Examining self-rated health of young Central and Eastern Europeans in the context of other world regions

Witvliet, M.; Arah, Onyebuchi A.; Stronks, Karien; Kunst, Anton E.

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckt040

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In agreement with other studies, our results show that persons of Swedish and Western European origin report better health than first generation immigrants (Lanari Table 3 The risk (OR and 95% CIs) for reporting suboptimal self-rated health in all participants adjusted for age, sex, and education, as well as in and four analyses of employed persons stratified by labor market position and additionally adjusted for employment type Odds ratio (95% CI) for suboptimal self-rated health All participants Witvliet et al 2014;Taloyan et al 2006Taloyan et al , 2008Taloyan et al , 2010Johansson et al 2012). In particular, it has been shown that immigrants to Sweden from the former Soviet Bloc, i.e., from Poland and other Eastern European countries, had a twofold odds of reporting psychiatric illness and psychosomatic complaints (Blomstedt et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Immigrant populations across Europe have poorer health than the native populations (Lanari et al 2015;Witvliet et al 2014;Taloyan et al 2006Taloyan et al , 2008Taloyan et al , 2010Johansson et al 2012). A number of explanations for this are plausible and not mutually exclusive: material deprivation and adverse exposures in the country of origin, including the effects of war, strain related to migration itself, as well as exposures in the new country of residence, ranging from overt discrimination to subtle disadvantages (Johansson et al 2012;Borrell et al 2015;Klinthall and Lindstrom 2011;Lindstrom et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does Labor Market Position Explain the Differences in Self-Rated Health between Employed Immigrants and Native Swedes: a Population-Based Study from Southern Sweden

Taloyan

Westerlund

Aronsson

et al. 2018

Int. Migration & Integration

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Many groups of immigrants have worse health than the native population in the host countries. One possible explanation for this is that immigrants are disadvantaged in the labor market, since it has been shown that both precarious and locked-in labor market position can be associated with health problems. However, no published study to date has analyzed the prevalence or consequences of locked-in labor market position among immigrants. The aim of the current study is to analyze the labor market using a population-based survey. More concretely to investigate to what extent immigrants are over-represented in locked-in labor market positions and to what extent this can explain the health disadvantage among immigrants. The study is based on a dataset of the 20,449 individuals, who in the year 2000 were aged 18-64, from a survey of a representative sample of the population in the Scania region with citizen or resident status of southern Sweden, the Public Health in Scania Study conducted by the Unit of Social Medicine at Lund University, Malmö University Hospital (MAS). Respondents born abroad with Swedish parents had the highest employment rate (81.5%), with 73.7% of the employed on permanent contracts followed by participants born in Western Europe excluding the Nordic countries (81.4%), with 66.4% permanently employed, followed by native Swedes (79.1%), with 76.9% permanently employed. The lowest employment rate was observed among those born in the Middle East and North Africa, 49.4%, with 36.8% permanently employed and 19.1% self-employed. Employed participants born in the Middle East or North Africa had an excess risk of poor self-rated health if they were in a double locked-in as well as not locked-in situation, compared with native Swedes in the same labor market situations (OR = 2.18 and 2.04, respectively). In conclusion, it appears that selection into less preferred occupations or workplaces cannot explain the excess risk of poor health among immigrants from outside of Western world. Further studies, including qualitative ones, should provide detailed information from immigrants about their labor market position and the reason behind it.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Labor Market Position Explain the Differences in Self-Rated Health between Employed Immigrants and Native Swedes: a Population-Based Study from Southern Sweden

Taloyan

Westerlund

Aronsson

et al. 2018

Int. Migration & Integration

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“…The assessment of self-perceived health has been found to be useful in evaluating health status in large epidemiologic studies and has been shown to be a strong predictor of mortality in high as well as low socioeconomic groups (32). The pattern of self-perceived poor health across European regions was corroborated by another study using data from the World Health Survey, which found a higher prevalence of poor health in the Eastern European region compared to the Central and Western European regions (33).…”

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 90%

The contribution of health to educational inequalities in exit from paid employment in five European regions

