Health status, disease distributions and medical service utilization among refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the former Soviet Union

This research studied the health cultures of some Southeast Asian who have relocated in Pacific Northwest. Patterns of health care among Southeast Asian and Russian refugees in Oregon were examined to determine how ethnicity and demographic variables might predict refugee patients' clinic utilization. Patients' medical records (from March 1, 1991 to February 29, 1992) were used as the instrument and a representative sample of 743 records were studied.; The Southeast Asians were older than the Russians (p {dollar}<{dollar}.05), had smaller family size (p {dollar}<{dollar}.001) and had a greater number of visits (p {dollar}<{dollar}.05). Overall, the patient population had many similarities in health status; however, the prevalence of certain diseases varied by gender and ethnicity. The findings indicated that age and gender were two important predictors of patients' number of visits. However, the relationship between age, gender and number of visits were weak for the Southeast Asians (r =.15) and rather moderate for the Russians (r =.36).