Poor health disparities among racialized students in a Canadian university

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.