Immigration policy played a decisive role in the outcomes of three regional elections in Germany this past Sunday. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party in particular, the Christian Democratic Union, suffered losses attributed to its leader’s welcoming stance toward refugees fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and other war-torn regions. Germany took in more than a million migrants and refugees in 2015—more than any other country in Europe. But taking each nation’s population into consideration, Germany actually lags behind several other countries in the European Union, notably Hungary and Sweden, which have received proportionally larger numbers of asylum applications.
Although it is well established that compared with voluntary migrants, refugees face an increased risk of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, very little is known about their risk for psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. And although the causes of schizophrenia remain unknown, a large body of research has found that traumatic events can further increase the risk of or even trigger schizophrenia in individuals who may already be vulnerable.
In a new study published this week in BMJ (the British Medical Journal), a team of researchers in Sweden reported that refugees in that country were on average 66 percent more likely to develop a nonaffective psychotic disorder (psychoses unaffiliated with mood disorders) than nonrefugee migrants from the same regions of origin. Although it came as no surprise that they were also up to 3.6 times more likely to do so than the Swedish-born population—previous research has already found a greater risk of psychosis in migrants compared with the general population—this study went a step further by using data that distinguished between refugees and other migrants.
Source: “Refugee migration and risk of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses: cohort study of 1.3 million people in Sweden.” Hollander, et al. in BMJ, Vol. 352, 2016.
Graphic by Amanda Montañez
The researchers, based at the Karolinska Institute and University College London (U.C.L.), used national anonymized databases to identify population and health information for more than 1.3 million people born after 1984 (excluding people younger than 14 years old). The data included individuals who were born in Sweden to Swedish-born parents as well as migrants and refugees from the Middle East, north Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, eastern Europe and Russia. The research team kept track of all new cases of nonaffective psychotic disorders diagnosed until 2011 and compared incidence rates across the three different populations, adjusting for age, sex, disposable income and population density.
Although it is well established that compared with voluntary migrants, refugees face an increased risk of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, very little is known about their risk for psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. And although the causes of schizophrenia remain unknown, a large body of research has found that traumatic events can further increase the risk of or even trigger schizophrenia in individuals who may already be vulnerable.
In a new study published this week in BMJ (the British Medical Journal), a team of researchers in Sweden reported that refugees in that country were on average 66 percent more likely to develop a nonaffective psychotic disorder (psychoses unaffiliated with mood disorders) than nonrefugee migrants from the same regions of origin. Although it came as no surprise that they were also up to 3.6 times more likely to do so than the Swedish-born population—previous research has already found a greater risk of psychosis in migrants compared with the general population—this study went a step further by using data that distinguished between refugees and other migrants.
Source: “Refugee migration and risk of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses: cohort study of 1.3 million people in Sweden.” Hollander, et al. in BMJ, Vol. 352, 2016.
Graphic by Amanda Montañez
The researchers, based at the Karolinska Institute and University College London (U.C.L.), used national anonymized databases to identify population and health information for more than 1.3 million people born after 1984 (excluding people younger than 14 years old). The data included individuals who were born in Sweden to Swedish-born parents as well as migrants and refugees from the Middle East, north Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, eastern Europe and Russia. The research team kept track of all new cases of nonaffective psychotic disorders diagnosed until 2011 and compared incidence rates across the three different populations, adjusting for age, sex, disposable income and population density.
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