title: Health disparities between immigrant and Danish cleaners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is unknown whether immigrants working in the cleaning industry have a poorer health and work ability than cleaners from the native population. The main aim was to investigate differences in objective and self-reported health measures between immigrant and Danish cleaners.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and fifty-one cleaners, consisting of 166 Danes (88% women) and 179 immigrants (74% women) (6 with unknown ethnicity), from 9 workplaces in Denmark participated in the study. Health and work ability were obtained by objective (e.g., BMI and blood pressure) and self-reported measures (e.g., work ability, self-rated health, and musculoskeletal symptoms). In order to investigate differences between Danish and immigrant cleaners, logistic regression analyses and General Linear Models were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When controlling for age, sex, workplace, job seniority, and smoking, more Danish compared with immigrant cleaners were current smokers (42% vs. 28%, p < 0.001 (not controlled for smoking)), had hypertension (46% vs. 26%, p < 0.05) and drank more alcohol (3.0 vs. 0.8 units per day, respectively, p < 0.001). Contrary, more immigrants compared with Danish cleaners were measured to be overweight (47% vs. 30%, p < 0.05), reported less than good work ability (57% vs. 42%, p < 0.01), considered it unthinkable/unsure to be able to perform work 2 years ahead (37% vs. 23%, p < 0.01), reported reduced self-rated health (46% vs. 38%, p < 0.01) and everyday pain in the neck/shoulder (28% vs. 11%, p < 0.01), wrist (18% vs. 7%, p < 0.01), and lower back (21% vs. 10%, p < 0.01). There were no differences in self-reported chronic diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the health of the cleaners was alarmingly poor, the immigrant cleaners generally had a poorer self-reported health and work ability than the Danish cleaners. These findings highlight the need for occupational health actions among cleaners, particularly tailored to the immigrant subpopulation.
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Marie B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.forename: Charlotte D N
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.forename: Isabella G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.forename: Mari-Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Flyvholm
authors.forename: Kasper
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Olesen
authors.forename: Dorte
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ekner
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Søgaard
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holtermann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000208:ethnology*