Health status of Cambodians and Vietnamese--selected communities, United States, 2001-2002.

National health data often are reported for Asians in the aggregate and do not monitor the health of specific Asian subpopulations (e.g., Cambodians and Vietnamese) in the United States. In addition, surveys conducted in English exclude Cambodians and Vietnamese with limited English proficiency. This report summarizes and compares health data from 1) a survey of one Cambodian and three Vietnamese communities conducted during 2001-2002 for the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 project and 2) a survey of Asians in the aggregate and the general U.S. population conducted by the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The questions were identical on both surveys. The results of this analysis indicated that Cambodians and Vietnamese had lower levels of education and household income and substantially different health-risk profiles than both the aggregate Asian population and the general U.S. population. Public health agencies should examine the health status of racial/ethnic subpopulations and prioritize interventions that address disparities.