Mortality and Morbidity

Mortality and morbidity are often used as indicators of health status. Mortality is a unique and final event that is clearly defined and measurable. Morbidity events refer to diseases and illnesses. Both of these indicators can be used to look at the immigrant health.

Assessing immigrant health in terms of mortality and morbidity is a complex issue for a number of reasons. First, there are major deficiencies in national health statistics. Often the immigrant population as recorded in the official statistical systems does not differentiate between naturalized immigrants, permanent residents, nonimmigrants (e.g., temporary workers, students, and visitors), and illegal immigrants. Second, immigrant populations are heterogeneous, not only in terms of national origin but also racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic composition, even from within the same country. Third, migration selectivity renders the interpretation of immigrant health problematic. Finally, due to limitations of data, it is...