The Work Environment of Immigrant Employees in Sweden—a Systematic Review

Uncovering sociodemographic disparities in temporal trends of osteoarthritis incidence and age-at-diagnosis, 2006-2019

AIM

To describe sociodemographic disparities in temporal trends of incidence and age distributions of first registered osteoarthritis (OA) diagnosis in southern Sweden.

METHODS

We identified all Skåne residents aged 35+ who had lived in the region at any point during the period 2006-2019 with no previous OA diagnosis (ICD-10 codes M15-M19) for 8 years prior to inclusion in the study (n = 849,061). We calculated person-years from inclusion until OA diagnosis, death, emigration, or 31 December 2019, whichever occurred first. Combining sex (female, male), education (low, medium, high) and nativity (Swedish, immigrant), we created a variable with 12 strata. Average annual percent changes in age-standardized incidence rates were estimated using joinpoint regression. Changes in the median age-at-diagnosis (year of diagnosis minus birth year), weighted to the mid-2005 Swedish population, were explored.

RESULTS

Cumulative age-standardized incidence rates ranged from 116 (95% CI: 111, 121) per 10,000 person-years for immigrant males with low education to 205 (95% CI: 200, 210) for immigrant females with medium education. The estimated average annual percent changes (ranging from 3.4% to 6.1%) were generally similar, with slightly greater variations among immigrants than Swedes. The weighted median age-at-diagnosis was higher for Swedes and low educated people. Immigrant females with low education were the only stratum with a reduction (3 years) in the weighted median age-at-diagnosis over time. Sociodemographic patterns in knee OA incidence were different from patterns for hip OA.

CONCLUSIONS

There were few sociodemographic disparities in temporal trends of OA incidence and age-at-diagnosis, suggesting persistent sociodemographic disparities in OA burden in southern Sweden.

Absence Due to Sickness Among Female Immigrants: Disadvantages Over the Career?

The extent to which and where immigrants’ health may deteriorate in the integration process is less understood. This study extends the current knowledge by focusing on sickness absence in Norway among female immigrants working within eight occupations where few formal skills are required. Administrative register data with a total sample of 261,291 native women and 9251 female refugees or families reunited are used to examine the native-immigrant gap in absence due to sickness during a 10-year period. The main findings are that female immigrants are less likely to have at least one sickness absence spell compared to natives, and that the native-immigrant gap in sickness absence was rather stabile when the number of years worked in these occupations was considered. This study shows that immigrants follow the same pattern as natives and suggests that the native-immigrant gap in absence due to health should be nuanced and focus more on why several years in these occupations increase the probability of sickness absence, independent of country of origin.