Välispäritolu rahvastiku tervis

Eesti terviseuuring 2006 on üks tähtsamaid allikaid, mis võimaldab välispäritolurahvastiku tervisega seonduvat süstemaatiliselt jälgida, vastates Euroopas esile kerkinud vajadusele. Oma rohkem kui 30% välispäritolurahvastiku osakaalu tõttu, mis on Euroopas üks suuremaid, on selle rahvastikurühma käitumise mõju eriti suur Eesti tervisenäitajatele. Välispäritolu rahvastiku suremus, mõõdetuna standarditud suremuskordajaga, ületab rohkem kui 20% võrra põlisrahvastiku vastavat taset. Eesti Arst 2008; 88(Lisa2):24−3

Eesti rahvastiku tervise areng

Ülevaade Eesti rahvastiku tervisest on taustaks Eesti terviseuuringu (2006) andmete süvakäsitlusele. Lähtudes tervise ülemineku kontseptsioonist, läbivad rahvastikud oma tervisearengus erinevaid etappe, mille läbimise kiirus ning ajastus on eri rahvastikel erinev. Uude etappi sisenemine toob tavapäraselt kaasa tervisenäitajate kiire muutuse. Uue etapi kujunemine võib toimuda rahvastikurühmiti erineva kiiruse ja ulatusega, kasvatades oluliselt rahvastikurühmade tervisenäitajate erinevusi. Eesti Arst 2008; 88(Lisa2):10−2

First union formation in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: patterns across countries and gender

This article examines the transformation of first union formation in the Baltic countries between the late 1960s and early 1990s, in the context of societal and family-level gender relations. The analyses employ microdata from the European Family and Fertility Surveys program. Our results on the trends indicate that in Estonia and Latvia the shift from direct marriage to cohabitation started well before the fall of socialist regime. Event-history models provide support for a hypothesised association between union formation and gender system, with Lithuania showing more traditional features in both respect, plausibly embedded in long-standing cultural differences between the countries.Baltic countries, gender system, union formation

Intergenerational family constellations in contemporary Europe

Demographic research has drawn attention to the multiple ways in which changes in mortality and childbearing have produced major shifts in intergenerational family structures. The aim of this article is to contribute to this body of research by analysing the data from the Generations and Gender Surveys for nine European countries. In the study, data pertaining to the availability of ascending (parents and grandparents) and descending kin (children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren) of the respondent are combined to shed light on the family structures in which indviduals are embedded at various stages of their lives. The findings provide new insights into the ways in which the past and present diversity of demographic regimes comes together into specific patterns of intergenerational family constellations across Europe. This convergence may yield family constellations of very similar “height†in countries with sharply contrasting demographic histories. The results also indicate that certain demographic scenarios may halt or temporarily reverse the trend towards the further vertical extension of family constellations.comparative studies, Europe, intergenerational family constellations, kin networks

Comparing the cognitive functioning of middle-aged and older foreign-origin population in Estonia to host and origin populations

BackgroundIn migration and health research, the healthy migrant effect has been a common finding, but it usually pertains to specific contexts only. Existing findings are inconsistent and inconclusive regarding the cognitive functioning of the (aging) foreign-origin population relative to the populations of their host and sending countries. Moreover, this comparison is an understudied design setting.ObjectiveWe analyze the outcomes and associations of cognitive functioning outcomes of the non-institutionalized middle-aged and older population, comparing the Russian-origin population in Estonia with Estonians in Estonia and Russians in Russia in a cross-sectional design. We aim to estimate the (long-term) effects of migration on cognitive functioning in later life, contextualizing the findings in previous research on the healthy migrant effect.Data and methodsWe use data from face-to-face interviews conducted within the SHARE Estonia (2010–2011) and SAGE Russia (2007–2010) surveys. Respondents aged 50+ living in urban areas were grouped by self-identified ethnicity, including 2,365 Estonians, 1,373 Russians in Estonia, and 2,339 Russians in Russia (total N = 6,077). Cognitive functioning was measured using a 25-percentile cut-off threshold for the results of two cognition outcomes - immediate recall and verbal fluency - and the odds of impairment were estimated using binary logistic regression.ResultsRussian men and women living in Estonia have significantly higher odds of impairment in immediate recall than Estonian men and women, though they do not differ from Russians in Russia in the final adjusted models. The differences between all groups are non-significant if age at migration is considered. There are no significant differences between the groups in verbal fluency.ConclusionContrary to the commonly found healthy migrant effect, the middle-aged and older foreign-origin population in Estonia fares initially worse than the native population in the immediate recall outcome, but does not differ from their sending country population, possibly due to Russia’s higher mortality rate and therefore the selective survival of healthier people. Different results depending on the cognitive functioning outcome suggest that migration may affect temporary memory more than crystallized knowledge. However, there are no differences between the groups if defined based on age at migration, which suggests that the age profile differences explain most of the groups’ differences in cognitive functioning

Fertility Development in the Baltic Countries Since 1990: a Transformation in the Context of Long-term Trends

The article addresses the transformation of fertility patterns in the Baltic countries since the turn of the 1990s, in the context of long-term trends. The purpose of the study is to compare the change in fertility level, parity distribution, timing of childbearing, and the connection between marriage and childbearing in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and analyze the position of the Baltic countries in a broader European perspective. Our results indicate a salient role of tempo effects in the sharp decline of period fertility measures that occurred in the region in the 1990s. