Introduction
Nearly one in 3 New South Wales residents was born overseas and around one in 5 speaks a language other than English at home. The composition and age structure of the overseas-born population reflects patterns of migration. After World War II there was a large migration of Europeans to New South Wales, initially from Eastern Europe then from the United Kingdom and Northern Europe, Greece, Italy and the former Yugoslavia. These were followed by people from the Middle East, mainly from Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt. More recently migrants have come in large numbers from Asian countries, particularly China, Vietnam and the Philippines.[1]
This is the first report on the health of adults by country of birth from the New South Wales Population Health Survey. The report uses data collected between 2002 and 2005, which is compared with data collected in 1997 and 1998 wherever possible. It will assist the monitoring of health, and policy development and service planning, at the statewide and area health service level.
New South Wales Population Health Survey
The New South Wales Population Health Survey is a continuous survey using computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) that began in 2002. It is conducted between February and December each year. The target population is all state residents living in households with private telephones. The target sample is approximately 1,500 people in each area health service each year (a total annual sample of 12,000).
Households are contacted using list assisted random digit dialling. Up to 7 calls are made to establish initial contact with a household and up to 5 calls are made to contact a selected respondent. One person from the household is randomly-selected for inclusion in the survey. Carers or parents of children aged 0–15 years are interviewed on their behalf. Trained telephone interviewers carry out the interviews. Most interviews are conducted in English but the survey is also conducted in five other languages: Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Italian and Vietnamese.
The sample is weighted to adjust for differences in the probabilities of selection among subjects and to adjust for differences between the age and sex structure of the sample and Australian Bureau of Statistics mid-year population estimates for New South Wales. This enables the calculation of prevalence estimates for the state population rather than for the respondents selected. The weighted sample populations for each country of birth were compared with the mid-year population estimates for each country of birth. There was generally little difference between the two.
Sample size
Between 2002 and 2005, 56,677 respondents participated in the survey, of which 46,534 were adults aged 16 years and over. Of these adults 9,187 (19.7 per cent) were born overseas. When the sample was weighted to the New South Wales population the proportion of adults aged 16 years and over who were born overseas was 25.1 per cent, which is close to their representation in the overall residential population of the state (25.2 per cent) according to the 2001 Census.[1]
Although the survey collected information from people from over 70 different countries, only countries from which there were at least 130 responents were included in this report. Generally the countries of birth reported correspond with the main countries that people have come to Australia from with populations in New South Wales of around 30,000 or greater. These include the United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, Vietnam, Italy, Lebanon, the Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Greece, Germany, South Africa, Netherlands and the United States.
There were different numbers of respondents from each of these countries: 3,190 from the United Kingdom, 709 from New Zealand, 344 from China, 175 from Vietman, 320 from Italy, 148 from Lebanon, 261 from the Philippines, 267 from India, 135 from Hong Kong, 140 from Greece, 348 from Germany, 200 from South Africa, 232 from Netherlands, and 162 from the United States.
Health indicators
The report describes 25 health indicators, which are:
Health behaviours
Alcohol risk drinking, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, type of milk consumed, physical activity, immunisation against influenza, immunisation against pneumococcal disease, smoking status, smoke-free households, and homes with a smoke alarm or detector.
Health status
Self-rated health, current asthma, diabetes or high blood glucose, oral health (dental visits and all natural teeth missing), overweight and obesity, high blood pressure, psychological distress, and high cholesterol.
Health services
Difficulties getting health care, hospital admissions, and emergency department presentations.
Social capital
Attended a community event, trust most people, and visit neighbours.
These indicators are presented in graphical and tabular form. For each indicator the report includes 2 bar charts of the indicator, one by age group and sex and the other by health area and sex.
The tables below the charts present the indicator estimates for males, females and persons and includes the 95 per cent confidence intervals (CI). The 95 per cent confidence interval provides a range of values that should contain the actual value 95 per cent of the time. In general, a wider confidence interval reflects less certainty in the indicator estimate. The width of the confidence interval relates to the differing sample sizes for each country of birth. Wide confidence bands mean that although there may be a large difference between the estimates because of the small sample size it is not significantly different. If confidence intervals do not overlap then the observed estimates are significantly different.
Further information
For further information about the New South Wales Population Health Survey, or any of the reports produced from the survey data, visit the website at www.health.nsw.gov.au/public-health/survey/hsurvey.html.
References
1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Migration, Australia 2004–05. ABS Catalogue no. 3412.0. Canberra: ABS, 2006.
| Source: | New South Wales Population Health Survey 2006 (HOIST). Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health. |
| Print version: | Although this page can be printed directly from your web browser, a higher quality version is available as a PDF file that can be printed or viewed on screen. |
| Produced by: | Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Population Health Division, NSW Department of Health. |
| Last updated on: | 1 June 2006 |