Community-Led Research Sheds Light on AAPI Health Disparities

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities are frequently left out of critical healthcare conversations because of the model minority stereotype—a false narrative that paints all AAPI individuals as universally thriving, masking real disparities in health and socioeconomic status. This misconception can lead to major gaps in research, policy development, and access to care. In truth, AAPI populations are incredibly diverse, and looking at them as a single group oversimplifies the challenges they face. Disaggregating the data is essential to identify and address the specific health needs within these communities.

Adrienne Poon, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at George Washington University, presented research investigating community health needs of AAPI populations in the greater Washington, DC, area at the American College of Physicians (ACP) Internal Medicine (IM) Meeting 2025, held April 3-5, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

HCPLive spoke with Poon to learn more about the study and its preliminary findings. She discussed ongoing research in the field, why it is important to keep conducting research like this, and what clinicians should take away from the early findings.

HCPLive: How can the model minority myth impact care for AAPI populations?

Adrienne Poon, MD, MPH: So, the model minority myth is a stereotype that assumes that Asian Americans are successful, but that inadvertently leads to less research and resources directed towards the community, which really leads to lack of understanding about health disparities within the community, and what are the health needs. So, that can promote under-diagnosis of medical conditions, especially chronic conditions. It’s really important to try to look at the community more diversely and try to understand what are the health issues according to each ethnicity. A lot of different ethnic groups, their experiences in the US are shaped largely by socioeconomic status, and that influences their health care access and barriers and assuming that the community is doing well really masks these health needs that the community is facing.

Can you discuss the community health survey?

Poon: So, one of the projects that I've been working on is a community health needs assessment. It's led by a nonprofit, OCA Greater Washington, DC, that I'm also a board member of. We have a health equity team. One of the things we’re discussing is that we looked at local data, and a lot of it had aggregated data on the community, which means all ethnicities were grouped together under an "Asian American" or "Asian American Pacific Islander" umbrella. But it doesn't really tell you what's going on within each ethnic group.

We didn't find much data available in the Greater Washington, DC region, where I work and practice. So, our committee decided to develop a survey to understand what the health needs and gaps are. That way, we can share that with community partners and really understand what those needs are.

The project is really a community-based participatory research initiative. Because of my work at GW, I was able to engage my research partners on the project as well. But really, the project has been largely community-led and community-driven. The organization has been leveraging our community partners to help disseminate the survey using social networks and community networks, and we've been doing grassroots outreach to try to get people to engage.

What we've been finding so far is a high burden of cardiovascular disease and also mental health concerns. We're especially concerned in younger age groups about significant underreporting of mental health issues, particularly because of disparities.

In terms of cardiovascular disease, there's a lot of concern that health conditions like hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and hypertension can be silent killers. A lot of patients may not even know they have these conditions until they present with advanced disease or receive a late-stage diagnosis, which leads to higher mortality. Nationally, it is known that cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death for Asian Americans, so it is an area of concern and supports what is already known. But we're excited to continue our data collection and see what we get with our final results.

We’ve been hosting community network meetings to share early findings with our partners on a quarterly basis. One of the principles of community-based participatory research is that we're not just conducting research for the sake of research—it’s meant to go back into the communities.

We've been sharing findings with community leaders and partners, and they've been really interested in the results. Mental health, in particular, has been an issue that many people have been voicing concerns about in the community. So people are excited to see actual data that supports what we’re all observing.

It also gives us more time and opportunity to think about what programs and next steps can be taken at the community level, looking at potential interventions. From a research perspective, we also want to explore on a deeper level some of the reasons behind the mental health burdens. What are the stressors that people are experiencing?

Then, from the cardiovascular disease standpoint, we're looking at opportunities for how to promote earlier identification. How do we reduce barriers to care and really promote early prevention?

What were some findings revealed with the disaggregated data?

Poon: We saw different patterns in disease prevalence, as well as different patterns in barriers to care and the experiences people are having. In terms of health conditions, when we disaggregated the data and looked at chronic and mental health conditions by ethnicity, we found that Vietnamese Americans have the highest rates of hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and hypertension. Chinese Americans have the highest rates of depression. Indian Americans have the highest rates of anxiety. This is still preliminary data, but the patterns are alarming. We’re seeing these differences, and they’re not well known or well-studied. So I think there's a lot more work to be done, and I’m excited to see what our final results show.

What are some takeaways from your research that clinicians should keep in mind to help differentiate care for Asian Americans?

Poon: I think things like conducting health prevention and cardiovascular screenings—making sure patients are screened for chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia—are really important. Also, promoting healthy lifestyles is crucial, but doing so in a way that uses strategies like motivational interviewing to help a patient come up with a plan that works for them and their families. Some of the guidance people in the community have heard doesn't feel culturally appropriate. So, working with patients to find strategies tailored to them as individuals is important.

The second thing is screening for mental health conditions. Because of the high stigma around mental health in the community, it’s really important to know how to screen appropriately—without stigmatizing the individual or their family. That might mean speaking to the person without family members present, recognizing signs and symptoms that aren’t typical, and just being thorough in your screening process.

Is there anything else you want our audience to know?

Poon: I think it's really important to support this kind of research and to collect disaggregated data. There’s a lot of research showing that Asian American health—or Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander health—is one of the least funded topics by the NIH. I think only 0.1% of funding goes to that area. There’s so much more that needs to be learned and understood. Supporting and promoting research to collect disaggregated data is incredibly important for the community. And I will say, it's information the community would love to have as well.

This content has been edited for clarity. Poon has no disclosures to report.