Results
More than half of the study population was aged 30 or younger, and the overall prevalence of the chronic diseases studied was low; hypertension was the most prevalent (5.3%), followed by dyslipidemia (4.6%), asthma (0.9%), and diabetes (0.3%) (Table 1). After adjustment for sex and rank, the prevalence of all 4 conditions differed significantly by race/ethnicity and was positively associated with age; racial/ethnic differences in prevalence also increased with increasing age (Table 2).
Compared with non-Hispanic whites, Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic members aged 30 or younger had a lower prevalence of hypertension. Both American Indian/Alaska Native and non-Hispanic black members had a higher prevalence of hypertension in every age category compared with non-Hispanic whites. After the age of 25, hypertension prevalence for non-Hispanic blacks was more than double that of non-Hispanic whites in every age range.
Non-Hispanic whites had a significantly lower prevalence of dyslipidemia in every age range compared with every minority racial/ethnic group.
Similar to the differences noted with hypertension, both Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks had a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes in all age groups compared with non-Hispanic whites. After age 30, the prevalence of diabetes for non-Hispanic blacks was more than twice that of non-Hispanic whites in every age range.
The overall prevalence of asthma was significantly lower for non-Hispanic whites in every age range than for all racial/ethnic groups.