Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Comparison of Stroke Mortality in Finnish-Born Migrants Living in Sweden 1970–1999 and in Swedish-Born Individuals

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A limited number of studies have been found on stroke mortality in migrants showing higher mortality for some groups. Influence of time of residence has been studied by one research group. An earlier study showed a significantly higher number of deaths in Diseases of the circulatory system in Finnish migrants compared with native Swedes. To test the hypothesis of a higher mortality in and a decrease in mortality over time in stroke among Finnish migrants in Sweden. The study was based on National Population data, the study population included 321,407 Swedish and 307,174 foreign born persons living in Sweden 1987–1999. Mean age was lower at time for death for Finnish migrants than native Swedes, men 5.1 years difference and women 2.3 years. The difference decreased over time. The risk of death by stroke was higher for migrants with short time of residence than with long time (≤10 years, OR 1.61–1.36 vs ≥11 year, OR 1.18). Migrants with short time of residence died 9.8–5.3 years earlier than native Swedes. The hypothesis was confirmed and an indication of adjustment to life in the new country was found. International studies show similar results for other migrant groups but further studies are needed to verify if the same pattern can be found in other migrants groups in Sweden and to generalise the findings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Farhad AK, Zia E, Janzon L, Engstrom G. Incidence of Stroke and Stroke subtypes in Malmö, Sweden, 1990–2000. Marked differences between groups defined by country of birth. Stroke. 2004;35:2054–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Murray JLM, Lopez AD. Mortality by cause for eight regions of the world: global burden of disease study. Lancet. 1997;349:1269–76.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Strong K, Mathers C, Bonita R. Preventing Stroke: saving lives around the world. Lancet Neurol. 2007;6:182–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Fang J, Madhavan S, Cohen H, Alderman MH. Variation in hypertensive disease/stroke mortality among Hispanic migrants to New York City. Am J Hypertens. 1996;9(Suppl 1):18A.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Rubia M, Marcos I, Muenning PA. Increased risk of heart disease and stroke among foreign-born females residing in the United States. Am J Prev Med. 2002;22:30–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Fischbacher CM, Steiner M, Chalmers J, Jamieson J, Knowles D, Povey C. Variations in all cause and cardiovascular mortality by Country of Birth in Scotland 1997–2003. Scott Med J. 2007;52:6–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Harding S. Mortality of migrants from the Caribbean to England and Wales: effect of duration of residence. Int J Epidemiol. 2004;33:382–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Harding S, Rosato M, Teyhan A. Trends for coronary heart disease and stroke mortality among migrants in England and Wales, 1979–2003: slow decline for some groups. Heart. 2008;94:463–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Sundquist J, Iglesias E, Isacsson Å. Migration and Health. A study of Latin American refugees, their exile in Sweden and repatriation. Scand J Prim Health Care. 1995;13:135–40.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Kliewer E, Smith K. Breast cancer mortality among immigrants in Australia and Canada. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1995;87:1154–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Vega WA, Rodriguez MA, Gruskin E. Health disparities in the Latino population. Epidemiol Rev. 2009;31:99–112.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. SCB. Statistisk årsbok för Sverige 2012 (Statistic yearbook for Sweden 2012). Stockholm: Statistiska centralbyrån; 2012.

  13. Albin B, Hjelm K, Ekberg J, Elmståhl S. Higher mortality and different pattern of causes of death among foreign-born compared to native Swedes 1970–1999. J Immig Minor Health. 2006;2:101–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. The National Board of health and Welfare. Klassifikation av sjukdomar 1987 (Swedish version of International Statistical classification of Diseases and Health Problems). Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen; 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  15. The National Board of health and Welfare. Klassifikation av sjukdomar 1997 (Swedish version of International Statistical classification of Diseases and Health Problems). Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell; 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Altman D. Practical statistics for medical research. London: Chapman and Hall; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Slark J, Bentley P, Majeed A, Sharma P. Awareness of stroke symptomatology and cardiovascular risk factors amongst stroke survivors. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2012;21(5):358–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Jartti L, Rönnemaa T, Kapio J, Toikka JO, Marniemi J, Hammar N, et al. Population-based twin study of the effects of migration from Finland to Sweden on endothelial function and Intima-media Thickness. Arterioscler Thrombo Vasc Biol. 2002;22:832–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hammar N, Kaprio J, Hagström U, Alfredsson L, Koskenvuo M, Hammar T. Migration and mortality: a 20 year follow up of Finnish twin pairs with migrant co-twins in Sweden. J Epidemiol Commun Health. 2002;56:362–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Gadd M, Johansson S-E, Sundquist J, Wändell P. The trend of cardiovascular disease in immigrants in Sweden. Eur J Epidemiol. 2005;20:755–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Gadd M, Johansson S-E, Sundquist J, Wändell P. Morbidity in cardiovascular diseases in immigrants in Sweden. J Int Med. 2003;254:236–43.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Hjern A, Allebeck P. Alcohol-related disorders in first and second generation immigrants in Sweden: a national cohort study. Addiction. 2004;99:229–36.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Stegmayr B, Asplund K, Kuulasmaa K, Rajakangas A-M, Thorvaldsen P, Tuomilehto J. Stroke incidence and mortality correlated to stroke risk factors in the WHO Monica project. Stroke. 1997;28:1367–74.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Berry JW, Kim U, Minde T, Mok D. Comparative studies of acculturative stress. Int Mig Rev. 1987;3(491–51):1.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Yadlapalli K, Sanjeev G, Chandrakant P. Migration and Hypertension: a cross-sectional study among neo-migrants and settled-migrants in Delhi, India. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2009;21:497–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Hallström B, Jönsson AC, Nerbrand C, Norrving B, Lindgren A. Stroke incidence and survival in the beginning of the 21st century in Southern Sweden. Stroke. 2008;39:10–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Zia E, Engström G, Svensson P, Norrving B, Pessah-Rasmussen HT. Three year survival and stroke recurrence rates in patients with primary Intracerebral Hemorrage. Stroke. 2009;40:3567–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Bollini P, Pampallona S, Wanner P, Kupelnick B. Pregnancy outcome of migrant women and integration policy: A systematic review of international literature. Soc Sci Med. 2009;68:452–61.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Ekberg J. Economic progress of immigrants in Sweden from 1970 to 1990: a longitudinal study. Scand J Soc Welf. 1994;3:148–57.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Blaxter M. Health and lifestyle. London: Routledge; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  31. The National Board of health and Welfare. Causes of death 2001. http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/Lists/Artikelkatalog/Attachments/10829/2003-42-5_2003425.pdf. Accessed 02 June 2012.

  32. STROBE. STROBE Statement. Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology. STROBE checklists. 2007 http://www.strobe-statement.org/index.php?id=available-checklists (Accessed 22nd Oct 2012).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health and Caring Sciences, Linnaeus University, 351 95, Växjö, Sweden

    Björn Albin & Katarina Hjelm

  2. Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Universitetssjukhuset MAS, 205 02, Malmö, Sweden

    Björn Albin, Katarina Hjelm & Sölve Elmståhl

Authors
  1. Björn Albin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katarina Hjelm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sölve Elmståhl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Björn Albin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Albin, B., Hjelm, K. & Elmståhl, S. Comparison of Stroke Mortality in Finnish-Born Migrants Living in Sweden 1970–1999 and in Swedish-Born Individuals. J Immigrant Minority Health 16, 18–23 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9780-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9780-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation