TABLE 1.

Characteristics of Adults Aged 19 to 64 Years, by Immigration Status: Medicare Expenditure Panel Survey, 2003

		Established Immigranta		Recent Immigrantb
	US Born, No. or %	No. or %	P	No. or %	P
Unweighted sample size	14 446	3 166		1 461
Mean age, y	40.7	42.0	<.001	33.0	<.001
Race/ethnicity
Hispanic	6.7	45.3	<.001	51.9	<.001
Non-Hispanic Black	12.5	7.4	<.001	7.4	<.001
White/Other	79.8	24.0	<.001	19.8	<.001
Asian	1.0	23.4	<.001	20.9	<.001
Women	51.3	49.9	NS	48.8	<0.1
Married	55.8	65.2	<.001	59.6	<0.1
Health measures
Activity limitationsc	23.1	15.3	<.001	6.4	<.001
Chronic conditionsd	31.8	24.2	<.001	8.4	<.001
Fair or poor health	11.4	12.0	NS	5.6	<.001
Income
Below 100% of poverty level	10.2	12.6	<0.1	14.8	<.001
100%–199% of poverty level	13.7	20.7	<.001	31.4	<.001
200%–399% of poverty level	30.4	30.1	NS	30.6	NS
400% or more of poverty level	45.7	36.7	<.001	23.2	<.001
Employed	76.2	75.6	NS	73.6	<.05
Education
Less than high school diploma	11.0	3.0	<.001	36.6	<.001
High school diploma	54.4	37.4	<.001	31.6	<.001
Any college	34.6	32.6	NS	31.8	NS
Region
Northeast	18.1	22.6	<.001	19.7	NS
Midwest	24.9	11.5	<.001	11.3	<.001
South	37.2	24.8	<.001	36.5	NS
West	19.9	41.1	<.001	32.4	<.001

Note. NS = not statistically significant. Significance levels compare mean values for immigrants to mean values for US-born adults.

^aDefined as having lived 10 or more years in the United States.

^bDefined as having lived fewer than 10 years in the United States.

^cActivity limitations include activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and other functional or sensory limitations.

^dChronic conditions include diagnosed arthritis, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and emphysema.