title: Acute care hospitalization of refugees to Canada: Linked data for immigrants from Poland, Vietnam and the Middle East.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Refugees arrive in Canada with settlement challenges different from those faced by other immigrants, including a higher risk of poor health. This study reports hospitalization rates for the three fiscal years from 2006/2007 through 2008/2009 for immigrants who arrived during the 1980-to-2006 period, with a focus on three refugee groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Information from two linked databases was used to estimate age-standardized hospitalization rates (ASHRs) per 10,000 population aged 30 or older for all causes (excluding pregnancy) and for leading causes, by immigrant category and by refugee subcategory. The analysis focused on refugees from Poland, Vietnam and the Middle East, whose hospitalization rates were compared with those of the Canadian-born population and/or economic class immigrants from the same areas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Immigrants aged 30 or older, including refugees, had significantly lower all-cause ASHRs than did the Canadian-born population. All-cause ASHRs were 470 per 10,000 for immigrants overall and 494 for refugees, compared with 891 for the Canadian-born. Of the three source areas, immigrants and refugees from Vietnam had lower ASHRs. The circulatory disease-specific ASHR for government-assisted refugees from the Middle East was similar to that of the Canadian-born population (142 and 158, respectively). Except for those from Poland, refugees typically had higher ASHRs than did their economic class counterparts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Refugees, like other immigrants, generally had lower hospitalization rates than did the Canadian-born population, but some subgroups were particularly susceptible to hospitalization for specific chronic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Health Analysis Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Health Analysis Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sanmartin
authors.affiliation: Health Analysis Division, Statistics Canada, and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario.
authors.forename: Douglas G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Manuel
keywords: Data linkage; health care utilization; immigrant category; migration