Diagnoses of infectious diseases among Norwegian-born children to immigrant parents – the role of parental socioeconomic position

Abstract

Aims: Children of immigrants have a higher incidence of infectious disease than native children. Our aim was to assess the role of parental socioeconomic position for diagnoses of infectious disease among children of immigrants. Methods: Data from the Norwegian Patient Registry (on diagnoses from secondary/tertiary care), Medical Birth Registry of Norway, and Statistics Norway were linked by the national personal identification number. Seven diagnostic infection categories were included from 2008 onwards. The study population included children born in Norway aged 0–10 years between 2008 and 2018 ( N = 988,647). Hazards of infection diagnoses by parental region of origin (adjusted for sex, birth year, parental education, household income and mother’s parity) and by parental education and household income were assessed by Cox regression. Results: High parental education was associated with lower hazard of infection diagnoses among children of Norwegian-born parents, but associations were less consistent among children with immigrant parents. Lower household income was related to hazard of most infectious diagnoses among children with both Norwegian-born and immigrant parents. Assessed by region diagnoses of viral and bacterial infections and infections of the musculoskeletal system and soft tissue were not associated with household income. Parental education and household income did not explain differences in hazard of infection diagnoses between children born to immigrant versus Norwegian-born parents. Conclusions: Socioeconomic disadvantage did not explain differences in hazard of being diagnosed with infectious disease in secondary/tertiary care between children with immigrant versus Norwegian-born parents.