IMPLICATIONS OF RUSSIAN IMMIGRATION ON MORTALITY PATTERNS IN ISRAEL

Background, Many immigrants from the former USSR arrived in Israel dur ing the period 1989 to 1992 and now comprise 10% of the Israeli popula tion. They are expected to cause a change in the health profile of the country due to their different patterns of disease and an analysis wa s undertaken to predict these expected changes. Method. Official morta lity statistics from Israel and the USSR were compared for differences in major causes of death. Russian mortality rates were then incorpora ted into a calculation taking into account the total size of the Israe li population and the relative size of the immigrant population to giv e the expected overall age-adjusted mortality in israel following the wave of immigration. Results. Reported mortality rates in the European republics of the former USSR were found to be higher, by about 40%, t han mortality rates in Israel. Cardiovascular diseases (40%) and cance r (20%) were found to contribute equally to male mortality in Israel a nd the USSR, but cardiovascular diseases were more important in female s in the USSR (65% versus 44% in Israel). Cerebrovascular disease was three times more common as a cause of death in the USSR than in Israel , in both sexes. Cancer, though similar in overall rate, was different ly distributed in the two countries with lung and stomach cancer predo minating and causing much higher mortality in the former USSR, Project ions from these observations showed an expected immediate increase in mortality of 6% in males and 4.4% in females, assuming the mortality p atterns reported are valid for Russian immigrants to Israel. Conclusio n. Massive immigration to a country has the potential to significantly affect the overall health picture of the host country. Therefore, an evaluation of the health status and health-related habits of the immig rant population is warranted to target areas requiring intervention in order to both protect the host country and to facilitate assimilation .