@article{ref1,
title="The impact of forced migration on mortality: a cohort study of 242,075 Finns from 1939-2010",
journal="Epidemiology",
year="2017",
author="Haukka, Jari and Suvisaari, Jaana M. and Sarvimäki, Matti and Martikainen, Pekka",
volume="28",
number="4",
pages="587-593",
abstract="BACKGROUND: The stresses and life changes associated with migration may have harmful long-term health effects, especially for mental health. These effects are exceedingly difficult to establish, because migrants are typically a highly selected group. <br><br>METHODS: We examined the impact of migration on health using 'naturally occurring' historical events. In this paper, we use the forced migration of 11% of the Finnish population after WWII as such a natural experiment. We observed the date and cause of death starting from 1 January 1971 and ending in 31 December 2010 for the cohort of 242,075 people. Data were obtained by linking individual-level data from the 1950 and 1970 population censuses and the register of death certificates from 1971 to 2010 (10% random sample). All-cause and cause-specific mortalities were modeled using Poisson regression. <br><br>RESULTS: Models with full adjustment for background variables showed that both all-cause mortality (RR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.05), and ischemic heart disease mortality (RR 1.11, 95% CI 1.08-1.15) were higher in the displaced population than in the non-displaced population. Suicide mortality was lower (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.64-0.92) in displaced than in the general population. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: In our long term follow-up study, forced migration was associated with increased risk of death due to ischemic heart diseases. In contrast, lower suicide mortality was observed in association with forced migration 25 years or more.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1044-3983",
doi="10.1097/EDE.0000000000000669",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000000669"
}