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Self-rated health and social capital in Iraqi immigrants to Sweden : The MEDIM population-based study

Bennet, Louise LU orcid and Lindström, Martin LU (2018) In Scandinavian Journal of Public Health p.194-194
Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Poor self-rated health is an estimator of quality of life and a predictor of mortality seldom studied in immigrant populations. This work aimed to study self-rated health in relation to social capital, socioeconomic status, lifestyle and comorbidity in immigrants from Iraq - one of the largest non-European immigrant group in Sweden today - and to compare it with the self-rated health of native Swedes.

DESIGN: The study was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted from 2010 to 2012 among citizens of Malmö, Sweden, aged 30-65 years and born in Iraq or Sweden. All participants underwent a health examination and answered questionnaires on self-rated health, social capital, comorbidity, lifestyle and socioeconomic... (More)

OBJECTIVES: Poor self-rated health is an estimator of quality of life and a predictor of mortality seldom studied in immigrant populations. This work aimed to study self-rated health in relation to social capital, socioeconomic status, lifestyle and comorbidity in immigrants from Iraq - one of the largest non-European immigrant group in Sweden today - and to compare it with the self-rated health of native Swedes.

DESIGN: The study was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted from 2010 to 2012 among citizens of Malmö, Sweden, aged 30-65 years and born in Iraq or Sweden. All participants underwent a health examination and answered questionnaires on self-rated health, social capital, comorbidity, lifestyle and socioeconomic status.

RESULTS: In total, 1348 Iraqis and 677 Swedes participated. Poor self-rated health was identified in 43.9% of Iraqis and 21.9% of native Swedes ( p<0.001), with the highest prevalence (55.5%) among Iraqi women. Low social capital was highly prevalent in the immigrants. Female gender showed higher odds of poor self-rated health in Iraqis than in Swedes (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.5, pinteraction=0.024), independent of other risk factors connected to social capital, socioeconomic status, lifestyle or comorbidity.

CONCLUSIONS: Although public health initiatives promoting social capital, socioeconomic status and comorbidity in immigrants are crucial, the excess risk of poor self-rated health in Iraqi women is not fully attributed to known risk factors for self-rated health, but remains to be further explored.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
pages
203 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • pmid:28914587
  • scopus:85042101363
ISSN
1651-1905
DOI
10.1177/1403494817730997
project
The MEDIM project
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
33add79d-89dd-4518-814b-c8dcc29a420f
date added to LUP
2017-10-20 13:14:33
date last changed
2024-03-17 23:18:50
@article{33add79d-89dd-4518-814b-c8dcc29a420f,
  abstract     = {{<p>OBJECTIVES: Poor self-rated health is an estimator of quality of life and a predictor of mortality seldom studied in immigrant populations. This work aimed to study self-rated health in relation to social capital, socioeconomic status, lifestyle and comorbidity in immigrants from Iraq - one of the largest non-European immigrant group in Sweden today - and to compare it with the self-rated health of native Swedes.</p><p>DESIGN: The study was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted from 2010 to 2012 among citizens of Malmö, Sweden, aged 30-65 years and born in Iraq or Sweden. All participants underwent a health examination and answered questionnaires on self-rated health, social capital, comorbidity, lifestyle and socioeconomic status.</p><p>RESULTS: In total, 1348 Iraqis and 677 Swedes participated. Poor self-rated health was identified in 43.9% of Iraqis and 21.9% of native Swedes ( p&lt;0.001), with the highest prevalence (55.5%) among Iraqi women. Low social capital was highly prevalent in the immigrants. Female gender showed higher odds of poor self-rated health in Iraqis than in Swedes (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.5, pinteraction=0.024), independent of other risk factors connected to social capital, socioeconomic status, lifestyle or comorbidity.</p><p>CONCLUSIONS: Although public health initiatives promoting social capital, socioeconomic status and comorbidity in immigrants are crucial, the excess risk of poor self-rated health in Iraqi women is not fully attributed to known risk factors for self-rated health, but remains to be further explored.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bennet, Louise and Lindström, Martin}},
  issn         = {{1651-1905}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{194--194}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Public Health}},
  title        = {{Self-rated health and social capital in Iraqi immigrants to Sweden : The MEDIM population-based study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1403494817730997}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1403494817730997}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}