J Epidemiol Community Health

HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER


[Advanced]
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2006;60:694-698; doi:10.1136/jech.2005.044073
Copyright © 2006 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this link to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Add article to my folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pantzer, K.
Right arrow Articles by Alonso, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pantzer, K.
Right arrow Articles by Alonso, J.
Topic Collections
Right arrowRelevant Article

RESEARCH REPORT

Health related quality of life in immigrants and native school aged adolescents in Spain

Karin Pantzer1, Luis Rajmil1, Cristian Tebé1, Francisco Codina2, Vicky Serra-Sutton1, Montse Ferrer3, Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer4, Marie-Claude Simeoni5, Jordi Alonso3

1 Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research, Barcelona, Spain
2 Centre d’Atenció Primària de Lloret, Lloret, Spain
3 Institut Municipal d’Investigació Mèdica, Barcelona, Spain
4 Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
5 Université de Marseille, Marseille, France

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr L Rajmil
Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research, Recinte Pere Virgili. Esteve Terradas, 30, Edifici Mestral, 1a Planta, 08023 Barcelona, Spain; lrajmil{at}aatrm.catsalut.net

Objectives: To compare health related quality of life (HRQL) between native and immigrant adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, and to analyse psychosocial factors associated with HRQL.

Design: A cross sectional study of adolescents (12–18 years old) who answered a self administered questionnaire.

Setting: All the secondary schools from Lloret de Mar (Girona, Spain).

Participants: 1246 participants (88.9% of the eligible students).

Main outcome measures: Main outcome was the Spanish version of the Vecu et Sante Percue de l’Adolescent (VSP-A), a HRQL measure addressed to adolescents. Mean scores of the VSP-A index of natives and immigrants were compared, as well as their sociodemographic and health related factors. Multiple regression examined the relation between HRQL and psychosocial factors, controlling for the effect of socioeconomic variables.

Results: Half of the sample were boys, in the middle socioeconomic status, and 18.2% were immigrants (n = 226). HRQL score was higher in native Spanish adolescents than immigrants (p<0.01). Multiple regression model explaining 48.1% of the VSP-A variance showed that migration in itself has no statistically significant impact on HRQL, and age, socioeconomic status, social support, discrimination, and psychological distress do play a part.

Conclusions: Migrants have worse HRQL than natives but it seems to be mediated by their disadvantage in socioeconomic status, social support, and psychological distress.

Abbreviations: SES, socioeconomic status; HRQL, health related quality of life; VSP-A, Vecu et Sante Percue de l’Adolescent; FAS, family affluence scale

Keywords: children; health related quality of life; immigration; self perceived health


Relevant Article

In this issue
Carlos Alvarez-Dardet and John R Ashton
J Epidemiol Community Health 2006 60: 649. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]





HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER
Terms and conditions relating to subscriptions purchased online  ¦  Website terms and conditions  ¦  Privacy policy
Copyright © 2006 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.