Health profiles, lifestyles and use of health resources by the immigrant population resident in Spain

Background: Our study aimed at describing the health profiles, life styles and use of health resources by the immigrant population resident in Spain. Methods: Cross-sectional, epidemiological study from the Spanish National Health Survey (NHS) in 2003. We analysed 1506 subjects of both sexes, aged ≥16 years, resident in Spain. Results: The immigrant population present diseases that are similar to those of the autochthonous population. The autochthonous population had significantly higher values for alcohol consumption and smoking (60.8 and 39.6%) than immigrants (39.6 and 27.5%). The percentage of immigrants hospitalized in the preceding 12 months was observed to be higher than that of the Spanish population (11.4 vs. 8.2%, P < 0.05). The immigrant population consumed fewer medical drugs than the Spanish population (42.6 and 49.9%, respectively). Conclusions: Immigrants in Spain display better lifestyle-related parameters, in that they consume less alcohol and smoke less than the autochthonous population. As for the use of health-care resources, while immigrants register higher percentages of hospitalization compared with the Spanish population, there is no evidence of excessive and inappropriate use of other health-care resources.