Research project Explaining COVID-19 mortality among immigrants in Sweden

Immigrants from low - to high-income countries have experienced excess COVID-19 mortality in Sweden to an extent that contrasts sharply with the immigrant mortality advantage observed for other causes before and during the pandemic. This finding is a major concern given its vast implications for increasing inequalities in a post-pandemic society.

The purpose of this project is to study the extent to which disproportionate COVID-19 mortality among immigrants in Sw eden is explained by social determinants of health operating through differential exposure to the virus (e.g., by being more likely to w ork in high-exposure occupations) and differential effects of infection arising from socially-patterned, pre-existing health conditions or discrepancies in individual healthcare seeking and structural provision of healthcare. Individual-level longitudinal information comprised of national social, migration, and health registers will be analyzed using a variety of advanced statistical modelling techniques.

The main contribution of this project lies in its thorough empirical evaluation of how social conditions shape group risks in the context of a pandemic giving rise to native-immigrant inequalities in COVID-19 mortality. Furthermore, we will offer a comprehensive understanding of native-immigrant inequalities across the COVID-19 disease pathway (i.e., positive test, hospitalization, intensive care unit admission and death).

The identification of the social determinants leading to health inequalities between immigrants and natives (as w ell as across immigrant groups) is crucial to planning interventions that may help mitigate the unequal impacts of future pandemics on health and mortality.