The health of homeless immigrants.
BACKGROUND
This study examined the association between immigrant status and current health in a representative sample of 1189 homeless people in Toronto, Canada.


METHODS
Multivariate regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between immigrant status and current health status (assessed using the SF-12) among homeless recent immigrants (< or = 10 years since immigration), non-recent immigrants (>10 years since immigration) and Canadian-born individuals recruited at shelters and meal programmes (response rate 73%).


RESULTS
After adjusting for demographic characteristics and lifetime duration of homelessness, recent immigrants were significantly less likely to have chronic conditions (RR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.9), mental health problems (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.7), alcohol problems (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1 to 0.5) and drug problems (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1 to 0.4) than non-recent immigrants and Canadian-born individuals. Recent immigrants were also more likely to have better mental health status (+3.4 points, SE +/-1.6) and physical health status (+2.2 points, SE +/-1.3) on scales with a mean of 50 and a SD of 10 in the general population.


CONCLUSIONS
Homeless recent immigrants are a distinct group who are generally healthier and may have very different service needs from other homeless people.
Chiu
S
S
Centre for Research on Inner City Health, The Keenan Research Centre in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Redelmeier
D A
DA
Tolomiczenko
G
G
Kiss
A
A
Hwang
S W
SW
D000328:Adult; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009864:Ontario; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult