Racism, other discriminations and effects on health

Abstract

We study the probability of perceived racism/other forms of discrimination on immigrant and Spanish populations within different public spheres and show their effect on the health of immigrants using a cross-sectional design (ENS-06). Variables: perceived racism/other forms of discrimination (exposure), socio-demographic (explicative), health indicators (dependent). Frequencies, prevalences, and bivariate/multivariate analysis were conducted separately for men (M) and women (W). We estimated the health problems attributable to racism through the population attributable proportion (PAP). Immigrants perceived more racism than Spaniards in workplace (ORM = 48.1; 95 % CI 28.2-82.2), and receiving health care (ORW = 48.3; 95 % CI 24.7-94.4). Racism and other forms of discrimination were associated with poor mental health (OR M = 5.6; 95 % CI 3.9-8.2; ORW = 7.3; 95 % CI 4.1-13.0) and injury (ORW = 30.6; 95 % CI 13.6-68.7). It is attributed to perceived racism the 80.1 % of consumption of psychotropics (M), and to racism with other forms of discrimination the 52.3 % of cases of injury (W). Racism plays a role as a health determinant. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York.