Health Disparities: The Case of Middle Eastern Immigrants in the United States

Neveen Shafeek Amin, University of Texas at Austin

Although Middle Eastern immigrants in the United States are still small in number compared to other immigrant groups, they are considered one of the fastest growing minority populations. In the last decade, there has been heightened interest in understanding the Middle Eastern immigrant population living in the U.S. especially since the aftermath of September 11, war in Iraq and the most recent Arab Spring uprisings. Questions about their health and well beings have not been answered yet. Using data from the 2005-2010 NHIS, I will test the differences in health outcomes between Middle Eastern immigrants, and US-born non-Hispanic Whites. Preliminary results show no significant differences between the two groups in their self-rated health. Moreover, results show that Middle Eastern immigrants have a significantly lower risk of reporting any functional limitations compared to US-born whites.