Recent Research on Immigrant Health from Statistics Canada

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Recent Research on Immigrant Health from
Statistics Canadas Population Surveys

• Jennifer Ali
• Statistics Canada

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How do immigrants fare in comparison with people
born in Canada on health and health-related
indicators?
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• Immigrants relatively small proportion of
  population (16 of population)
• Need large study for comparisons
• Statistics Canada suitable large-scale data

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Immigrant Research Using Statistics Canada Surveys

• National Population Health Survey (NPHS)
• 17, 605 respondents age 12 and over (1994/95)
• cross-sectional and longitudinal components
• Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)
• over 131,000 respondents age 15 and over (cycle
  1.1)

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Other Surveys

• Canadas Alcohol and Other Drug Survey (CADS)
• National Longitudinal Survey of Children and
  Youth (NLSCY)
• Health and Activity Limitations Survey (HALS)
• General Social Surveys (GSS)
• Administrative data

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Health Indicators Studied

• Physical health
• Mental health
• Health behaviors, determinants of health
• Health service utilization

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Trends in Findings across Studies

• Healthy immigrant effect
• In general, immigrants are either the same as
  Canadian-born or are healthier, have better
  health behaviors and use services less.
• Variation among immigrants
• Gradient with duration in Canada
• Findings most applicable to Non-European
  immigrants

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Figure 1
Significantly different from the reference
category (p lt 0.05
Data Source 2000/01 Canadian Community Health
Survey Claudio Perez. Health Status and Heath
Behaviour among Immigrants. Supplement to Health
Reports (Statistics Canada, Catalogue 82-003)
2002 13 89-100.
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Figure 2
Data Source 2000/0 Canadian Community Health
Survey Jennifer Ali. Mental Health of Canadas
Immigrants. Supplement to Health Reports
(Statistics Canada, Catalogue 82-003) 2002 13
101-111.
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Figure 3
Data Source 2000/01 Canadian Community Health
Survey Jennifer Ali. Mental Health of Canadas
Immigrants. Supplement to Health Reports
(Statistics Canada, Catalogue 82-003) 2002 13
101-111.
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What do these studies tell us about immigrant
health?

• Cross-sectional patterns with representative
  samples benchmarks established
• Variation among immigrants important for health

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Limitations and Future Research

• Cohort effects likely
• Processes of acculturation and change not studied
• Focused longitudinal studies needed
• Further examine subgroups among immigrants (e.g.
  refugees)

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Limitations and Future Research

• Role of cultural differences in understanding and
  reporting health
• Non-response due to language barriers
• New Survey Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to
  Canada
• 5,800 immigrants, 3 interviews over 4 years