Self-rated health, ethnicity and social position in a deprived neighbourhood in Denmark.
BACKGROUND
In recent years the close connection between SES and differences in health between ethnic groups have been subject to growing interest among researchers, and some studies have found an association between ethnicity and long term illness and poor health. However, there is limited research-based knowledge about health and illness in ethnic groups in Denmark and about ethnic Danes living in deprived neighbourhoods. The purpose of this study is to investigate associations between self-rated health and ethnicity and social position in a deprived neighbourhood in Denmark in which a relatively largely proportion of the residents are immigrants.


METHODS
This study investigates the association between self-rated health used as dependent variable and ethnicity and social position (defined as index for life resources) as the independent variables. The analyses are based on data collected in a survey in a geographically bounded and social deprived neighbourhood, Korskaerparken, located in the municipality of Fredericia in Denmark. The sample consisted of 31% of the residents in Korskaerparken and of these 29% have an ethnic background other than Danish.The analyses were conducted using logistic regression adjusting for confounding variables.


RESULTS
This study indicates no significant association between ethnicity and having poor/very poor self-rated health.On the other hand the study confirms that a strong and significant association between the number of residents' life resources and their self-rated health does indeed exist. The results clearly suggest that the more life resources an individual has, the lower is the risk of that individual reporting poor health.


CONCLUSIONS
The results show a strong association between the residents' number of life resources and their self-rated health. In this study, we were not able to identify any association between ethnicity and self-rated health, i.e. our results suggest that ethnicity does not constitute an explanation to differences in self- rated health.
Unit for Health Promotion Research, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9-10, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark. ptandersen@health.sdu.dk.
Pernille T
PT
Andersen
Carsten K
CK
Bak
Susanne
S
Vangsgaard
Unni
U
Dokkedal
Pia V
PV
Larsen
Int J Epidemiol. 1997 Apr;26(2):279-87
9169162
J Health Soc Behav. 1997 Mar;38(1):21-37
9097506
Am J Epidemiol. 1999 Jan 1;149(1):41-6
9883792
Demography. 1992 May;29(2):287-303
1607053
J Immigr Minor Health. 2011 Apr;13(2):371-8
19697134
Am J Public Health. 2003 Feb;93(2):277-84
12554585
Health Serv Res. 2005 Aug;40(4):1234-46
16033502
BMJ. 1994 Jul 30;309(6950):327-30
8086873
Soc Sci Med. 2004 Apr;58(8):1463-73
14759690
Lancet. 1997 Jun 7;349(9066):1655-9
9186383
Am J Public Health. 2000 Nov;90(11):1694-8
11076232
Ethn Health. 2000 May;5(2):151-9
10984833
Soc Sci Med. 1995 Mar;40(6):777-87
7747212
Soc Sci Med. 2008 Jul;67(2):330-40
18440111
Int J Epidemiol. 2005 Apr;34(2):316-26
15737978
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2004 Jul;58(7):574-82
15194719
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001 Feb;55(2):97-103
11154248
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2004 Apr;58(4):327-32
15026449
Am J Public Health. 1982 Aug;72(8):800-8
7091475
Soc Sci Med. 2003 Feb;56(4):769-84
12560010
Annu Rev Public Health. 1997;18:341-78
9143723
Assessment. 2002 Jun;9(2):145-55
12066829
Gesundheitswesen. 2008 May;70(5):281-8
18604766
Int J Equity Health. 2006 Jun 29;5:7
16808838
Lancet. 1992 Aug 8;340(8815):346-50
1353813
Int J Epidemiol. 2003 Jun;32(3):357-66
12777420