@article{ref1,
title="A case-control study of self-reported health, quality-of-life and general functioning among recent immigrants and age- and sex-matched Swedish-born controls",
journal="Scandinavian journal of public health",
year="2014",
author="Löfvander, Monica and Rosenblad, Andreas and Wiklund, Tony and Bennström, Halina and Leppert, Jerzy",
volume="42",
number="8",
pages="734-742",
abstract="AIM: To examine whether new immigrants had inferior quality-of-life, well-being and general functioning compared with Swedish age- and sex-matched controls. <br><br>METHODS: A prospective case-control study was designed including immigrants from non-European countries, 18-65 years of age, with recent Permanent Permits to Stay (PPS) in Sweden, and age- and sex-matched Swedish-born (SB) persons from the general population in Västmanland County, Sweden. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality-of-Life (WHOQOL-BREF) Scale and the General Activity Functioning Assessment Scale (GAF) from DSM-IV were posted (SB), or applied in personal interviews (PPS) with interpreters. Differences between the PPS and SB groups were measured using McNemar's test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test conducted separately for observations at baseline, 6- and 12-month follow-up. <br><br>RESULTS: There were 93 pairs (mean age 36 years). Persons from Somalia (67%) and Iraq (27%) dominated the PPS group. The differences between the groups were statistically significant for all time points for the Psychological health and Social relationship domains of WHOQOL-BREF, and for the baseline and 6-month follow-up time points of GHQ-12 where the PPS-group had a higher degree of well-being, health and quality-of-life than the SB. This tendency applied for both sexes in the immigrant group. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: These new immigrants did not have inferior physical or psychological health, quality-of-life, well-being or social functioning compared with their age- and sex-matched Swedish born pairs during a 1-year follow-up. Thus, there is reason to advocate immigrants' fast integration into society.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1403-4948",
doi="10.1177/1403494814550175",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1403494814550175"
}