Ethnic differences in diabetes-related mortality in the Brussels-Capital Region (2001-05): the role of socioeconomic position

Educational inequalities in premature mortality by region in the Belgian population in the 2000s

BACKGROUND

In Belgium, socio-economic inequalities in mortality have long been described at country-level. As Belgium is a federal state with many responsibilities in health policies being transferred to the regional levels, regional breakdown of health indicators is becoming increasingly relevant for policy-makers, as a tool for planning and evaluation. We analyzed the educational disparities by region for all-cause and cause-specific premature mortality in the Belgian population.

METHODS

Residents with Belgian nationality at birth registered in the census 2001 aged 25-64 were included, and followed up for 10 years though a linkage with the cause-of-death database. The role of 3 socio-economic variables (education, employment and housing) in explaining the regional mortality difference was explored through a Poisson regression. Age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) by educational level (EL), rate differences (RD), rate ratios (RR), and population attributable fractions (PAF) were computed in the 3 regions of Belgium and compared with pairwise regional ratios. The global PAFs were also decomposed into the main causes of death.

RESULTS

Regional health gaps are observed within each EL, with ASMRs in Brussels and Wallonia exceeding those of Flanders by about 50% in males and 40% in females among Belgian. Individual SE variables only explained up to half of the regional differences. Educational inequalities were also larger in Brussels and Wallonia than in Flanders, with RDs ratios reaching 1.8 and 1.6 for Brussels versus Flanders, and Wallonia versus Flanders respectively; regional ratios in relative inequalities (RRs and PAFs) were smaller. This pattern was observed for all-cause and most specific causes of premature mortality. Ranking the cause-specific PAFs revealed a higher health impact of inequalities in causes combining high mortality rate and relative inequality, with lung cancer and ischemic heart disease on top for all regions and both sexes. The ranking showed few regional differences.

CONCLUSIONS

For the first time in Belgium, educational inequalities were studied by region. Among the Belgian, educational inequalities were higher in Brussels, followed by Wallonia and Flanders. The region-specific PAF decomposition, leading to a ranking of causes according to their population-level impact on overall inequality, is useful for regional policy-making processes.

Mortality in adult immigrants in the 2000s in Belgium: a test of the 'healthy-migrant' and the 'migration-as-rapid-health-transition' hypotheses

OBJECTIVE

Firstly, to map out and compare all-cause and cause-specific mortality patterns by migrant background in Belgium; and secondly, to probe into explanations for the observed patterns, more specifically into the healthy-migrant, acculturation and the migration-as-rapid-health-transition theories.

METHODS

Data comprise individually linked Belgian census-mortality follow-up data for the period 2001-2011. All official inhabitants aged 25-54 at time of the census were included. To delve into the different explanations, differences in all-cause and chronic- and infectious-disease mortality were estimated using Poisson regression models, adjusted for age, socioeconomic position and urbanicity.

RESULTS

First-generation immigrants have lower all-cause and chronic-disease mortality than the host population. This mortality advantage wears off with length of stay and is more marked among non-Western than Western first-generation immigrants. For example, Western and non-Western male immigrants residing 10 years or more in Belgium have a mortality rate ratio for cardiovascular disease of 0.72 (95% CI 0.66-0.78) and 0.59 (95% CI 0.53-0.66), respectively (vs host population). The pattern of infectious-disease mortality in migrants is slightly different, with rather high mortality rates in first-generation sub-Saharan Africans and rather low rates in all other immigrant groups. As for second-generation immigrants, the picture is gloomier, with a mortality disadvantage that disappears after control for socioeconomic position.

CONCLUSION

Findings are largely consistent with the healthy-migrant, acculturation and the migration-as-rapid-health-transition theories. The convergence of the mortality profile of second-generation immigrants towards that of the host population with similar socioeconomic position indicates the need for policies simultaneously addressing different areas of deprivation.

Socioeconomic disparities in preventable hospitalization among adults with diabetes in Taiwan: a multilevel modelling approach

INTRODUCTION

Literature shows socioeconomic disparities are related to various aspects of diabetes care. However, few studies have explored the relationship between socioeconomics and healthcare outcomes, particularly with regard to preventable hospitalization. This cohort study employed hierarchical modelling to evaluate the role of socioeconomics at both the individual and regional levels in order to examine disparities associated with the preventable hospitalization of diabetes patients in Taiwan.

METHODS

This study employed the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2010, which provided a representative cohort comprising one million people enrolled in Taiwan's National Health Insurance in 2010. All diabetes patients aged 18 and older who received regular care in 2010 were included in this study. The outcome examined in this study was diabetes-related preventable hospitalization during the period of 2010 to 2011. Socioeconomic status at the individual level was measured according to income and at the regional level according to level of urbanization and the proportion of residents who had completed college education. Control variables included age, gender, comorbidities, time of diabetes diagnosis, participated in the pay-for-performance program status, and the characteristics of regular sources of care, including the level of the facility (i.e., medical centre, regional hospital, local hospital, outpatient clinic) and ownership. Statistical analysis was performed using generalized linear mixed models.

