Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2004 May-Jun;95(3):I9-13.
doi: 10.1007/BF03403659.

Recent research on immigrant health from statistics Canada's population surveys

Jennifer S Ali  1 , Sarah McDermott, Ronald G Gravel
Affiliations
Review

Recent research on immigrant health from statistics Canada's population surveys

Jennifer S Ali et al. Can J Public Health. 2004 May-Jun.

Abstract
in English, French

This paper reviews recent research using Statistics Canada data to compare immigrant health with that of the Canadian-born. A number of Statistics Canada studies have been used for such comparisons, including the National Population Health Survey and the Canadian Community Health Survey. Across the range of indicators studied, compared to the Canadian-born, immigrants are generally in as good or better health, have similar or better health behaviours, and similar or less frequent health service use (the "healthy immigrant effect"). These indications appear to be strongest among recent and non-European immigrants. These studies have established baseline patterns and identified that important distinctions exist among immigrant subgroups. Future research on more detailed subgroups that uses longitudinal data and cross-culturally validated instruments is needed.

L’article examine des études récentes fondées sur les données de Statistique Canada afin de comparer la santé des immigrants à celle de la population née au Canada. p Pour ces comparaisons, on a utilisé plusieurs études de Statistique Canada, notamment l’Enquête nationale sur la santé de la population et l’Enquête sur la santé dans les collectivités canadiennes.

Pour toute la gamme des indicateurs employés, par comparaison avec la population née au Canada, les immigrants sont en général en meilleure santé, leurs habitudes de santé sont supérieures ou égales, et la fréquence à laquelle ils ont recours aux services de santé est inférieure ou égale (on appelle cela « l’effet de l’immigrant en bonne santé »). Ces indications se manifestent très fortement chez les nouveaux arrivants et chez les immigrants de souche non européenne.

Les études en question établissent des tendances de base et montrent l’existence de distinctions importantes entre les sous-groupes d’immigrants. Il faudrait pousser la recherche sur ces sousgroupes en utilisant des données longitudinales et des instruments adaptés aux différences culturelles.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Perez C. Health status and health behaviour among immigrants. Health Rep. 2002;13(Suppl.):89–100.
    1. Dunn JR, Dyck I. Social determinants of health in Canada’s immigrant population: Results from the National Population Health Survey. Soc Sci Med. 2000;51:1573–93. doi: 10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00053-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen J, Ng E, Wilkins R. The health of Canada’s immigrants in 1994–95. Health Rep. 1996;7:33–45. - PubMed
    1. Chen Y, Dales R, Krewski D, Breithaupt K. Increased effects of smoking and obesity on asth- ma among female Canadians: The National Population Health Survey, 1994–1995. Am J Epidemiol. 1999;150:255–62. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009996. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang PP, Elsbett-Koeppen R, Geng G, Badley EM. Arthritis prevalence and place of birth: Findings from the 1994 Canadian National Population Health Survey. Am J Epidemiol. 2000;152:442–45. doi: 10.1093/aje/152.5.442. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources