MORTALITY AMONG ASIAN AMERICAN ELDERLY

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The Asian American population, including the elderly, is growing at a remarkable rate, primarily due to immigration. Current data suggest that this may be the longest lived population in the world. If these estimates are correct, this population should be an important consideration in theoretical work concerned with maximal longevity. However, there may be serious problems with death rates ( and life expectancies) derived from dual data sources for this population. In addition, the quality of age information is not known for the immigrant Asian population. Further, the aggregate Asian American and Pacific Islander race category is of such diversity, constantly changing in composition, that death rates for more precisely defined Asian ethnic groups would have clearer meaning. Should death rates truely be so low, an important question is whether they are largely attributable to a healthy immigrant effect. This pilot study will establish the feasibility of a project which would ultimately answer three questions: 1. What are the death rates for specific elderly Asian American population? 2. Do death rates differ for specific Asian American groups by place of birth, that is U.S.-born versus foreign-born? 3. Is date of birth information reliable for foreign-born Asian American? The pilot project includes these specific aims: a) Obtaining the Enrollment Database from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) for elderly enrollees. b) The construction of name algorithms for identifying persons with specific Asian ancestries, using files available at the Social Security Administration. c) Obtaining initial counts of the number of persons identified by the name algorithms within the Enrollment Database.