TY - GEN A1 - Miani, Céline A1 - Razum, Oliver A1 - Spallek, Jacob T1 - Health of the offspring of immigrants: the BaBi birth cohort study T2 - Public Health Forum N2 - Children with a migration background are more at risk of health-related problems than those without a migration background. The German health system still does not adequately meet the challenges of on increasingly heterogeneous population, not least due to a lack of adequate epidemiological data and models. The BaBi study contributes to gaining new insights in the development of health inequalities due to cultural diversity in Germany, with a focus on pregnancy and early childhood. KW - cohort study KW - early childhood KW - migration KW - quantitative analysis KW - social epidemiology Y1 - 2019 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/pubhef.2019.27.issue-4/pubhef-2019-0062/pubhef-2019-0062.xml U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/pubhef-2019-0062 SN - 1876-4851 SN - 0944-5587 VL - 27 IS - 4 SP - 298 EP - 300 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schröder, Sara Lena A1 - Hoebel, Jens A1 - Roick, Julia A1 - Markert, Jenny A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Knesebeck, Olaf von dem A1 - Richter, Matthias T1 - Inequalities in the utilisation of primary and specialist physicians in Europe - a systematic review T2 - European Journal of Public Health N2 - Background: The evidence on inequalities in health clearly shows that people with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have poorer health and higher mortality. Nevertheless, generalized evidence for inequalities in healthcare is lacking. So far, the international literature was only summarised with regard to inequalities in the utilisation of disease-specific treatment. Therefore, our aim was to synthetize the literature on socioeconomic inequalities in the utilisation of primary and specialist physicians in the general population. Methods: This systematic review searched Medline und Web of Science from 2004 to 2018. Articles that reported quantitative data on the association of SES with utilisation of primary or specialist physicians in Europe were included. Title and abstract screening were performed by two independent researchers and 50 full texts are currently sifted whether they fulfil the inclusion criteria. Results: The studies analysed utilisation of physicians in terms of probability or frequency. The initial check of the studies indicates that socioeconomic inequalities in the utilisation of physicians differ between primary and specialist care. Specialist physicians were found to be visited with a higher probability and more often by the least disadvantaged in most studies. Inequalities in the utilisation of primary physicians revealed to be more diverse with a weak pattern of equally distributed probability of GP visits and more frequent utilisation by the disadvantaged. Conclusions: The preliminary results indicate that pro-rich utilisation seems to be more pronounced in visiting specialists compared to primary health care. Aiming to reduce inequalities in healthcare, public health actions might primarily focus on reaching a needs-based consultation of specialist physicians. KW - Inequalities KW - Review KW - Primary health care KW - specialist health care KW - utilization Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz186.377 SN - 1101-1262 SN - 1464-360X VL - 29 IS - 4 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Sauzet, Odile A1 - Zolitschka, Kim Alexandra A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Breckenkamp, Jürgen A1 - Razum, Oliver T1 - An ego-centred approach for the evaluation of health inequalities in urban areas T2 - European Journal of Public Health N2 - Background: Neighbourhood possesses attributes, structural, physical and social, for which pathways to health inequalities could be hypothesized. Hence, neighbourhood is a complex mixture of factors which cannot be simply defined by a delineation on a map, making common definitions of neighbourhood (e.g. administrative borders) problematic. We present a new concept for the evaluation of contextual health inequalities in an urban setting. Methods: An ego-centred approach to neighbourhood effects on health allows to establish to what degree the health outcomes of a person are on average correlated to the health outcomes of his/her neighbours. This approach does not necessitate the definition of what a neighbourhood is, or of its boundaries. Using data from the BaBi birth cohort following up 958 mother-child pairs in Bielefeld/Germany we illustrate how the method provides information about the spatial structure of a possible association between unmeasured neighbourhood factors and birthweight. Spatially correlated birthweight indicates a neighbourhood effect on maternal health. Results: A parametric model of the correlation structure gives two indicators: a distance after which health outcomes are no longer correlated (practical range), and the strength of correlation (RSV). We modelled birthweight directly and residuals after controlling for (spatially correlated) covariates. After adjusting for the mother’s demographics and neighbourhood characteristics, birthweights remained spatially correlated with RSV of 11% and a practical range of 128 m. Conclusions: Modelling the spatial correlation of a health outcome provides a measure of the degree of health correlation, thus offering new evidence on the production of health inequalities while incorporating current modelling approaches. Moreover, it measures heterogeneity in a city. This could be used as an indicator for policy makers or town planners to identify areas in need of socioeconomic investment. KW - health inequalities KW - urban KW - birth weight KW - child KW - demography KW - ego KW - Germany KW - socioeconomic factors KW - health disparity KW - towns KW - maternal health Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz186.243 SN - 1101-1262 SN - 1464-360X VL - 29 IS - 4 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Tallarek, Marie A1 - Mlinarić, Martin A1 - Spallek, Jacob ED - Tiemann, Michael ED - Mohokum, Melvin T1 - Migration – Bedeutung und Implikationen für die Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung T2 - Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung. Springer Reference Pflege – Therapie – Gesundheit N2 - Die Bevölkerungsgruppe der Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund umfasst fast ein Viertel der Gesamtbevölkerung in Deutschland und ist höchst heterogen. Pauschalisierende Aussagen zum Gesundheitsstatus dieser Gruppe sind daher nicht möglich. Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund sind nicht grundsätzlich gesünder oder kränker als die Mehrheitsbevölkerung. Allerdings können sie sich aufgrund von Expositionen vor, während und nach der Migration in ihren Gesundheitschancen und -risiken von der Mehrheitsbevölkerung unterscheiden. Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung sollten daraus resultierende spezifische Bedarfe ebenso berücksichtigen wie die Diversität der Bevölkerung insgesamt. Erfolgversprechend ist eine Kombination aus diversitätssensiblen, für die Gesamtbevölkerung zugänglichen Angeboten und migrationsspezifischen Ansätzen in besonders risikoreichen Situationen. Kommunale, settingorientierte sowie soziokulturell angepasste Angebote verbessern die Erreichbarkeit der Zielgruppen maßgeblich. KW - Migration KW - Prävention KW - Gesundheitsförderung Y1 - 2019 UR - https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-662-55793-8_28-1 SN - 978-3-662-55793-8 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-55793-8_28-1 SN - 2662-6942 SN - 2662-6950 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Springer CY - Berlin, Heidelberg ET - 1 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Scholaske, Laura A1 - Kurt, Medlin A1 - Lindner-Matthes, Denise A1 - Entringer, Sonja T1 - Intergenerational transmission of health disparities among Turkish-origin immigrants in Germany: study protocol of a multi-centric cohort study (BaBi-stress and BaBeK study) T2 - BMC pregnancy and childbirth N2 - Background: Immigrants in Germany exhibit higher levels of social disadvantage when compared to the non-immigrated population. Turkish-origin immigrants constitute an important immigrant group in Germany and show disparities in some health domains that are evident from birth onwards. Several studies have shown the mechanisms by which social disadvantage is biologically embedded to affect health over the lifespan. Relatively little, however, is still known about if and how the maternal social situation is transmitted to the next generation. This study therefore aims to analyse the effects of maternal socioeconomic status and migration status on stress-related maternal-placental-fetal (MPF) biological processes during pregnancy on infant birth and health outcomes. Methods: This longitudinal cohort study of N = 144 child-mother dyads is located at two study sites in Germany and includes pregnant women of Turkish origin living in Germany as well as pregnant German women. During pregnancy, MPF stress biology markers from maternal blood and saliva samples, maternal socio-economic and migration-related information, medical risk variables and psychological well-being are assessed. After birth, infant anthropometric measures and developmental outcomes are assessed. The same measures will be assessed in and compared to Turkish pregnant women based on a collaboration with BABIP study in Istanbul. Discussion: This is the first study on intergenerational transmission of health disparities in Germany with a focus on women of Turkish-origin. The study faces similar risks of bias as other birth cohorts do. The study has implemented various measures, e.g. culturally sensitive recruitment strategies, attempt to recruit and follow-up as many pregnant women as possible independent of their social or cultural background. Nevertheless, the response rate among lower-educated families is lower. The possibility to compare results with a cohort from Turkey is a strength of this study. However, starting at different times and with slightly different recruitment strategies and designs may result in cohort effects and may affect comparability of the sub-cohorts. KW - Transmission of health inequalities KW - Stress biology KW - Turkish immigrants KW - Pregnancy KW - Birth Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-2853-y VL - 20 IS - 1 SP - 158 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Breckenkamp, Jürgen A1 - Razum, Oliver A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Berger, Klaus A1 - Chaix, Basile A1 - Sauzet, Odile T1 - A method to define the relevant ego-centred spatial scale for the assessment of neighbourhood effects: the example of cardiovascular risk factors T2 - BMC Public Health N2 - Introduction: The neighbourhood in which one lives affects health through complex pathways not yet fully understood. A way to move forward in assessing these pathways direction is to explore the spatial structure of health phenomena to generate hypotheses and examine whether the neighbourhood characteristics are able to explain this spatial structure. We compare the spatial structure of two cardiovascular disease risk factors in three European urban areas, thus assessing if