Psychological distress among Kurdish immigrants in Sweden.
OBJECTIVE
To analyse whether there is an association between sex and poor self-reported health (SRH) and psychological distress in Kurdish immigrants.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study is based on a sample consisting of immigrants, aged 27- 60 years, with self-reported Kurdish ethnicity (n=111, men; n=86, women) in Sweden originating from Iran and Turkey. It is based on data collected in 1996 from the first Swedish National Survey on the living conditions of immigrant groups conducted by Statistics Sweden. The prevalences of reporting poor health, sleeping difficulties, general fatigue and anxiety were estimated by sex. The association between sex and SRH and psychological distress was analysed by an unconditional logistic regression model estimating odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. The final model was adjusted for age, marital status, education, housing and employment. Immigrant-specific migration-related variables were used to explore possible reasons for the sex differences.


RESULTS
Kurdish men and women had a high prevalence of poor SRH and psychological distress. Age-adjusted odds ratios for anxiety were higher in Kurdish women. Sex differences in anxiety remained even when marital status, education, housing and employment were taken into account.


CONCLUSIONS
Kurdish men and women report a high prevalence of poor SRH and indicators of psychological distress. Women had a higher risk for anxiety than men. Negative experiences of pre-migration as well as post-migration experiences, such as economic difficulties, preoccupation with the political situation in the home country, perceived discrimination, and feelings of poor control over one's life, were associated with the outcomes.
Taloyan
Marina
M
Karolinska Institute, Centre for Family and Community Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden. marina.taloyan@sll.se
Johansson
Sven-Erik
SE
Sundquist
Jan
J
Koctürk
Tahire O
TO
Johansson
Leena Maria
LM
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology