Intermarriage and Migrant Health: Mortality among Finnish Migrants in Sweden by Spouse’s Country of Birth

Kaarina Korhonen , University of Helsinki
Agneta Cederstöm, Stockholm University
Pekka Martikainen, University of Helsinki
Olof Östergren, Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University / Aging Research Centre, Karolinska Institutet

Finnish migrants in Sweden experience a mortality disadvantage relative to the native population in part due to poor health behaviours. Interaction between migrants and natives may lead to convergence of health behaviours between the groups. We analysed whether Finnish migrants married to a Swedish as opposed to a Finnish spouse had mortality rates more similar to the native Swedish population. We identified all married Finnish migrants aged 40–64 in Sweden in 1999. Using register data from Sweden and Finland, we identified reference groups in both countries. We used a combination of inverse probability weighting and direct matching to adjust for differences in sociodemographic characteristics without sharing sensitive data across borders. We observed mortality from all causes, alcohol, smoking and CVD during 2000-2017. Adjusted for age, education and income, Finnish migrant men who were married to a Swede as opposed to a fellow Finn had lower all-cause and CVD mortality, closer to native Swedes. The higher mortality of migrant men with a Finnish wife was especially pronounced if the couple had married before migrating to Sweden. Finnish migrant women with a Swedish husband instead had higher smoking-related mortality than women married to another Finn, mirroring the higher smoking-related mortality of native Swedish women. Being married to a native is associated with lower all-cause and CVD mortality for Finnish migrant men in Sweden and with higher smoking-related mortality among women. Intermarriage with a native may lead to convergence of health behaviours and to mortality levels observed in the native population.

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 Presented in Session 30. Migrant Health