Immigrant health, socioeconomic factors and residential neighbourhood characteristics: A comparison of multiple ethnic groups in Canada

Immigrant and minority health is a topic of critical importance both within the Canadian public policy realm and in the social science research contributed by many applied health geographers. Set within the social-determinants-of-health framework, the paper explores the relationships among individual socioeconomic status, residential neighbourhood characteristics and self-reported health for multiple immigrant groups in Canada. It examines health outcomes and health-care use among the foreign-born that are heterogeneous in country of origin. Comparison is made between the overall foreign-born that are highly culturally heterogeneous and native-born populations and among selected recent (Chinese and South Asian) and long-standing immigrant groups (Italian and Portuguese). Data are drawn from the raw microdata file of pooled 2005-10 Canadian Community Health Survey. Descriptive statistics and bootstrap-based Z-test reveal patterns of health outcomes (self-reported health, selected chronic diseases) and use of health services as well as individual and neighbourhood characteristics among the foreign-born and selected immigrant groups, compared to the native-born population. Further, logistic regression is used to identify key determinants of self-reported health for each group. Both individual socioeconomic and lifestyle factors and neighbourhood effects (material deprivation and ethnic density) are examined in logistic regression. Chow test indicates significant differences in the set of health predictors among the models for different study populations. The study adds to the literature on immigrant health by revealing heterogeneity in health within the broadly labelled foreign-born population and by simultaneously considering individual and neighbourhood characteristics in a determinants-of-health framework. It offers important insights on group differences and commonalities in understanding immigrant integration and resettlement in the domain of health. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.