Ethnic Communities and Health Outcomes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The health of South Asian migrants and their descendants: what is the role geographical integration?
IRAS ID
220396
Contact name
Kaivan Munshi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 4 days
Research summary
This study will investigate the impact of a close-knit migrant community, as opposed to integration with the host community, on its members’ health outcomes?
Migration is a politically and socially controversial topic in many countries, including the U.K. This is partly driven by a concern that some migrant groups fail to integrate in their host countries. Close-knit ethnic communities can benefit their members with many forms of economic and social support. However, these advantages must be weighed against the social and economic consequences of this inward-looking behaviour.
To answer this question we begin with a group of immigrants from the Punjab who arrived in the UK in the 1950s, and completed Naturalisation Certificates held at the National Archives (TNA). We will then track the subsequent health outcomes of these migrants and their descendants by linking to administrative and health records held by NHS Digital. Using these data, we will compare migrants with similar individual characteristics but access to different levels of community integration (identified using the characteristics of their place of origin). The results will help identify determinants of health outcomes for migrants and their descendants and, thereby, help plan support and services for ethnic minority groups. This is particularly important for the ethnic group considered in this study, where the incidence of certain conditions such as cardiovascular disease is higher than in the rest of the population. It will also inform debate on and planning for the social integration of more recent migrant groups.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1938
Date of REC Opinion
5 Dec 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion