Claudia Hövener

Robert Koch Institut | RKI · Unit 28: Social Determinants of Health

Zusammenfassung Rassismus und Diskriminierung als soziale Determinanten der Gesundheit stehen auch in Deutschland zunehmend im Fokus der Public-Health-Forschung. Studien zeigen Zusammenhänge mit physischer und psychischer Gesundheit bis hin zu Veränderungen auf zellulärer Ebene auf. Neben den gesundheitsschädigenden Effekten interpersoneller und di...

Hintergrund. Gesundheitliche Chancen und Risiken werden durch eine Vielzahl von Faktoren beeinflusst. Der Beitrag zielt darauf ab, die Gesundheit von Menschen mit ausgewählten Staatsangehörigkeiten anhand nichtübertragbarer Erkrankungen (chronische Krankheit oder lang andauerndes gesundheitliches Problem allgemein, koronare Herzkrankheit, Diabetes...

Objective: To evaluate the socioeconomic patterns of SARS-CoV-2 antigen contacts through infection, vaccination or both ("hybrid immunity") after 1 year of vaccination campaign. Methods: Data were derived from the German seroepidemiological Corona Monitoring Nationwide study (RKI-SOEP-2; n = 10,448; November 2021-February 2022). Combining serologi...

Einleitung Evidenz zu sozioökonomischer Ungleichheit im SARS-CoV-2-Serostatus in späteren Pandemiephasen ist rar, kann aber zur Identifizierung von sozial ungleich verteilten Risiken für schwere COVID-19-Verläufe und Ansatzpunkten für Prävention beitragen. Diese Analyse untersucht sozioökonomische Unterschiede in SARS-CoV-2-Antigenkontakten durch I...

Introduction: It is not only the risks of SARS-CoV‑2 infection and severe to fatal courses of the disease that are socially unequally distributed, but also job and income losses as a result of the containment measures. People with a history of migration are at increased risk of being affected by such indirect socio-economic effects of the pandemic...

Background: The COVID-19 vaccination is a key measure to contain the pandemic. It aims to restrict new infections and to reduce severe courses of the disease. This paper examines the influence of various social determinants on COVID-19 vaccination status. Methods: The analyses are based on data from the study German Health Update (GEDA 2021), a...

Background: The health situation of people with a history of migration is influenced by a variety of factors. This article provides an overview of the health of people with selected citizenships using various indicators. Methods: The analyses are based on the survey 'German Health Update: Fokus (GEDA Fokus)', which was conducted from November 20...

Background: According to the definition of the German Federal Statistical Office, about every fourth person living in Germany has a so-called migration background (MB), i.e., the person or at least one of their parents was born without German citizenship. However, MB has been defined differently in many studies. Also, the MB summarises people in d...

Background: the COVID-19 vaccination offers protection against severe disease progression. Data show that people with a history of migration are less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than people without a history of migration, but are at increased risk of infection. Methods: Data were used from the GEDA Fokus interview survey (November 2...

Summarizing categories, such as migration background or history of migration, do not reflect the diversity and heterogeneity of the population living in Germany and their health. A differentiated description of the health situation of people with a history of migration should consider migration-related, social, and structural determinants of health...

Children's overweight is strongly associated with family socioeconomic position (SEP) and family characteristics (FC). There is limited research on the extent to which FC account for a socioeconomic gradient in childhood overweight. This study examined whether FC explain SEP differences in the prevalence of overweight. The study used baseline data...

Objectives: Research shows that there is an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in migrants and ethnic minorities. However, increasing evidence indicates that socio-economic factors, such as employment, education and income, contribute to the association between migrant status and SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study aimed to examine the associatio...

Background: Germany has a long history of migration. In 2020, more than every fourth person had a statistically defined, so-called 'migration background' in Germany, meaning that the person or at least one of their parents was born with a citizenship other than German. People with a history of migration are not represented proportionately to the p...

Hintergrund: Regionale Deprivationsindizes erlauben, Zusammenhänge zwischen sozialer Benachteiligung und Gesundheit mit Daten zu analysieren, die selbst keine Information über die sozioökonomische Position der Individuen enthalten. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt die Revision des German Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation (GISD) vor und präsentiert b...

Background: Regional deprivation indices enable researchers to analyse associations between socioeconomic disadvantages and health outcomes even if the health data of interest does not include information on the individuals' socioeconomic position. This article introduces the recent revision of the German Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation (GISD)...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund In der Public-Health-Forschung ist Migration als eine Determinante von Gesundheit zunehmend in den Fokus gerückt. Verantwortungsvolle Forschung in diesem Bereich setzt eine antidiskriminierende Vorgehensweise in der Durchführung, Berichterstattung und Ergebnisdissemination voraus. Ein diskriminierungssensibler Sprachgeb...

Background Interpersonal discrimination (disc.) plays an important role for physical and mental health, througoutthe life-course and in particular during adolescence. People can experience disc., e.g. due to their physical appearance or language preferences independently of having a migration background (mb, official statistical category in Germany...