Schuring¹,

Schram²,

Robroek³

et al. 2019

Scand J Work Environ Health

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In all European regions, lower-educated workers have higher risks of leaving paid employment due to disability benefits and unemployment than those with higher education. This disadvantaged position of lower-educated persons is primarily due to a higher prevalence of poor health. Given the presence of health problems, the risk of exit from paid employment is comparable across educational levels.Objectives The primary aim of this study was to investigate educational inequalities in health-related exit from paid employment through different pathways in five European regions. A secondary objective was to estimate the proportion of different routes out of paid employment that can be attributed to poor health across educational groups in five European regions. MethodsLongitudinal data from 2005 up to 2014 were obtained from the four-year rotating panel of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), including 337 444 persons with 1 056 779 observations from 25 countries. Cox proportional hazards models with censoring for competing events were used to examine associations between health problems and exit from paid employment. The population attributable fraction was calculated to quantify the impact of health problems on labor force exit. ResultsIn all European regions, lower-educated workers had higher risks of leaving paid employment due to disability benefits [relative inequality (RI) 3.3-6.2] and unemployment (RI 1.9-4.5) than those with higher education. The fraction of exit from paid employment that could be attributed to poor health varied between the five European regions among lower-educated persons from 0.06-0.21 and among higher-educated workers from 0.03-0.09. The disadvantaged position of lower-educated persons on the labor market was primarily due to a higher prevalence of poor health. ConclusionIn all European regions, educational inequalities exist in health-related exclusion from paid employment. Policy measures are needed to reduce educational inequalities in exit from paid employment due to poor health.

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“…[3][4][5][6][7] A main starting point for much of this work is the finding that educational inequalities in mortality in the Eastern parts of Europe are larger than in the West [8] , along with findings that poor SRH is more prevalent in Eastern versus Western Europe [9] . Both Toch et al [4] and Eikemo et al [3] however, do not find larger occupational inequalities in poor SRH in the East.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational inequalities in self-rated health and non-communicable diseases in different regions of Europe: findings from the European Social Survey (2014) special module on the social determinants of health

McNamara

Toch-Marquardt

Balaj

et al. 2017

European Journal of Public Health

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BackgroundSocioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of non--communicable diseases (NCDs) are evident across European populations. Several previous studies have addressed the question of whether occupational inequalities in health differ across European regions. It is uncertain however, the degree to which occupational inequalities in NCDs are similar or dissimilar across different European regions. MethodsUsing 2014/15 European Social Survey data from 20 countries, this paper examines occupational inequalities in poor self--rated health (SRH) and 14 self--reported NCDs separately for women and men, by European region: heart/circulatory problems, high blood pressure, back pain, arm/hand pain, foot/leg pain, allergies, breathing problems, stomach/digestion problems, skin conditions, diabetes, severe headaches, cancer, obesity and depression. Age--controlled adjusted risk ratios were calculated and separately compared a working class and intermediate occupational group with a salariat group. ResultsWorking class Europeans appear to have the highest risk of reporting poor SRH and a number of NCDs. We find inequalities in some NCDS to be the largest in the Northern region, suggesting further evidence of a Nordic paradox. Like some previous work, we did not find larger inequalities in poor SRH in the Central/East region. However, we did find the largest inequalities in this region for some NCDs. Our results do not align completely with previous work which finds smaller health inequalities in Southern Europe. ConclusionsThis work provides a first look at occupational inequalities across a range of NCDs for European men and women by region. Future work is needed to identify the underlying determinants behind regional differences.

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Examining self-rated health of young Central and Eastern Europeans in the context of other world regions

Abstract: The East-West health gap seems more pronounced for the Former Soviet Union young adults, rather than Central Europeans. It appears as though young adults from Central Europe might have been somewhat insulated from the ill-health effects of communism.

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

Does Labor Market Position Explain the Differences in Self-Rated Health between Employed Immigrants and Native Swedes: a Population-Based Study from Southern Sweden

Does Labor Market Position Explain the Differences in Self-Rated Health between Employed Immigrants and Native Swedes: a Population-Based Study from Southern Sweden

The contribution of health to educational inequalities in exit from paid employment in five European regions

Occupational inequalities in self-rated health and non-communicable diseases in different regions of Europe: findings from the European Social Survey (2014) special module on the social determinants of health

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