Coming to Canada: the difference in health trajectories between immigrants and native-born residents.

OBJECTIVES

This study investigates improvements as well as declines in health with four health measures for immigrants and native-born residents.

METHODS

We used longitudinal data from Statistics Canada National Population Health Survey, which represented 8,474 native-born residents and 1,339 immigrants from 1994/95 to 2004/05. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to evaluate self-perceived health, chronic condition, health utility index, and body mass index.

RESULTS

The results showed that some immigrants were more likely to report a decline in health, while others were more likely to report an improvement in health relative to native-born residents. For example, immigrants had a higher odds ratio of both reporting (1.63: 95 % CI 1.22-2.18) and no longer reporting (1.49: 95 % CI 1.04-2.14) a chronic condition in subsequent survey years than native-born residents.

CONCLUSIONS

Our finding may be attributable to immigrants inconsistently reporting, or a dichotomous health trajectory. Longitudinal data with physical measurements may be required to decipher our observations.