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We investigated the prevalence and predictors of positive tuberculin skin test (TST) results among prospective Vietnamese migrants. We interviewed and medically screened 1395 Vietnamese people aged over 15 years who had applied to migrate to Australia. Approximately 44% of applicants had an induration of 10 mm or more, and 18.6% had an induration of 15 mm or more. A positive tuberculin skin test at 5 mm, 10 mm and 15 mm of induration cut-points was significantly associated with age (OR 1.01-1.02 per year) and duration of smoking (OR 1.03-1.12 per year). Smoking appears to be an important factor associated with increased susceptibility to mycobacterial infection. It is not yet clear whether the increased tuberculin reactivity associated with smoking reflects an increased risk of tuberculosis among these migrants.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Vietnamese children and adolescents living in Perth, Western Australia. Design, participants and setting: A list of Vietnamese households was drawn from Perth telephone directories. A computer program generated a systematic probability sample of households. All children and adolescents aged 9–17 in these households were invited to participate in the study. Children and their parents were interviewed in their home using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, version 2.3 (DISC‐2.3). The child version (DISC‐C) was used for children and the parent version (DISC‐P) for adults. The study was conducted between July and December 1997. Main outcome measures: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents, based on DISC‐C and DISC‐P data. Results: Results were based on the 519 children (89.2%) for whom complete data were available. Twenty‐three parents (4.4%) reported that their child had one or more disorders on the DISC‐P, 82 children (15.8%) reported one or more disorders on the DISC‐C, and 18.3% of children were reported to have a disorder on either the DISC‐C or the DISC‐P. Parent–child concordance on specific diagnoses was very low (0.6%). The great majority of disorders reported were anxiety disorders, especially simple and social phobias. Conclusions: The combined prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Vietnamese children aged 9–17 was similar to that found among children in Western Australia's general population. Vietnamese children in our study were much more likely to report symptoms of a psychiatric disorder than were their parents.

We aimed to test the psychometric properties of a culturally relevant translation of the medical outcomes study short form-36 health survey (SF-36) with prospective Vietnamese migrants. The translated survey was interviewer-administered to 1610 Vietnamese aged over 15 years who had applied to migrate to Australia. All but two SF-36 items had good discriminant validity, and all eight scales of the Vietnamese version of the SFS-36 had good discriminant validity, which supports the use of SF-36 constructs to assess self-reported health status among Vietnamese migrants. However, the mental health, vitality and bodily pain scales demonstrated low internal consistency. This finding is likely to be a product of the increased diversity among scale items following modifications to improve cultural relevance. Further modifications to improve the internal consistency of these scales are required.

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