Health Service Use of Newcomers to New Brunswick

The province of New Brunswick (NB) has been experiencing a rate of population growth not seen in more than 40 years. Though some of this is attributable to positive inter-provincial migration, the main driver of this increase is immigration from outside Canada.

While immigrants overall tend to be healthier upon their arrival in Canada as compared to the non-immigrant population, studies show an overall decline in immigrant health status over time, often dropping to levels below that of the general population. This trend may be due in part to lower utilization of health care services by immigrant populations because of numerous barriers to access that they may experience. This pattern is of concern for both individual patient health and the potential cost to the health care system in the long term.

This study aims to understand the utilization patterns of health services among newcomers to New Brunswick – that is, recent immigrants who have been resident in NB for less than 5 years.