Health and Well-Being of Immigrant People in Lombardy. Lifestyles and Economic Crisis

With reference to the ISMU Foundation survey realized in September-October 2014 on a sample of 4,000 immigrants in Lombardy, the paper analyzes the data pertaining to some attitudes of care, both with respect to the changes due to the economic crisis and to the lifestyles (tobacco use, diet, physical activity, disease prevention). The study is based on crossing the main variables with some socio-demographic indicators such as gender, age, education, income, years of immigration.

Among the most significant results from the interviews, we point out that:

1. more than 30% of respondents have changed their practices and care strategies, including the renunciation of care, due to the economic italian crisis;

2. care strategies are highly influenced by structural variables such as gender, level of education, income, length of migration, while religious beliefs and geographical origins seem to be related to cultural variables;

3. the results relating to the practices of disease prevention are also very important: the percentage of immigrants in Lombardy that accesses to prevention programs is still very low (about half compared to Italian citizens) and is distributed in a different way with respect to citizenship and geographical origin;

4. The results of this analysis can be also considered as indicators of "inclusion" of the immigrant people in Lombardy and of their chance to access to healthcare and social services.