title: Immigrant and native regular general practitioners in Norway. A comparative registry-based observational study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  More than 10% of the population and nearly 20% of all general practitioners (GPs) in Norway have an immigrant background. There are reasons to believe that immigrant GPs have different demographic characteristic and serve different populations than native GPs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the characteristics of the lists and population subscribed to immigrant GPs in Norway and compare them with those of Norwegian-born GPs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immigrant GPs were defined as persons born abroad with both parents from abroad. Two national registers were linked with information about all inhabitants and GPs in Norway in 2008: the GPs Database, and the National Population Register. Logistic regression was used to study the influence of the GP's immigrant background on different characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to native GPs, immigrant GPs are younger, more often women, and more frequently work alone and in rural areas. GPs with immigrant background have a higher proportion of immigrant patients (OR = 3.2; 95% CI: 2.7-3.8), not only from their own culture, but also from other cultures, and this proportion increases over time. Immigrant GPs have more difficulties recruiting patients compared to their native colleagues (OR = 0.3; 95% CI: 0.3-0. 4 for having closed lists), but this difference seems to diminish over time. There are, however, substantial differences between immigrant GPs from different areas of the world.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The characteristics of the populations assigned to GPs with or without immigrant background are different. This should be taken into account when studying differences between immigrant and native GPs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Esperanza
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raza
authors.forename: Hogne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sandvik
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hjorleifsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005550:Foreign Medical Graduates / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058006:General Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D011331:Private Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011365:Professional Practice Location / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012042:Registries; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Norway; case-mix; family practice; immigrant; primary care