Background The association between perceived discrimination and mental health in adolescents has been widely documented. Aim of this contribution is to show how the relationship between mental health and perceived discrimination at school, work or job training differs depending on socio-economic or migration-related determinants. Methods The prese...

Background Although health inequalities in adolescence are well documented, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Few studies have examined the role of the family in explaining adolescents’ health inequalities. The study aimed to explore whether the association between socioeconomic position and self-rated health (SRH) was mediated by familial...

Background Social support as a psychosocial resource has a significant impact on health. However, data on the association between social support and subjective health among people with a migration history is scarce. The aim of this analysis was to examine this association among a sample of people with selected citizenships in consideration of socio...

Background International research shows increased risks for SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe disease progression in people with migration history. In Germany, data on this topic is scarce. Aim of this contribution is to examine the association between migrant status and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and discuss potential explanatory mechanisms. Meth...

Background People with migration history (PMH) are underrepresented within health monitoring at Robert Koch Institute (RKI). To better describe the health status of PHM, the RKI is currently conducting the health interview survey GEDA Fokus with different migrant groups. Aim of this contribution is to present which sub-groups in this sequential mix...

Background Children's overweight is associated with many factors, including their living situation, in particular their family's socioeconomic position (SEP) and family characteristics. Research on the extent to which family characteristics account for a social gradient in overweight in early life is scarce. This study evaluated whether family char...

Background The COVID-19 vaccination aims to prevent the transmission of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as well as to reduce severe courses of the disease and deaths. But various studies indicate social differences in willingness to be vaccinated. This study aims to examine the influence of different social determinants on COVID-19 vaccination i...

BACKGROUND Germany has a long history of migration. In 2020, more than 1 person in every 4 people had a statistically defined, so-called migration background in Germany, meaning that the person or at least one of their parents was born with a citizenship other than German citizenship. People with a history of migration are not represented proportio...

Zusammenfassung Fragestellung Gab es über 15 Jahre nach der deutschen Wiedervereinigung Unterschiede in den personalen Ressourcen bei den um 1989 geborenen Kindern und Jugendlichen zwischen Ost und West? Wie haben sich die Unterschiede dieser „Wendegeneration“ in der Folge entwickelt? Methode Daten der KiGGS-Studie aus den Jahren 2003–2006 und 2014...

Introduction In 2020, there were about 9,200 deaths by suicide in Germany, which was just under 1% of all deaths. Significant regional differences in suicide mortality exist. In 1990, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia had the highest suicide rates; Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland the lowest. The study examines whether the...

Background Approximately every fourth person in Germany has a migration background. Health research on the use of primary and specialist health care in this group is still scarce. Few studies have suggested a difference in the use of primary and specialist health care among people with a migration background. Potential resources and barriers to hea...

Background Germany has become an important immigration country and health services need to adopt to meet the needs of an increasingly multicultural population. For public health planning, it is essential to understand the aetiology of health problems among migrant populations. The main objective was to systematically identify, evaluate and synthesi...

Objective Although health inequalities in adolescence are well documented, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Few studies have examined the role of the family in explaining the association between the family’s socioeconomic position and adolescents’ self-rated health. The current study aimed to explore whether the association between socioec...

Background: Evidence on the relationship between socioeconomic position (SEP) and infections with SARS-CoV-2 is still limited as most of the available studies are ecological in nature. This is the first German nationwide study to examine differences in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections according to SEP at the individual level. Methods: The ‘CORONA...

Germany is a country of immigration; 27% of the population are people with a migration background (PMB). As other countries, Germany faces difficulties in adequately including hard-to-survey populations like PMB into national public health monitoring. The IMIRA project was initiated to develop strategies to adequately include PMB into public health...

Abstract Background In Germany, different health checks for adults are offered for primary and secondary prevention. Previous findings indicate that preventive care utilization varies according to social determinants, especially migration background. This study examined the extent to which migration background is associated with preventive care uti...

https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/222154/

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about great changes to the everyday lives of the population in Germany. Social distancing, working from home and other measures to contain the pandemic are essentially dominating everyday life. With data from the CORONA HEALTH App study we analysed the quality of life of the adult population in Germany during the C...

Objective Evidence on socioeconomic inequalities in infections with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is still limited as most of the available studies are ecological in nature and individual-level data is sparse. We therefore analysed individual-level data on socioeconomic differences in the prevalence and perceived dangerousness of SARS-CoV-2 in...

Background Eating disorder symptoms (EDs) have been discussed as a prominent problem among late adolescent girls with serious health risks and long-term consequences. However, there is a lack of population-based evidence on EDs comprising the age range from early adolescence to emerging adulthood as well as considering both females and males equall...

Background Participation in sports and physical activity (PA) is a critical resource for children’s health and social development. This study analyzes how the parental socioeconomic status (SES) of children and adolescents affects their PA in sports clubs (organized sports) and outside of sports clubs (unorganized sports) and tests whether the pote...

