Testing Ødegaard's selective migration hypothesis: a longitudinal cohort study of risk factors for non-affective psychotic disorders among prospective emigrants

Abstract

This study adds to an increasing body of evidence opposing the selection hypothesis.

Refugee migration and risk of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses: cohort study of 1.3 million people in Sweden

“…2 4 These marked differences persist after adjustment for age, sex, and socioeconomic position, 5 are maintained in the descendants of first generation migrants, 2 and do not seem to be attributable to higher incidence rates in people's country of origin or selective migration. [6][7][8][9] Possible explanations centre on various social determinants of health, including severe or repeated exposure to psychosocial adversities such as trauma, abuse, socioeconomic disadvantage, discrimination, and social isolation. If this is the case, people granted refugee status may be particularly vulnerable to psychosis, given their increased likelihood of having experienced conflict, persecution, violence, or other forms of psychosocial adversity.…”

Psychoses sans Frontieres: towards an interdisciplinary understanding of psychosis risk amongst migrants and their descendants

“…Current evidence strongly refutes this possibility (Lundberg et al 2007; van der Ven et al 2015), notwithstanding the possibility that exposure to pre-migratory traumas partially increases psychosis risk in migrants (Hollander et al 2016). Experiences of trauma or social adversity may be important push factors for some migrants who choose – or are forced – to emigrate.…”

Immigration and psychotic experiences in the United States: Another example of the epidemiological paradox?

“…However, research in Europe over the past two decades does not seem to suggest that unhealthy individuals are any more likely to migrate than healthy individuals (van der Ven et al, 2014;Lundberg et al, 2007;Selten et al, 2002;Cantor-Graae et al, 2003). Also, for over half of a century, the US epidemiological literature has shown that immigrants, who despite higher socioeconomic and demographic risk, paradoxically report similar or lower rates of several chronic health conditions and mental health outcomes when compared with native-born populations (Alegria et al, 2007b;Alegría, 2008;Jasso et al, 2004;Forbes and Frisbie 1991;Markides and Coreil, 1986).…”