Mortality differences between migrants and Italians residing in Rome before, during, and in the aftermath of the great recession. A longitudinal cohort study from 2001 to 2015

BACKGROUND: In Europe, one of the most consistent findings is that of migrant mortality advantage in high-income countries. Furthermore, the literature shows that economic shocks, which bring worse health outcomes, can severely affect the most disadvantaged individuals. We analyse differences and changes in all-cause mortality between Italians and migrants residing in Rome before, during, and in the aftermath of the Great Recession (2001–2015) by birth-cohort. METHODS: The analysis is a longitudinal open cohort study. Mortality data come from the Register of the Causes of Death (58,637 deaths) and the population denominator (n = 2,454,410) comes from the Municipal Register of Rome. By comparing three time-periods (2001–2005, 2006–2010, and 2011–2015), we analyse all-cause mortality of Rome residents born, respectively, in the intervals 1937–1976, 1942–1981, 1947–1986 (aged 25–64 years at entry into observation). Computing birth-cohort-specific death rates and applying parametric survival models with age as the time-scale, we compare mortality differences between migrants and Italians by gender, area of origin, and time-period. RESULTS: Overall, we find a lower risk of dying for migrants than Italians regardless of gender (Women: HR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.56–0.66; Men: HR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.45–0.53), and a lower death risk over time for the total population. Nevertheless, such a pattern changes according to gender and migrants’ area of origin. CONCLUSION: Given the relevance of international migrations in Europe, studying migrants’ health has proved increasingly important. The deterioration in migrant health and the gradual weakening of migrants’ mortality advantage is likely to become a public health issue with important consequences for the healthcare system of all European countries. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-12176-8.