International journal of epidemiology
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Comparative Study
Longitudinal study of mortality among refugees in Sweden.
Refugee immigrants have poorer health than other immigrant groups but little is known about their mortality. A comparison of mortality among refugees and non-refugee immigrants is liable to exaggerate the former if the latter includes labour migrants, whose mortality risk may be lower than that of the general population. To avoid bias, labour migrants are not included in this study. The aim was to investigate mortality risks among refugees compared with non-labour non-refugee immigrants in Sweden. ⋯ Refugee men in Sweden have a higher mortality risk in cardiovascular and external causes compared with male non-labour non-refugee immigrants. This study suggests that the refugee experience resembles other stressors in terms of the association with cardiovascular mortality.
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Many meta-analyses contain only a small number of studies, which makes it difficult to estimate the extent of between-study heterogeneity. Bayesian meta-analysis allows incorporation of external evidence on heterogeneity, and offers advantages over conventional random-effects meta-analysis. To assist in this, we provide empirical evidence on the likely extent of heterogeneity in particular areas of health care. ⋯ Meta-analysis characteristics were strongly associated with the degree of between-study heterogeneity, and predictive distributions for heterogeneity differed substantially across settings. The informative priors provided will be very beneficial in future meta-analyses including few studies.
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A mental health advantage has been observed among adolescents in urban areas. This prospective study tests whether cultural integration measured by cross-cultural friendships explains a mental health advantage for adolescents. ⋯ Cultural integration was associated with better mental health, independent of the mental health advantage found among specific ethnic groups: Black Caribbean and some Black African male students and female Indian students.
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Post-term birth, defined as birth after pregnancy duration of 42 weeks, is associated with increased neonatal morbidity and mortality. The long-term consequences of post-term birth are unknown. We assessed the association of post-term birth with problem behaviour in early childhood. ⋯ Post-term birth was associated with more behavioural and emotional problems in early childhood, especially attention deficit / hyperactivity problem behaviour. When considering expectant management, this aspect of post-term pregnancy should be taken into account.
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In China, there have been few large prospective studies of the associations of body mass index (BMI) with overall and cause-specific mortality that have simultaneously controlled for biases that can be caused by pre-existing disease and smoking. ⋯ For China, previous evidence may have overestimated the excess mortality at low BMI but underestimated that at high BMI. The main way obesity kills in China appears to be stroke.