Chronic Conditions and the Healthy Immigrant Effect: Evidence from Canadian Immigrants

The literature suggests that the foreign-born, and especially recent arrivals, enjoy better health than their Canadian-born counterparts, as measured by a number of health outcomes including self-assessed health and chronic conditions. Using data drawn from Statistics Canada's longitudinal National Population Health Survey (NPHS), the paper evaluates the so-called ‘healthy immigrant effect’ with respect to chronic conditions. Specifically, it evaluates the presence, number and type of chronic conditions (heart disease, asthma, arthritis, diabetes) within the immigrant population, with comparisons made to the native-born population. Native- and foreign-born prevalence rates for chronic conditions are also age–sex standardised to aid comparison. Evidence from both descriptive and multivariate analysis supports the healthy immigrant effect with respect to chronic conditions. Strong evidence of health disparities across arrival cohorts is also found.