Morbidity, Self-Perceived Health and Mortality Among non-Western Immigrants and Their Descendants in Denmark in a Life Phase Perspective

Abstract

To enable preventive policies to address health inequity across ethnic groups, this review overviews the current knowledge on morbidity, self-perceived health and mortality among non-Western immigrants and their descendants in Denmark. A systematic search in PUBMED, SCOPUS, Embase and Cochrane as well as in national databases was undertaken. The final number of publications included was 45. Adult immigrants had higher morbidity, but lower mortality compared to ethnic Danes. Immigrant children had higher mortality and morbidity compared to ethnic Danes. Immigrants' health is critical to reach the political goals of integration. Despite non-Western immigrants' higher morbidity than ethnic Danes, no national strategy targeting immigrants' health has been implemented. Future research should include elderly immigrants and children, preferably employing a life-course perspective to enhance understanding of parallel processes of societal adaptation and health.

<p>The Relationship of Sleep Duration with Ethnicity and Chronic Disease in a Canadian General Population Cohort</p>

“…Our findings are consistent with the many prior studies that have documented the close and potentially causal relationships of both sleep duration and ethnicity with a range of morbidities, [44][45][46] including cardio-metabolic outcomes, [47][48][49][50] hypertension, 51,52 stroke, 53,54 and depression. 55,56 Our findings and those of prior studies highlight the potential clinical impact of ethnicity-driven short and long sleep duration.…”

Living with Diabetes: Personal Interviews with Pakistani Women in Norway

“…The present thesis findings showed that the three patient groups were no exception and to have had challenges with living with T2DM in one way or another. Similar with former findings on self-perceived health [244,245], the findings in the quantitative studies showed that onethird of the Emirati and the Pakistani women reported having "poor" or "very poor" overall health. For the Kurdish participants, who expressed their experiences with T2DM management during focus group discussions, living with T2DM was described as stressful.…”

Adult mortality among second-generation immigrants in France: Results from a nationally representative record linkage study

“…The study's most important result -a statistically significant (p<.01) excess mortality among second-generation North African-origin adult males -is based on only 22 deaths in the ELM. Even though this result is consistent with other European studies (Scott and Timaeus 2013;De Grande et al 2014;Manhica et al 2015;Vandenheede et al 2015;Wallace 2016;Jervelund et al 2017), our study calls for replication in the French context. However, we are not aware of any alternative source of mortality data in France with variables allowing the proper identification of second-generation immigrants.…”

“…In proportionate terms, second-generation immigrants represented 6.0% of the total EU population in 2014, up from 5.2% in 2008 (Agafiţei and Ivan 2017). Although research is sparse, second-generation status has been identified in previous studies as an important source of health disparities in EU countries, with important disadvantages in mortality outcomes for certain second-generation subgroups, especially those of non-EU origin (Harding and Balarajan 1996;Razum et al 1998;Tarnutzer, Bopp, and Grp 2012;Scott and Timaeus 2013;De Grande et al 2014;Manhica et al 2015;Vandenheede et al 2015;Wallace 2016;Jervelund et al 2017). Explanations for these mortality disadvantages include lower socioeconomic status, detrimental health behaviors, and chronic stress arising from perceived discrimination (Scott and Timaeus 2013;De Grande et al 2014;Manhica et al 2015;Vandenheede et al 2015;Wallace 2016;Jervelund et al 2017).…”

“…Although research is sparse, second-generation status has been identified in previous studies as an important source of health disparities in EU countries, with important disadvantages in mortality outcomes for certain second-generation subgroups, especially those of non-EU origin (Harding and Balarajan 1996;Razum et al 1998;Tarnutzer, Bopp, and Grp 2012;Scott and Timaeus 2013;De Grande et al 2014;Manhica et al 2015;Vandenheede et al 2015;Wallace 2016;Jervelund et al 2017). Explanations for these mortality disadvantages include lower socioeconomic status, detrimental health behaviors, and chronic stress arising from perceived discrimination (Scott and Timaeus 2013;De Grande et al 2014;Manhica et al 2015;Vandenheede et al 2015;Wallace 2016;Jervelund et al 2017). These patterns of excess mortality contrast with the situation of immigrants per se (i.e., the first generation) who tend to experience a mortality advantage despite lower socioeconomic status, a well-known paradox explained in part by migration selection effects (also referred to as the "healthy migrant effect") (Razum et al 1998;Palloni and Morenoff 2001;Bourbeau 2002;Khlat and Darmon 2003;Crimmins et al 2005;Gushulak 2007;Riosmena, Wong, and Palloni 2013;Vang et al 2017).…”