RESULTS

A total of 57,791 patients from 25 regions diagnosed with type-2 diabetes mellitus were identified in the National Health Insurance claim data for the year 2010. 1040 of these patients (1.8%) had at least one diabetes-related preventable hospitalization event during the period of 2010-2011. After controlling for the characteristics of patients and health care providers, our results show that dependents and patients in low and middle income brackets (OR = 2.48, 2.44, and 2.08 respectively) as well as those living in regions with a low, median, or high education bracket (OR = 1.32, 1.38, and 1.46 respectively) face a higher probability of preventable hospitalization.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results demonstrate that the socioeconomic effects of higher education at the regional level as well as income at the individual level are important factors which affect disparities in diabetes-related preventable hospitalization.

Educational inequalities in diabetes mortality across Europe in the 2000s: the interaction with gender

Objectives

To evaluate educational inequalities in diabetes mortality in Europe in the 2000s, and to assess whether these inequalities differ between genders.

Methods

Data were obtained from mortality registries covering 14 European countries. To determine educational inequalities in diabetes mortality, age-standardised mortality rates, mortality rate ratios, and slope and relative indices of inequality were calculated. To assess whether the association between education and diabetes mortality differs between genders, diabetes mortality was regressed on gender, educational rank and ‘gender × educational rank’.

Results

An inverse association between education and diabetes mortality exists in both genders across Europe. Absolute educational inequalities are generally larger among men than women; relative inequalities are generally more pronounced among women, the relative index of inequality being 2.8 (95 % CI 2.0–3.9) in men versus 4.8 (95 % CI 3.2–7.2) in women. Gender inequalities in diabetes mortality are more marked in the highest than the lowest educated.

Conclusions

Education and diabetes mortality are inversely related in Europe in the 2000s. This association differs by gender, indicating the need to take the socioeconomic and gender dimension into account when developing public health policies.

General practice and ethnicity: an experimental study of doctoring

Background

There is extensive evidence of health inequality across ethnic groups. Inequity is a complex social phenomenon involving several underlying factors, including ethnic discrimination. In the field of health care, it has been established that ethnic discrimination stems partially from bias or prejudice on the part of doctors. Indeed, it has been hypothesized that patient ethnicity may affect doctors’ social cognition, thus modifying their social interactions and decision-making processes. General practitioners (GPs) are the primary access point to health care for ethnic minority groups. In this study, we examine whether patient ethnicity affects the relational and decisional features of doctoring.

Methods

The sample was made up of 171 Belgian GPs, who were each randomly allocated to one of two experimental conditions. One group were given a hypertension vignette case with a Belgian patient (non-minority patient), while the other group were given a hypertension vignette case with a Moroccan patient (minority patient). We evaluated the time devoted by GPs to examining medical history; time devoted by GPs to examining socio-relational history; cardiovascular risk assessments by GPs; electrocardiogram (ECG) recommendations by GPs, and drug prescriptions by GPs.

Results

We observed that for ethnic minority patients, GPs prescribed more drugs and devoted less time to examining socio-relational history. Neither cardiovascular risk assessments nor ECG recommendations were affected by patient ethnicity. GPs who were very busy devoted less time to examining medical history when dealing with minority patients.

Conclusions

We found no evidence that GPs discriminated against ethnic minority patients when it came to medical decisions. However, our study did identify a risk of drugs being used inappropriately in some ethnic-specific encounters. We also observed that, with ethnic minority patients, GPs engage less in the relational dimension of doctoring, particularly when working within a demanding environment. In general practice, the quality of the relationship between doctor and patient is an essential component of the effective management of chronic illness. Our research highlights the complexity of ethnic discrimination in general practice, and the need for further studies.

Mortality among low-income African Americans and whites with diabetes

OBJECTIVE

To estimate mortality rates and risk factors for mortality in a low-socioeconomic status (SES) population of African Americans and whites with diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We determined mortality among African Americans and whites aged 40-79 years with (n = 12,498) and without (n = 49,914) diabetes at entry into a cohort of participants recruited from government-funded community health centers. Multivariable Cox analysis was used to estimate mortality hazard ratios (HRs) (95% CI) among those with versus those without diabetes and among those with diabetes according to patient characteristics.

RESULTS

During follow-up (mean 5.9 years), 13.5% of those with and 7.3% of those without diabetes died. All-cause mortality risk was higher among those with versus without diabetes for both African Americans (HR 1.84 [95% CI 1.71-1.99]) and whites (1.80 [1.58-2.04]), although among those with diabetes, mortality was lower among African Americans than whites (0.78 [0.69-0.87]). Mortality risk increased with duration of diabetes and was greater among patients on insulin therapy and reporting histories of cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, and stroke. The HRs associated with these multiple risk factors tended to be similar by sex and race, with the exception of a differentially higher impact of prevalent CVD on mortality among African Americans (interaction P value = 0.03), despite a lower baseline prevalence of CVD.

CONCLUSIONS

In this population with similarly low SES and access to health care, strong and generally similar predictors of mortality were identified for African Americans and whites with diabetes, with African Americans at a moderately but significantly lower mortality risk.