Health and predictors of health among older Chinese-Canadians in British Columbia

Objective: In an aging and culturally diverse society, medical professionals need to understand the health status of ethnic minority older adults.
Method: Data collected by questioning 765 randomly selected older Chinese-Canadians in Vancouver and Victoria were extracted from a multisite study for further analysis, using multiple regression (stepwise) analysis and the multivariate General Linear Model.
Results: The older Chinese-Canadians in Vancouver were less healthy than their counterparts in Victoria. The health discrepancies may be associated with several factors, including more service barriers, lower level of self-rated financial adequacy, and a less positive attitude toward aging.
Conclusions: Strategies for reducing the Vancouver-Victoria health discrepancies might focus on restructuring the service delivery system to enhance compatibility between service providers and service users of different cultural backgrounds, minimizing service barriers, and fostering a positive attitude toward aging.