Does migration exaggerate the relationship between deprivation and limiting long-term illness? A Scottish analysis

Selective internal migration. Does it explain Glasgow's worsening mortality record?

“…An analysis of migratory patterns using 2001 Census data shows that, with the exception of London, most large British cities have been losing population through migration to other parts of the UK (Champion et al, 2007). This was most marked in cities with higher levels of deprivation, overcrowding and burglary, with out-migration rates being highest for those in the professional classes, concurring with previous research showing that the more materially disadvantaged tend to be less geographically mobile (Boyle et al, 2002;Fielding, 1997;Hughes & McCormick, 1994).…”

“…In the current study large geographical units corresponding to cities, groups of cities and the rest of Scotland were used, much larger than the neighbourhoods used in the earlier study. It is recognised that most internal migrants do not move far from their point of origin (Boyle et al, 2002) so movement across the boundaries of larger geographical units will be relatively infrequent and will mask significant population movements within their boundaries. Migration between neighbourhoods is far more common than migration between local government areas in Scotland (Fleming, 2005).…”

The effect of population movement on the spatial distribution of socio-economic and health status: Analysis using the Northern Ireland mortality study

“…However, over a longer time frame, it is likely that the effects of socio-economic migration could impact on the spatial distribution of health and health inequalities. It is interesting to note that, while in this study and a study by Boyle et al (2002) the follow-up of 1 year showed little effect of migration; a number of studies with a longer follow-up did show migration to have an impact on the spatial distribution of health (Brimblecombe et al, 1999;Norman et al, 2005;Connolly et al, 2007).…”

“…However, the impact of this movement on the spatial distribution of socio-economic and health status within countries remains unclear. Boyle et al (2002) investigated whether migration patterns between 1990 and 1991 in Scotland influenced the relationship between health and deprivation. One assertion was that migration could influence the relationship between health and deprivation if it was ''ill'' people who moved towards deprived areas and the healthy who moved towards affluent areas.…”

Socio-geographic mobility and health status: A longitudinal analysis using the National Population Health Survey of Canada

“…These selective migration patterns may over time contribute to greater concentrations of people in poor health living in deprived, rather than advantaged areas. There is some evidence of such socio-geographic 'sorting' of people according to their health status, so health selection may contribute to area inequalities in health (though health selection processes are unlikely to fully explain population health differences between more and less deprived areas) (e.g Boyle, Norman & Rees, 2002;Larson, Bell & Young, 2004;DeVerteuil, Hinds, Lix, et al,2007). Also socio-geographic 'health selection' may operate in quite complex ways; for example, there is some evidence that people in poor health who move home may not always migrate towards more deprived areas ( Norman, Boyle and Rees, 2005).…”