Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population (30–64 years old): immigrant groups (Maamu) and the general Finnish population (Health 2011 Survey)*
| All | Men | Women | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian (n 328) | Somali (n 221) | Kurdish (n 339) | Finnish (n 798) | Russian (n 111) | Somali (n 79) | Kurdish (n 176) | Finnish (n 352) | Russian (n 217) | Somali (n 142) | Kurdish (n 163) | Finnish (n 446) | |||||||||||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
| Age (years) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30–44 | 143 | 43·7 | 139 | 66·5 | 222 | 67·3 | 274 | 42·0 | 58 | 53·1 | 51 | 67·6 | 111 | 65·6 | 115 | 42·1 | 85 | 38·5 | 88 | 65·8 | 111 | 69·4 | 159 | 41·8 |
| 45–64 | 185 | 56·3 | 82 | 33·5 | 117 | 32·7 | 524 | 58·0 | 53 | 46·9 | 28 | 32·4 | 65 | 34·4 | 237 | 57·9 | 132 | 61·5 | 54 | 34·2 | 52 | 30·6 | 287 | 58·2 |
| P-value | 0·640 | <0·001 | <0·001 | 0·076 | <0·001 | <0·001 | 0·444 | <0·001 | <0·001 | |||||||||||||||
| Education† | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Less than high school | 62 | 17·4 | 152 | 68·6 | 190 | 56·2 | 291 | 40·0 | 25 | 18·3 | 40 | 42·7 | 93 | 53·6 | 146 | 45·9 | 37 | 16·9 | 112 | 86·0 | 59 | 59·2 | 145 | 34·4 |
| High school | 261 | 82·6 | 52 | 31·4 | 139 | 43·8 | 497 | 60·0 | 84 | 81·7 | 35 | 57·3 | 75 | 46·4 | 199 | 54·1 | 177 | 83·1 | 17 | 14·0 | 64 | 40·8 | 298 | 65·6 |
| P-value | <0·001 | <0·001 | <0·001 | <0·001 | 0·764 | 0·093 | <0·001 | <0·001 | <0·001 | |||||||||||||||
| BMI (≥30 kg/m2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No | 260 | 79·0 | 147 | 68·6 | 251 | 75·4 | 642 | 79·9 | 93 | 82·5 | 72 | 95·4 | 139 | 80·0 | 293 | 81·5 | 167 | 77·1 | 75 | 51·4 | 112 | 70·0 | 349 | 78·3 |
| Yes | 68 | 21·0 | 74 | 31·4 | 84 | 24·6 | 154 | 20·1 | 18 | 17·5 | 7 | 4·6 | 35 | 20·0 | 59 | 18·5 | 50 | 22·9 | 67 | 48·6 | 49 | 30·0 | 95 | 21·7 |
| P-value | 0·744 | <0·001 | 0·025 | 0·851 | <0·001 | 0·672 | 0·826 | <0·001 | 0·003 | |||||||||||||||
| Smoking daily | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No | 272 | 83·1 | 192 | 98·3 | 281 | 84·5 | 659 | 81·4 | 77 | 69·1 | 68 | 95·9 | 126 | 74·4 | 287 | 79·4 | 195 | 90·7 | 124 | 100 | 155 | 95·9 | 372 | 83·3 |
| Yes | 52 | 16·9 | 7 | 1·7 | 49 | 15·5 | 124 | 18·6 | 32 | 30·9 | 7 | 4·1 | 42 | 25·6 | 58 | 20·6 | 20 | 9·3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4·1 | 70 | 16·7 |
| P-value | 0·556 | <0·001 | 0·183 | 0·082 | <0·001 | 0·318 | 0·011 | NA | <0·001 | |||||||||||||||
| Excess alcohol consumption‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No | 284 | 90·1 | 171 | 100 | 306 | 97·3 | 572 | 73·1 | 88 | 86·6 | 66 | 100 | 154 | 96·2 | 243 | 71·1 | 196 | 92·1 | 105 | 100 | 152 | 98·6 | 329 | 75·1 |
| Yes | 27 | 9·9 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2·7 | 209 | 26·9 | 15 | 13·4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3·8 | 102 | 28·9 | 12 | 7·9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1·4 | 107 | 24·9 |
| P-value | <0·001 | NA | <0·001 | <0·001 | NA | <0·001 | <0·001 | NA | NA | |||||||||||||||
| Physical activity§ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inactive/less active | 247 | 76·7 | 138 | 81·7 | 263 | 79·2 | 581 | 72·3 | 82 | 75·8 | 57 | 81·7 | 129 | 76·1 | 249 | 69·1 | 165 | 77·2 | 81 | 81·6 | 134 | 82·8 | 332 | 75·4 |
| Highly active | 77 | 23·3 | 33 | 18·3 | 65 | 20·8 | 203 | 27·7 | 27 | 24·2 | 15 | 18·3 | 38 | 23·9 | 97 | 30·9 | 50 | 22·8 | 18 | 18·4 | 27 | 17·2 | 106 | 24·6 |
| P-value | 0·153 | 0·002 | 0·003 | 0·157 | 0·012 | 0·044 | 0·664 | 0·081 | 0·013 | |||||||||||||||
| Use of vitamin D supplements | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No | 285 | 91·3 | 155 | 90·4 | 273 | 88·2 | 626 | 81·2 | 99 | 94·1 | 62 | 92·8 | 143 | 91·0 | 296 | 86·4 | 186 | 89·7 | 93 | 88·4 | 130 | 85·0 | 330 | 76·2 |
| Yes | 30 | 8·7 | 13 | 9·6 | 38 | 11·8 | 153 | 18·8 | 7 | 5·9 | 4 | 7·2 | 15 | 9·0 | 47 | 13·6 | 23 | 10·3 | 9 | 11·6 | 23 | 15·0 | 106 | 23·8 |
| P-value | <0·001 | <0·001 | <0·001 | 0·008 | 0·059 | 0·057 | <0·001 | 0·005 | 0·015 | |||||||||||||||
| Season of blood sampling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summer (April–September) | 122 | 36·3 | 100 | 49·2 | 113 | 32·0 | 400 | 51·0 | 42 | 37·7 | 35 | 50·2 | 56 | 31·5 | 178 | 50·9 | 80 | 35·6 | 65 | 48·5 | 57 | 32·6 | 222 | 51·2 |
| Winter (October–March | 206 | 63·7 | 121 | 50·8 | 226 | 68·0 | 398 | 49·0 | 69 | 62·3 | 44 | 49·8 | 120 | 68·5 | 174 | 49·1 | 137 | 64·4 | 77 | 51·5 | 106 | 67·4 | 224 | 48·8 |
| P-value | <0·001 | 0·697 | <0·001 | 0·014 | 0·959 | <0·001 | <0·001 | 0·654 | <0·001 | |||||||||||||||
AUDIT, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.
Crude n. Weighted prevalence. P-values from t-tests = differences between immigrant groups and the general Finnish population. Bolded P-values (<0·05) represent statistically significant differences.
Education (in any country): less than high school = had not received formal school education or attended either primary school or the equivalent/part of primary school and secondary school or equivalent/part of junior high school; high school or equivalent = completed high school or part of high school or an equivalent school. (None of Finnish and Russian men and women reported no educational attainment.)
Excess alcohol consumption: no = AUDIT <6 points for men and <5 points for women; yes = AUDIT ≥6 points for men and ≥5 points for women. (None of Somali men and women reported excess alcohol consumption.)
Physically activity: inactive = mainly non-strenuous activities such as reading and watching TV; moderately active = moderately strenuous activities such as walking, biking or light gardening; highly active = strenuous activities such as fitness training or competitive sports several hours a week. NA = not applicable (too few observations for statistical analysis in the cell ‘yes’ for smoking and alcohol consumption). Missing information: for Russians – education (n 5), smoking (n 4), alcohol consumption (n 17), physical activity (n 4), use of vitamin D supplements (n 13); for Somalis – education (n 17), smoking (n 22), alcohol consumption (n 50), physical activity (n 50), use of vitamin D supplements (n 53); for Kurds – education (n 10), BMI (n 4), smoking (n 9), alcohol consumption (n 25), physical activity (n 11), use of vitamin D supplements (n 28); for Finns – education (n 10), BMI (n 2), smoking (n 11), alcohol consumption (n 17), physical activity (n 14), use of vitamin D supplements (n 19). Maamu, Migrant Health and Wellbeing Study.