Health Care Access Among Asian American Subgroups: The Role of Residential Segregation

Few studies have examined differences in health care access across Asian American ethnicities and none have considered the effects of residential segregation. The segregation of Asians by neighborhood has been steadily increasing over the past few decades due in part to the settlement patterns of immigrants. Data from the 2009 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 746) were used. We examined differences in yearly medical checkups between Asian subgroups as well as among foreign-born and US-born Asians. Results showed that immigrant Filipinos and Vietnamese were less likely to get a checkup compared with foreign-born Chinese. The effect of Asian subgroup was modified by the percentage of Asians in a census tract (p < 0.01). Koreans and other Asians had a higher probability of getting a checkup when living in a predominately Asian neighborhood. For Chinese and Vietnamese residential concentration of Asians had a stronger inverse association with having a yearly checkup.