Lifestyle and Migration as a Risk Factor Among Adult Foreigners in Vilnius and Kaunas Cities

Abstract: Over the last decade the pattern of the world-wide migration has changed dramatically. There were no studies carried on lifestyle and migration as a risk factor in itself among well-off foreigners who came to Lithuania on basis of long term business or studies. Purpose. The purpose of the survey was to assess lifestyle (smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activities) and migration as a risk factor in itself among adult well-off foreigners in Vilnius and Kaunas cities. Object. The well-off foreigners from Europe and Israel were investigated. Age of the foreigners was 18 years and over. Method. The survey was based on convenience sampling. Aself developed questionnairewas used for sampling information from 50 well-off foreigners. A “real life” convenience sample was used. Results. Results about every parameter were gained from data in home country and in Lithuania. 1. Results which were not influenced by migration process were smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activities. Among foreigners 77 percent were non smokers neither in Lithuania nor in home country. We revealed that 34 percent of foreigners were not drinking beer at all, 68 percent of respondents were not using strong drinks. 2. Results under the impact of migration were the following: assessment of own health, incidence of diseases and foreigners opinion about factors affecting their health after migration. The rate of subjective health of foreigners was higher in home country than in Lithuania after migration. We pointed out that 70 percent of foreigners were exposed to long lasting stress after migration. Discussions. The results of our study increased understanding of motivations for health hazard behaviour i.e. smoking, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity. Though all foreigners assessed their health status as reasonably good, nearly all of them mentioned deterioration of it after migration. We revealed that the impairment in their own health status was due to long-lasting stress and instability in surroundings. Conclusions. The study showed that positive behaviour habits (scarce smoking, moderate alcohol, and dynamic physical activity) of well-off foreigners could act as an example of a healthier lifestyle for Lithuanian people although migration to Lithuania decreased the migrants’ subjective health. Migration by itself appeared to be an important risk factor for health status of foreigners and further investigations are needed in this field.