Danish medical journal
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Danish medical journal · Apr 2015
ReviewMigration and health: exploring the role of migrant status through register-based studies.
This thesis aims to explore migrant status as a determinant in register-based studies on migrant health. It is based on eight studies that investigate the following three main issues: 1) What is the importance of migrant status for morbidity patterns among migrants compared with Native Danes? 2) Do migrant status and ethnicity affect clinical indicators of access among migrants compared with native Danes? 3) What is the importance of migrant status for mortality patterns among migrants compared with Native Danes? The thesis builds on a register-based historical prospective cohort design. Through Statistics Denmark, all refugees (n = 29,174) and family reunification immigrants (n = 33,287) who received residence permits in Denmark from 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1999 were included and matched 4:1 on age and sex with Native Danes. ⋯ It also demonstrates the role of migrant status as a useful variable in migrant studies in addition to ethnicity. Across all three sub-themes, inequalities in morbidity patterns were sometimes in favour of migrants and sometimes in favour of native Danes. Finally, inequalities in health were more pronounced for the refugee group, which was consistently more at risk compared with native Danes or which apparently benefited less from the protective factors of being a migrant compared with family reunification immigrants.
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Danish medical journal · Apr 2015
ReviewA cohort study of Danish patients with interstitial lung diseases: burden, severity, treatment and survival.
Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) form a heterogeneous group of rare diseases characterised by varying degrees of pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. We hypothesised that IPF and unclassifiable ILD were common in a Danish ILD cohort and that prognostic factors based on disease characteristics and comorbidities could be identified The aims of the PhD study were to describe the demographics of ILD in Central Denmark, to characterise the distribution of ILD diagnoses, and to assess prognostic factors in IPF and unclassifiable ILD. The study is based on a cohort of 431 ILD patients referred to our department during a 6-year period. ⋯ Unclassifiable ILD is frequent in daily clinical practice but has not been characterised in detail. Our study showed that it was possible to identify predictors of outcome and to validate the ILD-GAP model in this cohort. The study also showed that the Disease Behaviour Classification can be used in the management of patients with unclassifiable ILD.