High diabetes risk among asylum seekers in The Netherlands.

Aims: To map the prevalence and incidence of recorded diabetes among asylum seekers according to demographic factors and length of stay in the host country.

Methods: We used a nationwide database from the Community Health Services for Asylum Seekers. The study population included all asylum seekers aged 20-79 years who arrived in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2008.

Is channel segmentation necessary to reach a multiethnic population with weight-related health promotion? An analysis of use and perception of communication channels.

Objective: To explore similarities and differences in the use and perception of communication channels to access weight-related health promotion among women in three ethnic minority groups. The ultimate aim was to determine whether similar channels might reach ethnic minority women in general or whether segmentation to ethnic groups would be required.

Design: Eight ethnically homogeneous focus groups were conducted among 48 women of Ghanaian, Antillean/Aruban, or Afro-Surinamese background living in Amsterdam.

Global educational disparities in the associations between body mass index and diabetes mellitus in 49 low-income and middle-income countries.

Background: Despite the well-established link between body mass index (BMI) and diabetes mellitus (DM), it remains unclear whether this association is more pronounced at certain levels of education. This study assessed the modifying effect of educational attainment on the associations between BMI and DM-as well as the joint associations of BMI and education with DM-in low-income countries (LICs) and middle-income countries (MICs).

Methods: The authors used cross-sectional data from 160 381 participants among 49 LICs and MICs in the World Health Survey.

Course of post-traumatic stress disorder and health care utilisation among resettled refugees in the Netherlands.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major health problem among refugees worldwide. After resettlement, the prevalence of PTSD remains high despite the fact that various PTSD treatments are known to be effective.

Methods: We examined the course of PTSD and the role of mental health care utilisation at a 7-year interval (2003-2010) among a cohort of refugees from Iran, Afghanistan, and Somalia after resettlement in the Netherlands.

Rationale and cross-sectional study design of the Research on Obesity and type 2 Diabetes among African Migrants: the RODAM study.

Introduction: Obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are highly prevalent among African migrants compared with European descent populations. The underlying reasons still remain a puzzle. Gene-environmental interaction is now seen as a potential plausible factor contributing to the high prevalence of obesity and T2D, but has not yet been investigated.

The impact of area-based initiatives on physical activity trends in deprived areas; a quasi-experimental evaluation of the Dutch District Approach.

Background: Numerous area-based initiatives (ABIs) have been implemented in deprived neighbourhoods across Europe. These large-scale initiatives aim to tackle the socio-economic and environmental problems in these areas that might influence physical activity (PA). There is little robust evidence of their impact on PA.

A poor association was found between self-reported physical activity and estimated maximal oxygen uptake of sedentary multiethnic women.

Objectives: In health evaluations, physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (maximal oxygen uptake [VO2max]) are important variables. It is not always possible to assess both of them. If the association between self-reported PA and VO2max was strong, it would be possible to use the information on PA to make assumptions about VO2max and vice versa.

The role of body weight, fat distribution and weight change in ethnic differences in the 9-year incidence of hypertension.

Objective: To investigate the role of body composition (body weight, fat distribution and weight change over time) in ethnic differences in the incidence of hypertension in an ethnic Dutch, South Asian Surinamese and African Surinamese background population living in the Netherlands.

Methods: We included 361 participants without hypertension at baseline (147 ethnic Dutch, 82 South Asian Surinamese, 132 African Surinamese), aged 35-60 years, in whom anthropometric measurements and blood pressures were measured at baseline and after mean 9 years of follow-up. Data were analysed using logistic regression analyses, with hypertension at follow up as a dependent variable.

A global study on lone mothers: exploring the associations of self-assessed general health with motherhood types and gender inequality in 32 countries.

Background: In a study of 32 mostly non-affluent countries, we aimed to i) compare lone mother's general health to the health of other women and ii) assess whether the association of health with gender inequality was stronger among lone mothers than among other women.

Methods: World Health Survey data were analyzed on 57,182 women aged 18 to 50 in 32 countries. The main outcome was self-assessed general poor health.

Social neighborhood environment and sports participation among Dutch adults: does sports location matter?

Studies on the relation between the social neighborhood environment and sports participation have produced inconsistent results. Use of generic sports outcomes may have obscured associations only apparent for sports at certain locations. This study aims to assess the association between the social neighborhood environment and three location-specific sports outcomes.

Gender and ethnic disparities in colon cancer presentation and outcomes in a US universal health care setting.

Objective: Access to care is a pillar of U.S. healthcare reform and could potentially challenge existing ethnic and gender disparities in care.

Incidence of first acute myocardial infarction over time specific for age, sex, and country of birth.

Objectives: To study the age- and sex-specific incidence rates of first acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among first-generation ethnic minority groups (henceforth, migrant groups) and the Dutch majority population in the Netherlands during two time periods (2000-2004 and 2005-2010).

Methods: Through linkage of Dutch nationwide registers, first AMI events in the Dutch majority population and the major migrant groups living in the Netherlands were identified from 2000-2004 and 2005-2010. Absolute incidence rates were calculated within each age-sex-period-country of birth group.

The relationship between physical activity and the living environment: a multi-level analyses focusing on changes over time in environmental factors.

There is limited evidence on the causality of previously observed associations between neighborhood characteristics and physical activity (PA). We aimed to assess whether individual-level PA was associated with changes in fear of crime, social cohesion, green spaces, parking facilities, social disorder, and physical disorder that occurred over the past 3 years. In general, in neighborhoods where residents had more favorable perceptions of the environment in 2006, residents were more likely to be physically active in 2009.

