Self-rated health and social capital in Iraqi immigrants to Sweden: The MEDIM population-based study.

Abstract

Poor self-rated health is an estimator of quality of life and a predictor of mortality seldom studied in immigrant populations. This work aimed to study self-rated health in relation to social capital, socioeconomic status, lifestyle and comorbidity in immigrants from Iraq - one of the largest non-European immigrant group in Sweden today - and to compare it with the self-rated health of native Swedes. The study was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted from 2010 to 2012 among citizens of Malmö, Sweden, aged 30-65 years and born in Iraq or Sweden. All participants underwent a health examination and answered questionnaires on self-rated health, social capital, comorbidity, lifestyle and socioeconomic status. In total, 1348 Iraqis and 677 Swedes participated. Poor self-rated health was identified in 43.9% of Iraqis and 21.9% of native Swedes ( p<0.001), with the highest prevalence (55.5%) among Iraqi women. Low social capital was highly prevalent in the immigrants. Female gender showed higher odds of poor self-rated health in Iraqis than in Swedes (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.5, pinteraction=0.024), independent of other risk factors connected to social capital, socioeconomic status, lifestyle or comorbidity. Although public health initiatives promoting social capital, socioeconomic status and comorbidity in immigrants are crucial, the excess risk of poor self-rated health in Iraqi women is not fully attributed to known risk factors for self-rated health, but remains to be further explored.