This scoping review systematically mapped evidence of the mediating and moderating effects of family characteristics on health inequalities in school-aged children and adolescents (6–18 years) in countries with developed economies in Europe and North America. We conducted a systematic scoping review following the PRISMA extension for Scoping Review...

Background: Evidence on the relationship between socioeconomic position (SEP) and infections with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is still limited as most of the available studies are ecological in nature. This is the first German nationwide study to examine differences in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections according to SEP at the individual level. Metho...

https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/218460

The economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic pose a particular threat to vulnerable groups, such as migrants, particularly forcibly displaced populations. The aim of this review is (i) to synthesise the evidence on risk of infection and transmission among migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced populations, and...

https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/218459: Wie bereits in der ersten Welle der SARS-CoV-2-Epidemie in Deutschland sind auch zu Beginn der zweiten Welle zunächst höhere Inzidenzraten in sozioökonomisch bessergestellten Regionen festzustellen. Mit Voranschreiten der zweiten Welle kehrte sich dieses Muster jedoch um, sodass Menschen in sozioökonomisch...

The economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic pose a particular threat to vulnerable groups, such as migrants, particularly forcibly displaced populations. The aim of this review is (i) to synthesise the evidence on risk of infection and transmission among migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced populations, and...

Three months after a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Kupferzell, Germany, a population-based study (n = 2,203) found no RT-PCR-positives. IgG-ELISA seropositivity with positive virus neutralisation tests was 7.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 6.5–9.1) and 4.3% with negative neutralisation tests. We estimate 12.0% (95% CI: 10.4–14.0%) in...

At a regional and local level, the COVID-19 pandemic has not spread out uniformly and some German municipalities have been particularly affected. The seroepidemiological data from these areas helps estimate the proportion of the population that has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 (seroprevalence), as well as the number of undetected infections and as...

Social epidemiological research describes correlations between socioeconomic status and the population's risk to become diseased or die. Little research of such correlations for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 has so far been conducted. This scoping review provides an overview of the international research literature. Out of the 138 publications found, 46...

Experiences with acute respiratory diseases which caused virus epidemics in the past and initial findings in the research literature on the current COVID-19 pandemic suggest a higher SARS-CoV-2 infection risk for socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Nevertheless, further research on such a potential association between socioeconomic status...

Zusammenfassung Deutschland ist ein Einwanderungsland und 2019 hatte mehr als jede vierte hier lebende Person einen sog. Migrationshintergrund. Bei dieser statistisch definierten Gruppe handelt es sich um einen heterogenen Personenkreis; nicht nur in Bezug auf die Herkunft, sondern auch auf die Lebenslagen oder beispielsweise die Zuzugsmotive oder...

Die Erfahrungen aus vergangenen Epidemien mit viralen Erregern akuter Atemwegserkrankungen und erste Hinweise aus der Forschungsliteratur zur aktuellen COVID-19-Pandemie deuten darauf hin, dass sozioökonomisch benachteiligte Menschen ein höheres Risiko für eine Infektion mit SARS-CoV-2 haben könnten. Dieser mögliche Zusammenhang zwischen dem sozioö...

Die sozialepidemiologische Forschung beschreibt den Zusammenhang zwischen dem sozioökonomischen Status und den Krankheits- und Sterberisiken der Menschen. Ob und wie sich dieser Zusammenhang in Bezug auf eine SARS-CoV-2-Infektion beziehungsweise COVID-19-Erkrankung darstellt ist noch wenig erforscht. Das vorliegende Scoping Review gibt einen Überbl...

Die COVID-19-Epidemie ist in Deutschland regional und lokal unterschiedlich ausgeprägt und eine Reihe von Gemeinden ist überproportional stark davon betroffen. Seroepidemiologische Informationen aus besonders betroffenen Gebieten können helfen, auch für andere Regionen den Bevölkerungsanteil mit durchgemachter SARS-CoV-2-Infektion (Seroprävalenz) s...

•Acculturation is a widely used concept in epidemiological research.•There are various ways to measure acculturation using proxies or scales; often an acculturation score is calculated.•Studies often show inconsistencies in operationalization and measurement of the concept of acculturation.•The exact outcome is often unclear; this creates a lack of...

Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund machen ein Viertel der in Deutschland lebenden Bevölkerung aus. Angesichts dessen und der starken Zuwanderung der letzten Jahre besteht zunehmend Bedarf an verlässlichen Informationen zur gesundheitlichen Situation von hierzulande lebenden Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund. Dem Robert Koch-Institut (RKI) kommt in...

Im Rahmen der Studie zu sexueller Gesundheit mit Migrantinnen und Migranten aus Subsahara Afrika (MiSSA-Studie) wurden Methoden der partizipativen Gesundheitsforschung eingesetzt. So haben Community-Mitglieder und andere Akteurinnen und Akteure das Studiendesign mitentwickelt und Peer Researcher die Datenerhebung durchgeführt. Ziel dieses Beitrags...