Foreign-born women living in the United States are more likely to die of heart disease than native-born American women, according to a recent study by the Milano Graduate School at New School University in New York.
While immigrants generally have a lower death rate from most diseases than native-born residents, the study found that among foreign-born women, there were 162 deaths per 100,000 due to congestive heart disease compared with 122 per 100,000 among U.S.-born women.
For stroke, the death rate was 58 per 100,000 foreign-born women compared with 49 per 100,000 native-born. The study data were based on all recorded deaths during 1997, a database maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Marianne Fahs, director of the Health Policy Research Center at the Milano Graduate School, says this study makes a significant statement about how access to health care, particularly in cities with large immigrant populations, affects public health.
Fahs and the Milano researchers believe that foreign-born women may have higher rates of heart disease because of less access to health insurance and medical care.
“We’re the only country left in the industrialized world that does not have government-supported universal health care, and this is hard evidence that outcomes are related to access to health insurance,” she says.
Fahs adds that a new demographic mix of immigrants also could have contributed to the higher rate of heart disease. India and Pakistan accounted for a larger proportion of new U.S. residents in recent years, as compared with China, Korea and other Asian countries where traditional diets are low in fat, and therefore more heart-healthy.