Health-related quality of life, ethnicity and perceived discrimination among immigrants and natives in Spain.

Objectives: The current study compares subjective mental and physical health among native Spaniards and immigrant groups, and examines the effects of ethnicity and perceived discrimination (PD) on subjective health in immigrants.

Design: Two random samples of 1250 immigrants to Spain from Colombia, Bolivia, Romania, Morocco, and Sub-Saharan Africa and 500 native Spaniards, aged between 18 and 65, were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Several hierarchical regression analyses of ethnicity and PD on subjective mental and physical health (assessed using the health-related quality of life items, HRQLSF-12) were carried out separately for men and women.