Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population, by immigration status.
| Refugees (n = 9854) |
Non-refugee immigrants (n = 12,259) |
Matched native-born Danes (n = 45,789) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| % or Mean (SD) | % or Mean (SD) | % or Mean (SD) | |
| Female | 50.2 | 51.1 | 50.8 |
| Married | 74.4 | 68.8 | 51.9 |
| Age (years) | 53.8 (10.6) | 50.6 (9.9) | 54.6 (7.3) |
| Number of family members | |||
| 1-2 | 57.0 | 68.3 | 69.9 |
| 3-4 | 29.1 | 24.6 | 26.5 |
| 5+ | 13.9 | 7.1 | 3.5 |
| Country/region of origin | |||
| Former Yugoslavia | 50.3 | – | – |
| Iraq | 9.7 | – | – |
| Iran | 10.1 | – | – |
| Afghanistan | 2.5 | – | – |
| Vietnam | 9.9 | – | – |
| Sri Lanka | 4.9 | – | – |
| Somalia | 5.3 | – | – |
| Lebanon (Palestinians) | 7.5 | – | – |
| Western | – | 83.8 | – |
| Non-Western | – | 16.2 | – |
| Education | |||
| Basic education | 14.4 | 10.5 | 44.3 |
| Upper secondary education | 22.4 | 19.7 | 36.3 |
| Higher education | 15.4 | 21.6 | 13.7 |
| Unknown | 47.8 | 48.2 | 5.7 |
| Neighborhood disadvantage | |||
| Low | 33.6 | 53.8 | 33.7 |
| Moderate | 31.0 | 22.4 | 30.9 |
| High | 35.5 | 23.8 | 35.4 |
| Follow-up yearsa | 16.1 (7.7) | 12.1 (9.7) | 36 (20.4) |
| Emigration |
30.4 |
55.7 |
11.3 |
| Outcomes, incidence rate per 1000 person-years | |||
| Dementia | 2.4 (2.2,2.7) | 2.04 (1.8,2.3) | 1.8 (1.8,1.9) |
| Mortalityᵇ | 15.3 (14.7,15.9) | 13.6 (13.0,14.2) | 11.1 (11.0,11.3) |
| Observed person-years | 158,950 | 147,827 | 1,646,504 |
Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; -, not applicable.
Notes: Characteristics shown other than health outcomes are those from arrival (or baseline, for native-born Danes). The cohorts included individuals 40 years or older who were 1) refugees at time of arrival to Denmark (1986–1998), 2) non-refugee immigrants, and 3) native-born Danes, matched to refugees by age, sex, parish, and year.
a
These values represent years of follow-up using dementia as the outcome.
b
These values are derived from the mortality analysis, where we do not censor individuals at dementia.