Native Hawaiian adults in Hawaii are seeing their mobility slip away years before their neighbors, according to a new analysis from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. For nearly three in ten Native Hawaiians ages 55 and older, basic movement tasks like walking, maintaining balance and running errands already come with at least one mobility limitation. The trouble starts in midlife: the study found higher rates of problems even among adults 55 to 64, a finding that could force Hawaii to rethink when and how it screens and supports kūpuna.
The peer-reviewed paper, published in Preventing Chronic Disease, pulled from Hawaiʻi Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data collected between 2019 and 2021. Researchers compared mobility and functional limitations across the state’s four largest racial and ethnic groups, focusing on adults 55 and older. Using weighted logistic regression and population-weighted estimates, they found a clear disparity that shows up well before the usual ages when geriatric screening typically begins.
Hā Kūpuna, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa center for Native Hawaiian elders, led the project under associate director Miquela Ibrao. As reported by University of Hawaiʻi News, Ibrao said, “This study points to the need to assess mobility changes earlier than age 65.” Coauthors Yan Yan Wu and Kathryn Braun highlighted social determinants of health, such as income and education, as key forces behind who stays steady on their feet and who does not.
Numbers And What Is Driving Them
According to Preventing Chronic Disease, 28% of Native Hawaiian adults 55 and older reported at least one mobility limitation. Among White, Filipino and Japanese adults in the same age group, that figure hovered around 17 to 19%. The gap was especially sharp among adults 55 to 64, meaning many Native Hawaiians are dealing with serious mobility issues before they even hit retirement age.
The same paper reports that higher income was linked to lower odds of mobility limitations for both Native Hawaiian and White adults, suggesting that money really does buy at least a bit more stability. Education and health insurance, however, did not work the same way for everyone. Education appeared to offer weaker protection for Native Hawaiian respondents, and the relationship between coverage and mobility varied by group, underscoring that policy fixes will not be one-size-fits-all.
What Researchers Want Hawaii To Do Next
As University of Hawaiʻi News reports, the research team is not shy about its bottom line: start checking mobility earlier and build “culturally grounded, community-based programs” that keep Native Hawaiian adults moving. The idea is simple enough. If you know problems are showing up in the late 50s, do not wait until 65 to go looking for them.
Ibrao and colleagues say programs anchored in culture and community could help kūpuna stay active while preserving dignity, social connection and independence in the places they already call home. Hā Kūpuna hopes these findings will guide state-level policies and funding, so older Native Hawaiians are not left behind when it comes to fall prevention, strength-building classes and other basic supports.
The Bigger Health Story Behind The Mobility Gap
This mobility divide does not come out of nowhere. Other studies have found that Native Hawaiians often experience earlier onset of chronic diseases and signs of accelerated biological aging, which may help explain why movement gets harder sooner. Reporting in Live Science points to epigenetic and population-health research showing higher risks of diabetes and heart disease at younger ages in Native Hawaiian communities.
Taken together, these findings strengthen the argument for earlier preventive care and culturally familiar movement programs that public-health researchers in Hawaiʻi have been promoting for years. For clinicians and policymakers, the message is clear: move screening and mobility support to earlier ages and pair medical care with community action that targets the economic and social conditions feeding the gap.
Hā Kūpuna’s team says the study was designed to spur exactly that kind of investment. The goal is straightforward, even if the fixes are not: keep kūpuna connected, mobile and safe in the neighborhoods where they have always lived.
