Template:Nhsc-v1-57

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persons living in military barracks, nursing or rest homes, prisons, dormitories, the island of Niihau, and Kalaupapa Settlement. 77/

Other information received by the Commission 78/ confirms that full- and part-Hawaiians do indeed have health problems in some areas. Data prepared by the Hawaii Department of Health for Alu Like, Inc., shows that full- and part-Hawaiians reported higher prevalences, compared to all races, for the followinq conditions:

Condition Full-Hawaiians All Races
High blood pressure 22.6% 12.2%
Diabetes 14.4 5.3
Arthritis 8.3 5.6
Heart trouble 4.2 2.8
Stroke 1.4 0.7


Condition Part-Hawaiians All Races
Asthma 17.2% 8.5
Chronic bronchitis 3.8 1.7

Substance Abuse

An assessment of the needs in Hawaii for alcohol and drug abuse prevention was recently made by the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Branch of the Hawaii State Health Department. The assessment is based on data from the 1979 State Substance Abuse Survey. To conpile this information, face-to-face interviews were conducted with persons 12 years of aoe and older in 3,127 households throughout the State. 79/ In evaluating the data, the report warns that:

It should be noted that all quoted nunbers of the alcohol and drug abuse populations are likely to be severe under-estimates. Federal studies have demonstrated that self-reported alcohol use is underreported by nearly 50 percent. This phenomenon is likely to be even greater for the usage of illegal substances such as marijuana or cocaine...80/

Despite this problem and the fact that the information is now four years old, the report is "the most comprehensive and detailed look at Hawaii's alcohol and drug abuse problems to date." 81/

The report divides substance abusers into three categories: alcohol abusers, drug abusers, and abusers of both alcohol and drugs. Combining all three, there were approximately 103,748 persons in Hawaii in 1979 who were currently substance abusers. This number accounts for 14.7 percent of Hawaii's population 12 years of age and older. 82/ The following sections discuss abuse and treatment in each of the categories, across ethnic groups in Hawaii.

Alcohol Use and Abuse

Alcohol use is less prevalent in Hawaii than it is on the U.S. mainland. In Hawaii, 79.2 percent of the population has tried alcohol at least once in their lives. This compares to 90 percent on the mainland. In terms of current alcohol users, 55.1 percent of Hawaii's population currently uses alcohol, compared to 61 percent of the mainland population. Current alcohol use is also significantly lower for Hawaii in each age category, compared to similar mainland age categories. 83/

Table 37 summarizes the lifetime and current use of alcohol in Hawaii for the various ethnic groups. The group with the highest percentage of current users is the Caucasian group (77.7 percent), followed by the Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian (52.8) and Portuguese (52.6) groups. State-wide, 55.1 percent of the population are current users.

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