Immigrant populations and myocardial infarctions

Immigrants have health advantages over native-born Canadians, but those advantages are threatened by specific risk situations. This study explores cardiovascular health outcomes in districts of Montréal classified by the proportion of immigrants in the population, using a principal component analysis. The first three components are immigration, degree of socio-economic disadvantage and degree of economic disadvantage. The incidence of myocardial infarction is lower in districts with large immigrant populations than in districts dominated by native-born Canadians. Mortality rates are associated with the degree of socio-economic disadvantage, while revascularization is associated with the proportion of seniors in the population.