Health disparities between immigrant and Danish cleaners

TY - JOUR

T1 - Health disparities between immigrant and Danish cleaners

AU - Jørgensen, Marie B

AU - Rasmussen, Charlotte D N

AU - Carneiro, Isabella G

AU - Flyvholm, Mari-Ann

AU - Olesen, Kasper

AU - Ekner, Dorte

AU - Søgaard, Karen

AU - Holtermann, Andreas

PY - 2011/8

Y1 - 2011/8

N2 - Purpose: It is unknown whether immigrants working in the cleaning industry have a poorer health and work ability than cleaners from the native population. The main aim was to investigate differences in objective and self-reported health measures between immigrant and Danish cleaners. Methods: Three hundred and fifty-one cleaners, consisting of 166 Danes (88% women) and 179 immigrants (74% women) (6 with unknown ethnicity), from 9 workplaces in Denmark participated in the study. Health and work ability were obtained by objective (e.g., BMI and blood pressure) and self-reported measures (e.g., work ability, self-rated health, and musculoskeletal symptoms). In order to investigate differences between Danish and immigrant cleaners, logistic regression analyses and General Linear Models were performed. Results: When controlling for age, sex, workplace, job seniority, and smoking, more Danish compared with immigrant cleaners were current smokers (42% vs. 28%, p < 0.001 (not controlled for smoking)), had hypertension (46% vs. 26%, p < 0.05) and drank more alcohol (3.0 vs. 0.8 units per day, respectively, p < 0.001). Contrary, more immigrants compared with Danish cleaners were measured to be overweight (47% vs. 30%, p < 0.05), reported less than good work ability (57% vs. 42%, p < 0.01), considered it unthinkable/unsure to be able to perform work 2 years ahead (37% vs. 23%, p < 0.01), reported reduced self-rated health (46% vs. 38%, p < 0.01) and everyday pain in the neck/shoulder (28% vs. 11%, p < 0.01), wrist (18% vs. 7%, p < 0.01), and lower back (21% vs. 10%, p < 0.01). There were no differences in self-reported chronic diseases. Conclusions: Although the health of the cleaners was alarmingly poor, the immigrant cleaners generally had a poorer self-reported health and work ability than the Danish cleaners. These findings highlight the need for occupational health actions among cleaners, particularly tailored to the immigrant subpopulation.

AB - Purpose: It is unknown whether immigrants working in the cleaning industry have a poorer health and work ability than cleaners from the native population. The main aim was to investigate differences in objective and self-reported health measures between immigrant and Danish cleaners. Methods: Three hundred and fifty-one cleaners, consisting of 166 Danes (88% women) and 179 immigrants (74% women) (6 with unknown ethnicity), from 9 workplaces in Denmark participated in the study. Health and work ability were obtained by objective (e.g., BMI and blood pressure) and self-reported measures (e.g., work ability, self-rated health, and musculoskeletal symptoms). In order to investigate differences between Danish and immigrant cleaners, logistic regression analyses and General Linear Models were performed. Results: When controlling for age, sex, workplace, job seniority, and smoking, more Danish compared with immigrant cleaners were current smokers (42% vs. 28%, p < 0.001 (not controlled for smoking)), had hypertension (46% vs. 26%, p < 0.05) and drank more alcohol (3.0 vs. 0.8 units per day, respectively, p < 0.001). Contrary, more immigrants compared with Danish cleaners were measured to be overweight (47% vs. 30%, p < 0.05), reported less than good work ability (57% vs. 42%, p < 0.01), considered it unthinkable/unsure to be able to perform work 2 years ahead (37% vs. 23%, p < 0.01), reported reduced self-rated health (46% vs. 38%, p < 0.01) and everyday pain in the neck/shoulder (28% vs. 11%, p < 0.01), wrist (18% vs. 7%, p < 0.01), and lower back (21% vs. 10%, p < 0.01). There were no differences in self-reported chronic diseases. Conclusions: Although the health of the cleaners was alarmingly poor, the immigrant cleaners generally had a poorer self-reported health and work ability than the Danish cleaners. These findings highlight the need for occupational health actions among cleaners, particularly tailored to the immigrant subpopulation.

KW - Adult

KW - Blood Pressure

KW - Body Mass Index

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Denmark/epidemiology

KW - Emigrants and Immigrants/statistics & numerical data

KW - Female

KW - Health Behavior/ethnology

KW - Health Status

KW - Health Status Disparities

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Occupational Health/ethnology

U2 - 10.1007/s00420-010-0607-2

DO - 10.1007/s00420-010-0607-2

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 21203770

SN - 0340-0131

VL - 84

SP - 665

EP - 674

JO - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

JF - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

IS - 6

ER -