a non-measured neighbourhood effect or spatial processes is present by either modelling the correlation structure at individual level or by estimating the intra-class correlation within administrative units. Methods: Data from three independent studies (RECORD, DHS and BaBi), covering each a European urban area, are used. The characteristics of the spatial correlation structure of cardiovascular risk factors (BMI and systolic blood pressure) adjusted for age, sex, educational attainment and income are estimated by fitting an exponential model to the semi-variogram based on the geo-coordinates of places of residence. For comparison purposes, a random effect model is also fitted to estimate the intra-class correlation within administrative units. We then discuss the benefits of modelling the correlation structure to evaluate the presence of unmeasured spatial effects on health. Results: BMI and blood pressure are consistently found to be spatially structured across the studies, the spatial correlation structures being stronger for BMI. Eight to 22% of the variability in BMI were spatially structured with radii ranging from 100 to 240 m (range). Only a small part of the correlation of residuals was explained by adjusting for the correlation within administrative units (from 0 to 4 percentage points). Discussion: The individual spatial correlation approach provides much stronger evidence of spatial effects than the multilevel approach even for small administrative units. Spatial correlation structure offers new possibilities to assess the relevant spatial scale for health. Stronger correlation structure seen for BMI may be due to neighbourhood socioeconomic conditions and processes like social norms at work in the immediate neighbourhood. KW - Cardiovascular risk factors KW - Geographic distribution KW - Spatial scale Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11356-w SN - 1471-2458 VL - 21 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Scholaske, Laura A1 - Duman, Elif Aysimi A1 - Razum, Oliver A1 - Entringer, Sonja T1 - Association of maternal migrant background with inflammation during pregnancy – results of a birth cohort study in Germany T2 - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity N2 - Background Health disparities in children of immigrants are prevalent from birth and are hypothesized to – in part – emerge as a biological consequence of migration’s unfavorable social and psychological sequelae. The aim of this study was to examine whether maternal migrant background is associated with inflammation during pregnancy - a key pathway by which maternal states and conditions during pregnancy may influence fetal development and subsequent pregnancy, birth, and child developmental and health outcomes. Material and Methods Data was available from 126 pregnant women who participated in a population based multi-site prospective birth cohort study in Bielefeld and Berlin, Germany. The study included two study visits in mid- and late pregnancy. At each visit, a composite maternal pro-inflammatory score was derived from circulating levels of plasma inflammatory markers (IL-6, CRP). Migrant background was defined by country of origin of participants and their parents’ (Turkey or other) and generation status (1st or 2nd generation). We applied hierarchical linear models (HLM) in order to quantify the relationship between different migrant background variables and inflammation during pregnancy after adjustment for potential confounders (including socioeconomic status). Results Migrant background was significantly associated with inflammation during pregnancy. When compared to women without migrant background, levels of inflammation were increased in 1) pregnant women with migrant background in general (B = 0.35, SE = 0.12, p < .01); 2) 1st (B = 0.28, SE = 0.15, p < .10) and 2nd generation (B = 0.40, SE = 0.15, p < .01); 3) women with a Turkish migrant background (B = 0.28, SE = 0.14, p < .10) and women with another migrant background (B = 0.42, SE = 0.15, p <.01); and 4) 2nd generation Turkish origin women (B = 0.38, SE = 0.20, p <.10), 1st generation women with other migrant background (B = 0.44, SE = 0.26, p <.10), and 2nd generation women with other migrant background (B=0.43, SE = 0.17, p <.05). Discussion Our findings support a role for maternal inflammation as a pathway of intergenerational transmission of migration-related health inequalities, suggest that the effect seems to persist in 2nd generation immigrants, and highlight the need for future research and targeted interventions in this context. KW - Transmission of Health Inequalities KW - Stress biology KW - Immigrants KW - Inflammation Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.06.010 SN - 1090-2139 VL - Vol. 96 SP - 271 EP - 278 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Miani, Céline A1 - Ludwig, Angelique A1 - Doyle, Ina-Merle A1 - Breckenkamp, Jürgen A1 - Höller-Holtrichter, Chantal A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Razum, Oliver T1 - The role of education and migration background in explaining differences in folic acid supplementation intake in pregnancy: Results from a German birth cohort study T2 - Public Health Nutrition N2 - Objective: Official German recommendations advise women to start taking folic acid supplementation (FAS) before conception and continue during the first pregnancy trimester to lower the risk of birth defects. Women from lower socioeconomic background and ethnic minorities tend to be less likely to take FAS in other European countries. As little is known about the determinants of FAS in Germany, we aimed to investigate the association between FAS and formal