A case-control study of self-reported health, quality-of-life and general functioning among recent
immigrants and age- and sex-matched Swedish-born controls
Sammanfattning
Aim: To examine whether new immigrants had inferior quality-of-life, well-being and general
functioning compared with Swedish age- and sex-matched controls. Methods: A prospective case-
control study was designed including immigrants from non-European countries, 18-65 years of age,
with recent Permanent Permits to Stay (PPS) in Sweden, and age- and sex-matched Swedish-born
(SB) persons from the general population in Västmanland County, Sweden. The General Health
Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality-of-Life
(WHOQOL-BREF) Scale and the General Activity Functioning Assessment Scale (GAF) from DSM-IV
were posted (SB), or applied in personal interviews (PPS) with interpreters. Differences between the
PPS and SB groups were measured using McNemar’s test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test conducted
separately for observations at baseline, 6- and 12-month follow-up. Results: There were 93 pairs
(mean age 36 years). Persons from Somalia (67%) and Iraq (27%) dominated the PPS group. The
differences between the groups were statistically significant for all time points for the Psychological
health and Social relationship domains of WHOQOL-BREF, and for the baseline and 6-month follow-
up time points of GHQ-12 where the PPS-group had a higher degree of well-being, health and quality-
of-life than the SB. This tendency applied for both sexes in the immigrant group. Conclusions: These
new immigrants did not have inferior physical or psychological health, quality-of-life, well-being or
social functioning compared with their age- and sex-matched Swedish born pairs during a 1-year
follow-up. Thus, there is reason to advocate immigrants’ fast integration into society.