We're in!

• Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death for Asian Americans, and also was the 10th leading cause of death for White Americans, in 2009.¹
• Older Asian American women have the highest suicide rate of all women over age 65 in the United States.² In 2008, the suicide rate for that group was 1.3 times greater than it was in the White population.
• Southeast Asian refugees are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with trauma experienced before and after immigration to the U.S. One study found that 70% of Southeast Asian refugees receiving mental health care were diagnosed with PTSD.³
• For Asian Americans, the rate of serious psychological distress increases with lower levels of income, as it does in most other ethnic populations.
• The overall suicide rate for Asian Americans is half that of the White population.

MENTAL HEALTH STATUS:

Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent, 2009-2010

Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
1.6	3.1	0.5

Source: CDC, 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 59.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.4MB]

Serious psychological distress among adults 18 years of age and over, percent of poverty level, 2008-2010

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Below 100%	3.3	10.7	0.3
100%-less than 200%	--	5.5	--
200% or greater	0.9	1.9	0.5

Source: CDC. Health Data Interactive.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hdi.htm. [Accessed 07/07/2012].

Percent of population with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or that everything is an effort, all of the time, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2010

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Sadness	1.9	2.8	0.7
Hopelessness	1.3	2.0	0.7
Worthlessness	0.8	1.7	0.5
Everything is an effort	4.0	5.6	0.7

Source:  CDC 2012. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2010. Table 14.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 3.1MB]

Percent of population with feelings of nervousness or restlessness, among persons 18 years of age and over, 2010

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Nervousness, all or most of time	1.8	4.9	0.4
Restlessness, all or most of time	2.4	6.4	0.4

Source:  CDC 2012. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: 2010. Table 16.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_252.pdf [PDF | 3.1MB]

Age-adjusted percent distributions of adults 18 years of age and over, with serious psychological distress, most or all of the time, 2004–2006

Population	Serious distress	Ratio / All Asian Population	Ratio / Whites
All Whites	2.9	-	-
All Asians	1.9	-	1.7
Chinese	1.6	0.8	0.6
Filipino	2.5	1.3	0.9
Asian Indian	1.4	0.7	0.5
Japanese	1.1	0.6	0.4
Vietnamese	2.5	1.3	0.9
Korean	1.3	0.7	0.4
Other Asian & NHOPI*	2.6	1.4	0.9

Source: CDC, 2008. Health Characteristics of the Asian Adult Population: United States, 2004-2006. Table 7.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad394.pdf [PDF, 476KB]

DEATH RATES:

Age-Adjusted Death Rates for suicide, by sex, race and Hispanic Origin, 2009

	Asian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Pacific Islander /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	9.2	23.2	0.4
Female	3.8	6.0	0.6
Total	6.3	14.3	0.4

Source:  CDC, 2012. National Vital Statistic Report. Vol. 60, Num 3 Table 17 and Table 16.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf [PDF | 2MB]

Age-adjusted death rates for suicide, by race, 2008

Asian American	White	Asian American/ White Ratio
5.8	12.9	0.4

Source: CDC, 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 24.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2008: Men

	Asian American Men	Non-Hispanic White Men	Asian American Men/ Non-Hispanic White Men Ratio
15-24 years	8.6	18.8	0.5
25-44 years	8.7	28.5	0.3
45-64 years	11.2	33.1	0.3
65 years and over	14.7	32.9	0.4
All ages	8.2	22.9	0.4

Source: CDC, 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 39.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

Death rates for suicide, age, race and Hispanic origin, 2008: Women

	Asian American Women	Non-Hispanic White Women	Asian American Women/ Non-Hispanic White Women Ratio
15-24 years	4.7	3.9	1.2
25-44 years	4.9	8.3	0.6
45-64 years	3.9	10.2	0.4
65 years and over	5.7	4.5	1.3
All ages	3.7	6.0	0.6

Source: CDC, 2012. Health United States, 2011. Table 39.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf [PDF | 9.8MB]

ADOLESCENTS:

Death Rates for Suicide: Ages 15 - 19, 2009

	Asian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/Pacific Islander /Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	7.5	14.0	0.5
Female	4.2	3.5	1.2
Total	5.9	8.9	0.7

Source:  CDC, 2012. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Accessed 07/07/2012]
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html

Suicidal ideation among students in grades 9-12, 2009
Percent of students who seriously considered suicide

	Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Asian/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	17.1	12.8	1.3
Women	21.1	18.4	1.1
Total	18.9	15.5	1.2

Source: CDC, 2012. High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. [Accessed 07/07/2012]
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline

Suicidal ideation among students in grades 9-12, 2009 Percent of students who attempted suicide

	Asian	Non-Hispanic White	Asian Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Men	7.0	4.6	1.5
Women	15.0	7.9	1.9
Total	10.8	6.2	1.7

Source: CDC, 2012. High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. [Accessed 07/07/2012]
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE:

Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received mental health treatment or counseling in the past year, 2008

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	-	10.8	-
Female	4.4	20.8	0.2
Total	4.5	16.0	0.3

Source:  2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 17_3_1.2a and 2b
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr10/index.html

Percent of Adults age 18 and over who received prescription medications for mental health treatment or counseling, 2008

	Asian American	Non-Hispanic White	Asian American/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio
Male	-	9.1	-
Female	-	18.3	-
Total	3.4	13.9	0.2

Source:  2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report. Table 17_3_3.2a and 2b
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr10/index.html

NOTE: *NHOPI = Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.