education and migration background, adjusting for demographic factors. Design: We used data (2013-2016) on nutrition and socioeconomic and migration background from the baseline questionnaire of the BaBi cohort study. We performed multivariate regressions and mediation analyses. Setting: Bielefeld, Germany. Participants: 947 women (pregnant or who had given birth in the past two months). Results: 16.7% of the participants (158/947) didn't use FAS. Migration-related variables (e.g. language, length of stay) were not associated with FAS in the adjusted models. FAS was lower in women with lower level of formal education and in unplanned pregnancies. Reasons given by women for not taking FAS were unplanned pregnancy and lack of knowledge of FAS. Conclusions: Health practitioners may be inclined to see migrant women as an inherently at-risk group for failed intake of FAS. However, it is primarily women who did not plan their pregnancy, and women of lower formal education level, who are at risk. Different public health strategies to counter low supplementation rates should be supported, those addressing the social determinants of health (i.e. education) and those more focussed on family planning. KW - Folic acid supplementation KW - Germany KW - birth cohort KW - education KW - migration KW - pregnancy Y1 - 2021 UR - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34420537/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021003621 SN - 1475-2727 SP - 1 EP - 24 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hoffmann, Stephanie A1 - Schiebel, Juliane A1 - Hufert, Frank A1 - Gremmels, Heinz-Detlef A1 - Spallek, Jacob T1 - COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers: A Prospective Serological-Epidemiological Cohort Study in a Standard Care Hospital in Rural Germany T2 - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - Healthcare workers (HCW) play a vital role in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic control. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and the risk of COVID-19 infections in a cohort of HCW from four different risk groups (from intensive care unit to administration) of a hospital of a primary care level in rural Germany. The outcomes were monthly measures of antibody seroprevalence over a period of 6 months. Overall, a seroprevalence of 13.41% was determined, with significantly higher prevalence rates among HCW working in areas with more frequent contact to confirmed or suspected cases (30.30%, p = 0.003). The group specific differences in the risk of infection from COVID-19 were detected, as HCW groups with frequent exposure seemed to have an increased risk (RR = 3.18, p = 0.02; CI95 1.09–9.24). The findings contribute to the epidemiological understanding of the virus spread in an unvaccinated population group, which is highly relevant for the pandemic management. KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - immunity KW - antibody KW - healthcare KW - staff KW - COVID-19 KW - seroprevalence KW - pandemic Y1 - 2021 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10999 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010999 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 18 IS - 20 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hoffmann, Stephanie A1 - Tschorn, Mira A1 - Michalski, Niels A1 - Hoebel, Jens A1 - Förstner, Bernd R. A1 - Rapp, Michael A. A1 - Spallek, Jacob T1 - Association of regional socioeconomic deprivation and rurality with global developmental delay in early childhood: Data from mandatory school entry examinations in Germany T2 - Health & Place N2 - Background From birth to young adulthood, health and development of young people are strongly linked to their living situation, including their family’s socioeconomic position (SEP) and living environment. The impact of regional characteristics on development in early childhood beyond family SEP has been rarely investigated. This study aimed to identify regional predictors of global developmental delay at school entry taking family SEP into consideration. Method We used representative, population-based data from mandatory school entry examinations of the German federal state of Brandenburg in 2018/2019 with n=22,801 preschool children. By applying binary multilevel models, we hierarchically analyzed the effect of regional deprivation defined by the German Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation (GISD) and rurality operationalized as inverted population density of the children’s school district on global developmental delay (GDD) while adjusting for family SEP (low, medium and high). Results Family SEP was significantly and strongly linked to GDD. Children with the highest family SEP showed a lower odds for GDD compared to a medium SEP (female: OR=4.26, male: OR=3.46) and low SEP (female: OR=16.58, male: OR=12.79). Furthermore, we discovered a smaller, but additional and independent effect of regional socioeconomic deprivation on GDD, with a higher odds for children from a more deprived school district (female: OR=1.35, male: OR=1.20). However, rurality did not show a significant link to GDD in preschool children beyond family SEP and regional deprivation. Conclusion Family SEP and regional deprivation are risk factors for child development and of particular interest to promote health of children in early childhood and over the life course. KW - Health inequalities KW - Spatial analysis KW - Regional deprivation KW - Rurality KW - Developmental delay KW - Children Y1 - 2022 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829222000557 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102794 SN - 1353-8292 VL - 75 ER -