Acculturation status and hypertension among Asian immigrants in Canada
- M S Kaplan1,
- C Chang1,
- J T Newsom2,
- B H McFarland3
- 1School of Community Health, Portland State University, Portland, USA
- 2Institute on Aging, Portland State University
- 3Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland
- Correspondence to: Dr S Kaplan, School of Community Health, Portland State University, Portland, PO Box 751, Portland, Oregon 97207, USA; kaplanm{at}pdx.edu
- Accepted 18 December 2001
Some evidence of a protective function of immigrant status against chronic illness is found in the literature.1 However, as immigrants' period of residence and level of acculturation increase, so does the prevalence of chronic conditions.2,3 One classic study found that more traditional Japanese compared with their Westernised counterparts had a lower coronary heart disease prevalence rate.4 A MEDLINE/PubMed search found few published studies of the effects of acculturation on hypertension with a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants. Therefore, the primary objective of our research was to examine the hypothesis that prevalence of hypertension among Asian immigrants differs by acculturation status.
METHODS
A multiple logistic regression was conducted to assess the independent effects of acculturation and other factors on hypertension. We analysed data from the 1996–97 Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS). The sample size of Asian immigrants available from the …
