a and 2b [Accessed 2/22/2021]
http://nhqrnet.ahrq.gov/inhqrdr/data/query