Area-based interventions to ameliorate deprived Dutch neighborhoods in practice: does the Dutch District Approach address the social determinants of health to such an extent that future health impacts may be expected?

Objective: We studied the local manifestation of a national procedural program that addressed problems regarding employment, education, housing and the physical neighborhood environment, social cohesion, and safety in the most deprived neighborhoods in the Netherlands. We aimed to assess if such a program, without the explicit aim to improve health, results in area-based interventions that address the social determinants of health to such an extent that future health impacts may be expected.

Methods: We used standardized questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with 39 local district managers.

Towards the integration and development of a cross-European research network and infrastructure: the DEterminants of DIet and Physical ACtivity (DEDIPAC) Knowledge Hub.

To address major societal challenges and enhance cooperation in research across Europe, the European Commission has initiated and facilitated 'joint programming'. Joint programming is a process by which Member States engage in defining, developing and implementing a common strategic research agenda, based on a shared vision of how to address major societal challenges that no Member State is capable of resolving independently. Setting up a Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) should also contribute to avoiding unnecessary overlap and repetition of research, and enable and enhance the development and use of standardised research methods, procedures and data management.

Ethnic disparities in the association of impaired fasting glucose with the 10-year cumulative incidence of type 2 diabetes.

Aims: Evidence of ethnic disparities in the conversion of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes is scarce. We studied the association of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) with the 10-year cumulative incidence of type 2 diabetes in three ethnic groups.

Methods: We analyzed data for 90 South-Asian Surinamese, 190 African-Surinamese, and 176 ethnic Dutch that were collected in the periods 2001-2003 and 2011-2012.

Frequent relocations between asylum-seeker centres are associated with mental distress in asylum-seeking children: a longitudinal medical record study.

Background: There are concerns about negative effects of relocations between asylum-seeker centres on the mental health of asylum-seeking children. However, empirical evidence comes from cross-sectional studies only. In this longitudinal medical record study, we aimed to assess: (i) whether relocations during the asylum process are associated with the incidence of newly recorded mental distress in asylum-seeking children; and (ii) whether this association is stronger among vulnerable children.

Socioeconomic inequalities in acute myocardial infarction incidence in migrant groups: has the epidemic arrived? analysis of nation-wide data.

Objectives: We assessed socioeconomic inequalities in relation to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) incidence among major ethnic groups in The Netherlands.

Methods: A nationwide register-based cohort study was conducted (n=2 591 170) between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2007 among ethnic Dutch and migrant groups from Suriname, Netherlands Antilles, Indonesia, Morocco and Turkey. Standardised household disposable income was used as a proxy for socioeconomic position.

Effectiveness of cultural adaptations of interventions aimed at smoking cessation, diet, and/or physical activity in ethnic minorities. a systematic review.

Background: The importance of cultural adaptations in behavioral interventions targeting ethnic minorities in high-income societies is widely recognized. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of specific cultural adaptations in such interventions.

Aim: To systematically review the effectiveness of specific cultural adaptations in interventions that target smoking cessation, diet, and/or physical activity and to explore features of such adaptations that may account for their effectiveness.

The validation of a social functioning questionnaire in an African postconflict context.

This study evaluated the reliability and criterion validity of the Byumba Social Functioning Questionnaire (BSFQ), an instrument to measure social functioning in Rwanda. The instrument was locally composed in concordance with a well-described method for culture-specific and sex-specific function assessment. Respondents in a Northern Province of Rwanda (N = 393) were assessed with the BSFQ and a 19-item scale (SF-19) drawn from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form (SF-36).

The disease burden across different ethnic groups in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2011-2030.

Background: Current disease burden estimates do not provide evidence across different ethnic groups. This study aims to assess the disease burden as measured by the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for six ethnic groups in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for 2011 and 2030.

Methods: The DALYs were calculated by combining three components: disease-/sex-/age-specific DALYs per person; disease-specific relative risks (RRs) by ethnicity; and sex-/age-specific population sizes by ethnicity in Amsterdam in 2011 and 2030.

Incidence of acute myocardial infarction in first and second generation minority groups: does the second generation converge towards the majority population?

Background: Differences in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) incidence between ethnic minority and migrant groups (henceforth, minority groups) and the majority population have been reported. Health differences may converge towards the majority population over generations. We assessed whether AMI incidence differences between minority groups living in the Netherlands and the Dutch majority population exist, and whether the incidence converges towards the majority population over generations.

The modifying influence of country development on the effect of individual educational attainment on self-rated health.

Objectives: We investigated how much the Human Development Index (HDI), a global measure of development, modifies the effect of education on self-reported health.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional World Health Survey data on 217,642 individuals from 49 countries, collected in 2002 to 2005, with random-intercept multilevel linear regression models.

Results: We observed greater positive associations between educational levels and self-reported good health with increasing HDI.

Sick regimes and sick people: a multilevel investigation of the population health consequences of perceived national corruption.

Objective: There is a paucity of empirical work on the potential population health impact of living under a regime marred by corruption. African countries differ in the extent of national corruption, and we explore whether perceived national corruption is associated with population health across all rungs of society.

Methods: World Health Survey data were analysed on 72 524 adults from 20 African countries.

Sex disparities in acute myocardial infarction incidence: do ethnic minority groups differ from the majority population?

Background: The incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in men exceeds that in women. The extent of this sex disparity varies widely between countries. Variations may also exist between ethnic minority groups and the majority population, but scientific evidence is lacking.