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Subjective health complaints among boys and girls in the Swedish HBSC study: focussing on parental foreign background

  • Original Article
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International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objective

The general aim of this study was to explore the associations between foreign extraction and subjective health complaints (SHC) among school-aged children in Sweden.

Methods

Data were obtained from the global cross-sectional survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), 1997/1998, 2001/2002, and 2005/2006. A total of 11,972 pupils in grades 5, 7 and 9 participated in the survey. Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate remaining risk of SHC among the subgroups of pupils. The analyses were adjusted for socio-demographic indicators, grade and measurement year.

Results

Parental background: Swedish n = 9,585, mixed n = 1,263, and foreign n = 1,124. The results showed an increased risk of SHC among girls with a foreign background OR 1.27 (95% CI 1.04–1.55) compared with girls with a Swedish background and among girls in single-adult households OR 1.42 (95% CI 1.20–1.67) compared with girls in two-adult households. No such differences were shown among boys.

Conclusions

A significantly increased risk of ill health remained in girls of foreign background after adjustment for socio-demographic indicators, grade and measurement year.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the Swedish National Institute of Public Health for allowing us access to the HBSC database. We would also like to extend our appreciation to Erling Englund, PhD, Statistician at the Research and Development Centre for County Council of Västernorrland for valuable statistical support.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Correspondence to Heidi Carlerby.

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Carlerby, H., Viitasara, E., Knutsson, A. et al. Subjective health complaints among boys and girls in the Swedish HBSC study: focussing on parental foreign background. Int J Public Health 56, 457–464 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0246-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0246-8

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