"Immigrants smoke fewer cigarettes, poll lower rates of obesity and hypertension, and complain of fewer chronic ailments or problems."
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A 2002 statistical analysis, conducted by Gopal Singh of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Mohammed Siahpush of Australia, targets this surprising situation and provides intriguing, if not completely conclusive, answers. The study, an analysis of two major national health surveys, sifts through a complex web of variables to produce dramatic findings. Controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors, the study divides the subjects into four broad racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Asians/Pacific Islanders (APIs), and Hispanics. In each of these groups, the foreign-born have lower mortality risks than their native counterparts, meaning that their chance of death from all diseases is lower. Immigrants, therefore, have a longer average lifespan. The difference is greatest among blacks, where immigrants experience a 52 percent lower mortality risk. This translates into nine years of additional life. Foreign-born Hispanics have a 26 percent lower mortality risk, and whites and APIs have 16 percent lower mortality than their corresponding US-born groups.
Interestingly, the study also indicates that each minority group, with the exception of US-born blacks, has a lower mortality risk than US-born whites, the majority in the surveys. Native blacks have an 8 percent higher risk than native whites in the same income group.
In order to explain these discrepancies, Singh and Siahpush probe into the specific causes of mortality in each group. The research compares the prevalence of characteristic health behaviors between the groups, recording smoking rates and dietary habits. Cardiovascular disease and cancer, which respectively account for 40 percent and 23 percent of all deaths in the United States, are much less likely to afflict immigrants than the US-born. The data on infectious disease, traditionally a scourge of immigrant populations, is inconclusive. Regardless, the majority of deaths in America come from chronic disease, and in this category, the data shows that immigrants have a serious advantage.
Their success shouldn’t be surprising. Immigrants smoke fewer cigarettes, poll lower rates of obesity and hypertension, and complain of fewer chronic ailments or problems. The difference is dramatic – for instance, US-born blacks smoke three times as many cigarettes as do immigrant blacks. Smoking, obesity, hypertension, and chronic conditions all lead to cardiovascular problems and cancer, and these data confirm an important, surprising conclusion of the paper, that “socioeconomic and demographic variables [such] as education, income, employment status, marital status, and place of residence” do not affect mortality statistics for immigrants. Instead, it is behavioral characteristics that contribute most to their health.
Simply put, immigrants lead healthier lives than people born in the United States. This simple explanation is evident in nutrition, smoking, alcohol, drug use, and physical fitness statistics. These health habits, essentially cultural in nature, enable immigrants to thrive in a free, hygienic, and modern America. Another important cultural factor is the social support of immigrant communities. Strong family ties and social interaction, compensating for immigrants’ isolation from their homeland and culture, may have a direct impact on health. When families look after each other, they provide a support network for addressing health problems, influencing behavior, and reducing isolation and stress.
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