Did you know that U.S. immigrants are generally healthier than residents born in the country? It's true. And this fact was reported by the National Center for Health Statistics at CDC, using telephone interviews from 225,429 households between 1998-2003.The study finds that these immigrants -- who are less likely to have private health insurance than U.S. born residents -- use less health care and have less reason to.
Findings indicate that those U.S. immigrants also less likely to smoke, have lower rates of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure; have less disability and are less likely to acknowledge having mental problems.
However, the study also shows that the longer the immigrants stay in the U.S., the less healthy they become.
For example, 16% of recent Latino immigrants were obese, compared with 22% of Latino immigrants who were in the U.S. for five years or longer and 29.8% of U.S.-born Latinos. The report finds that the rate of hypertension among Latino immigrants increased from 13.4% for recent immigrants to 19.8% for those who were in the U.S. for five years or longer.
According to the report, 3% of recent Asian immigrants had heart disease, compared with 4.6% of those who were in the U.S. for five years or longer and 6.6% of native-born individuals with Asian heritage. Almost 24% of recent black immigrants had hypertension, compared with 27.4% of those who were in the U.S. for five years or longer and 34.7% of native-born blacks, the report finds.
The report did not have any conclusions as to why the health of immigrants deteriorate the longer they stay in the U.S. The report however suggests a phenomenon called the 'healthy immigrant' effect - "healthy people tend to be the ones who migrate. But over time they adopt the lifestyle and food habits of this country, getting less exercise and eating more fast food."
Read Full Report at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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