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.