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Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: Studies have found a ‘healthy-migrant effect’ (HME) among arriving migrants, that is, a better health status compared with others in the home country, but also in comparison with the population in the host country. The aims were to investigate whether the HME hypothesis is applicable to...

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Autores principales: Helgesson, Magnus, Johansson, Bo, Nordquist, Tobias, Vingård, Eva, Svartengren, Magnus
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6429895/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30878993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026972
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author Helgesson, Magnus
Johansson, Bo
Nordquist, Tobias
Vingård, Eva
Svartengren, Magnus
author_facet Helgesson, Magnus
Johansson, Bo
Nordquist, Tobias
Vingård, Eva
Svartengren, Magnus
author_sort Helgesson, Magnus
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Studies have found a ‘healthy-migrant effect’ (HME) among arriving migrants, that is, a better health status compared with others in the home country, but also in comparison with the population in the host country. The aims were to investigate whether the HME hypothesis is applicable to the Swedish context, that is, if health outcomes differed between a group of mainly labour migrants (Western migrants) and a group of mainly refugee/family reunion migrants (non-Western migrants) compared with the native Swedish population, and if there were any correlations between labour market attachment (LMA) and these health outcomes. DESIGN: Register-based, longitudinal cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: The cohort was defined on 31 December 1990 and consisted of all migrants aged 18–47 years who arrived in Sweden in 1985–1990 (n=74 954) and a reference population of native Swedes (n=1 405 047) in the same age span. They were followed for three consecutive 6-year periods (1991–1996, 1997–2002 and 2003–2008) and were assessed for five measures of health: hospitalisation for cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders, mortality, disability pension, and sick leave. RESULTS: Western migrants had, compared with native Swedes, lower or equal HRs for all health measures during all time periods, while non-Western migrants displayed higher or equal HRs for all health measures, except for mortality, during all time periods. Age, educational level, occupation and LMA explained part of the difference between migrants and native Swedes. High LMA was associated with higher HRs for cardiovascular disorders among Western migrants, higher HRs of psychiatric disorders among non-Western migrants and higher HRs of mortality among both migrant groups compared with native Swedes. CONCLUSIONS: There were indications of a HME among Western migrants, while less proof of a HME among non-Western migrants. Stratification for LMA and different migrant categories showed some interesting differences, and measurements of the HME may be inconclusive if not stratified by migrant category or other relevant variables.
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spelling pubmed-64298952019-04-05 Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study. Helgesson, Magnus Johansson, Bo Nordquist, Tobias Vingård, Eva Svartengren, Magnus BMJ Open Public Health OBJECTIVES: Studies have found a ‘healthy-migrant effect’ (HME) among arriving migrants, that is, a better health status compared with others in the home country, but also in comparison with the population in the host country. The aims were to investigate whether the HME hypothesis is applicable to the Swedish context, that is, if health outcomes differed between a group of mainly labour migrants (Western migrants) and a group of mainly refugee/family reunion migrants (non-Western migrants) compared with the native Swedish population, and if there were any correlations between labour market attachment (LMA) and these health outcomes. DESIGN: Register-based, longitudinal cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: The cohort was defined on 31 December 1990 and consisted of all migrants aged 18–47 years who arrived in Sweden in 1985–1990 (n=74 954) and a reference population of native Swedes (n=1 405 047) in the same age span. They were followed for three consecutive 6-year periods (1991–1996, 1997–2002 and 2003–2008) and were assessed for five measures of health: hospitalisation for cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders, mortality, disability pension, and sick leave. RESULTS: Western migrants had, compared with native Swedes, lower or equal HRs for all health measures during all time periods, while non-Western migrants displayed higher or equal HRs for all health measures, except for mortality, during all time periods. Age, educational level, occupation and LMA explained part of the difference between migrants and native Swedes. High LMA was associated with higher HRs for cardiovascular disorders among Western migrants, higher HRs of psychiatric disorders among non-Western migrants and higher HRs of mortality among both migrant groups compared with native Swedes. CONCLUSIONS: There were indications of a HME among Western migrants, while less proof of a HME among non-Western migrants. Stratification for LMA and different migrant categories showed some interesting differences, and measurements of the HME may be inconclusive if not stratified by migrant category or other relevant variables. BMJ Publishing Group 2019-03-15 /pmc/articles/PMC6429895/ /pubmed/30878993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026972 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
spellingShingle Public Health
Helgesson, Magnus
Johansson, Bo
Nordquist, Tobias
Vingård, Eva
Svartengren, Magnus
Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.
title Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.
title_full Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.
title_fullStr Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.
title_full_unstemmed Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.
title_short Healthy migrant effect in the Swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.
title_sort healthy migrant effect in the swedish context: a register-based, longitudinal cohort study.
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6429895/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30878993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026972
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