Objective: The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the health status of Asian immigrants in Canada and the associated factors.
Methods: Using data from the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey, a descriptive analysis was performed to estimate the frequency of health associated factors among different populations. Age-standardization rates was also used to compare the prevalence of chronic conditions among Asian immigrants, other immigrants and native residents. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the adjusted Odds ratio (OR) associated with each health outcome and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) after controlling for potential confounding factors.
Results: After age-standardization, Asian immigrants had a similar prevalence of 1-5 chronic conditions and a lower prevalence of 5+ chronic conditions (3.56%) compared with non-immigrants (5.31%). Asian immigrants were less likely to report any chronic disease (OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.46-0.51) than non-immigrants (OR = 1.00). Recent Asian immigrants were less likely to report any chronic condition (OR= 0.34, 95% CI: 0.31-0.37) than long-term Asian immigrants (OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.58-0.66). After adjusting for socioeconomic status and lifestyle factors, Asian immigrants had a slightly changed risk of four chronic conditions with exception of heart disease.
Conclusion: Asian immigrants had lower risk of chronic conditions as a whole, however, these health advantages decreased along with increasing length of residence in Canada. Socioeconomic factors and lifestyles cannot fully explain the differences of health status between Asian immigrants and non-immigrant Canadians reported in this paper.