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Health status and Canada's immigrant population.

K Bruce Newbold¹, Jeff Danforth

¹School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., Canada L8S 4K1. newbold@mcmaster.ca

Social Science & Medicine (1982)

|September 23, 2003

Summary

Immigrants in Canada, except recent arrivals, generally have worse health outcomes than non-immigrants. Factors like age, income, gender, and housing impact immigrant health status.

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Area of Science:

Public Health
Health Services Research
Sociology of Health

Background:

The Canada Health Act (1984) implies immigrants should have health similar to the Canadian average.
Barriers in healthcare accessibility, system restructuring, and resource allocation challenge this assumption.
Previous research often oversimplifies immigrant health by assuming uniformity.

Purpose of the Study:

To compare the health status of immigrants versus non-immigrants in Canada.
To identify specific dimensions of health where disparities exist.
To explore factors influencing health differences between these groups.

Main Methods:

Utilized data from the National Population Health Survey (NPHS).
Assessed health through diagnosed conditions, self-assessed health, and the Health Utilities Index Mark 3.
Employed multivariate analysis to identify significant factors.

Main Results:

Immigrants, excluding the most recent arrivals, exhibit poorer health across most measured dimensions compared to non-immigrants.
Significant health status differences were observed based on age, income adequacy, gender, and home ownership.
Recent immigrants may represent a distinct group with potentially different health profiles.

Conclusions:

The health status of immigrants in Canada is generally worse than that of non-immigrants, contrary to expectations under the Canada Health Act.
Socioeconomic factors and demographic characteristics play a crucial role in shaping immigrant health disparities.
Policy and healthcare interventions should address these identified barriers and determinants to improve immigrant health outcomes.

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