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The Association between Subjective and Clinical Indicators of Health in Prospective Vietnamese Migrants

Division of Health Sciences, Curtin University of Technology, Rochelle.Watkins{at}curtin.edu.au

AJ Plant, MBBS, PhD

Division of Health Sciences, Curtin University of Technology

D. Sang, PhD

Department of Psychology, The University of Western Australia

TF O'Rourke, MD, MPH

International Organization for Migration

AA Eltom, MD, MPH

International Organization for Migration

J. Streeton, MBBS, FRACP

Consultant Physician, Melbourne, Australia

B. Gushulak, BSc, MD

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1669 prospective Vietnamese migrants who had applied to migrate to Australia to describe the association between self-reported health status and several commonly used clinical indicators of health among prospective Vietnamese migrants. Participants were recruited from the International Organization for Migration's standardised medical screening program.' We found that clinical indicators of health are related to self-reported health status among prospective Vietnamese migrants. Self-reported health status, which was assessed using a modified version of the Short Form-36 health survey, was significantly associated with clinical indicators of health, including the number of body system abnormalities identified during medical screening, evidence of tuberculosis on chest radiograph, and self-reported weight loss over the previous six months. These findings support the validity of self-reported health status assessment among prospective migrants, although the assessment of subjective indicators of health during compulsory medical screening may be limited by reporting bias. Asia Pac J Public Health 2005: 17(1): 46-50.

Key Words: Assessment • health status • migrant • self-report • Vietnamese.

Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, Vol. 17, No. 1, 46-50 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/101053950501700111


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