Limited data exist on dementia in Native Hawaiians and many Asian subgroups in the United States. Inpatients with dementia have higher costs, longer stays, and higher mortality compared to those without dementia. This study compared the rates of inpatients with a dementia diagnosis for disaggregated Asian and Pacific Islanders (Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino) vs. White by age group (18-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89 and 90+ years) for all adult patients hospitalized in Hawai'i between December 2006 and December 2010. A total of 13,465 in patients with a dementia diagnosis were identified by ICD-9 codes. Rates were calculated using population size denominators derived from the US Census. Across all age categories, Native Hawaiians had the highest unadjusted rates of inpatients with dementia and were hospitalized with a dementia diagnosis at younger ages than other racial/ethnic groups. In adjusted models compared to Whites (controlling for gender, residence location, and insurer), Native Hawaiians had significantly higher rates of inpatients with dementia among those 18-59 years (aRR:1.50;95%CI:0.84-2.69), 60-69 years (aRR:2.53;95%CI:1.74-3.68), 70-79 years(aRR:2.19;95%CI:1.78-2.69) and 80-89 years (aRR:2.53;95%CI:1.24-1.71) as did Japanese aged 70-79 years (aRR:1.30;95%CI:1.01-1.67), 80-89 years (aRR:1.29;95%CI:1.05-1.57) and 90+ years (aRR:1.51;95%CI:1.24-1.85). Japanese aged 18-59 years had significantly lower rates than Whites (aRR:0.40; 95%CI:0.17-0.94).These patterns have important public health and clinical care implications for Native Hawaiians and older Japanese populations. Future studies should consider if preventable medical risk, care giving, socio-economic conditions, genetic disposition, or a combination of these factors are responsible for these findings.

Objectives To determine the association of HIV, immunologic, and inflammatory factors on coronary artery calcium (CAC), a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis. Methods Cross-sectional study comparing baseline data of males from Hawaii Aging with HIV –Cardiovascular Study (HAHCS) with the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort. The cohorts were pooled to determine effects of HIV on CAC and explore immunologic and inflammatory factors that may explain development of CAC in HIV. Multivariable regression models compared CAC prevalence in HAHCS with MESA adjusting for coronary heart disease (CHD) risk profiles. Results We studied 100 men from HAHCS and 2733 men from MESA. Positive CAC was seen in 58% HAHCS participants and 57% MESA participants. Mean CAC was 260.8 in HAHCS and 306.5 in MESA. Using relative risk (RR) regression, HAHCS participants had a greater risk (RR=1.20, P<0.05) of having positive CAC than MESA when adjusting for age, smoking status, diabetes, antihypertensive therapy, BMI, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol. Among participants with positive CAC, HIV infection was not associated with larger amounts of CAC. Among HAHCS participants, current HIV viral load, CD4, length of HIV, interleukin 6 (IL-6), fibrinogen, C-reactive protein (CRP), and D-dimer were not associated with the presence or amount of CAC. Discussion HIV was independently associated with a positive CAC in men with increased likelihood occurring between 45 and 50 years of age. Current HIV viral load, CD4 count, length of HIV, and inflammatory markers were unrelated to either presence or amount of CAC.