BackgroundThe globalisation of the economy and the labour markets has resulted in a growing proportion of individuals who find themselves in a precarious labour market situation, especially among the young. This pertains also to the Nordic countries, despite their characterisation as well developed welfare states with active labour market policies. This should be viewed against the background of a number of studies, which have shown that several aspects of precarious employment are detrimental to mental health. However, longitudinal studies from the Nordic region that examine the impact of precarious labour market conditions on mental health in young individuals are currently lacking. The present study aims to examine this impact in a general cohort of Swedish young people.MethodsPostal questionnaires were sent out in 1999/2000 to a stratified random sample of the Scania population, Sweden; the response rate was 58 %. All of those who responded at baseline were invited to follow-ups after 5 and 10 years. Employment precariousness was determined based on detailed questions about present employment, previous unemployment, and self-rated risk of future unemployment. Mental health was assessed by GHQ-12. For this study individuals in the age range of 18–34 years at baseline, who were active in the labour market (employed or seeking job) and had submitted complete data from 1999/2000, 2005, and 2010 on employment precariousness and mental health status, were selected (N = 1135).ResultsForty-two percent of the participants had a precarious employment situation at baseline. Labour market trajectories that included precarious employment in 1999/2000 or 2005 predicted poor mental health in 2010: the incidence ratio ratio was 1.4 (95 % CI: 1.1–2.0) when excluding all individuals with mental health problems at baseline and adjusting for age, gender, social support, social capital, and economic difficulties in childhood. The population attributable fraction regarding poor mental health in the studied age group was 18 %.ConclusionsThis study supported the hypothesis that precarious employment should be regarded as an important social determinant for subsequent development of mental health problems in previously mentally healthy young people.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3358-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objective: To investigate the influence of social capital and individual factors on the level of leisure time physical inactivity in the neighbourhoods. Methods: The public health survey in Malmö 1994 is a cross sectional study. A total of 5600 people aged 20-80 years were invited to answer a postal questionnaire. The participation rate was 71%. A multilevel logistic regression model, with individuals at the first level and neighbourhoods at the second, was performed. The effect (intra-area correlation, cross level modification, and odds ratios) was analysed of individual and neighbourhood (the 1993 migration out of an area as a proxy for social capital) factors on leisure time physical inactivity after adjustment for individual factors. Results: Neighbourhood factors accounted for 5.0% of the crude total variance in physical inactivity. This effect was significantly reduced when the individual factors, especially country of origin, education, and social participation, were included in the model. In contrast, it was not reduced by the introduction of the contextual social capital variable. Conclusion: This study suggests that in the neighbourhoods of Malmö leisure time physical inactivity is mainly affected by individual factors. L eisure time physical activity is an important health determinant. Low levels of leisure time physical activity are associated with low income, 1 2 low education 1-3 and low socioeconomic status. [4][5][6][7][8] In Malmö in southern Sweden, low levels of leisure time physical activity are also associated with immigrant minority group status.9 Different segments of the population experience different difficulties and barriers to leisure time physical activity. Internal barriers, for example, lack of motivation, and lack of leisure time are more common among people in higher educational groups, non-manual social class groups, and those with employment. External barriers, for example, lack of money, lack of transport, and illness/disability are more common in lower educational groups, among manual workers, and among the unemployed. 10Environmental factors also seem to be associated with physical activity. Environmental factors that impede leisure time physical activity include lack of hills in the neighbourhood, absence of enjoyable scenery, and infrequent observation of others exercising in the neighbourhood.11 Improvements of the physical environment may thus promote physical activity in a population.12 It has been shown that community and workplace policies may promote physical activity.13 Social capital and social networks are also regarded as important determinants of the fitness level of the population in the USA, mainly because social activities entail more physical activity than social isolation. In recent decades there has been a stagnation in fitness in the USA in terms of average time per year spent walking for exercise, attendance in exercise classes, and jogging.14 High levels of social capital may also prevent crime. Lack of important social network and social capital enviro...

We compared the risk of severe COVID-19 during two periods 2021 and 2022 when Delta and Omicron, respectively, were the dominating virus variants in Scania county, Sweden. We adjusted for differences in sex, age, comorbidities, prior infection and vaccination. Risk of severe disease from Omicron was markedly lower among vaccinated cases. It was also lower among the unvaccinated but remained high (> 5%) for older people and middle-aged men with two or more comorbidities. Efforts to increase vaccination uptake should continue.

In Malmö, the neighbourhood variance in daily tobacco smoking is mainly affected by individual factors other than individual social capital, especially socioeconomic status measured as level of education.