Poor health disparities among racialized students in a Canadian university

Abstract

Objective

The short report aims to examine differences in self-rated general health across racialized post-secondary students at a university in Ontario, Canada.

Methods

Binary logistic regression analysis was used to examine poor health as an outcome among racialized students as whole, as well as across Asian, South Asian, Afro-Caribbean and Middle Eastern student groups in comparison to white Caucasian post-secondary students.

Results

After adjusting for several covariates, racialized students as a whole had 2.43 times the odds of reporting poor general health compared to white Caucasian students. Asian (OR = 2.77; CI = 1.84-4.18; p < 0.05) and South Asian (OR = 2.52; CI = 1.56-4.08; p < 0.05) students were significantly more likely to report poor health compared to white Caucasian students.

Conclusion

The findings call for further attention to the health needs of racialized post-secondary students living in Canada and creating campuses where diverse student populations feel safe and systemically included.

Keywords:

• General health status
• health inequities
• higher education
• racialized students

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the University of Toronto students, faculty and staff who volunteered their time and effort on this project including Alyona Koulanova.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Canada and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of University of Toronto.

Funding

Funding was provided by the University of Toronto Learning and Education Advancement Fund (LEAF), Office of the Vice Provost, University of Toronto.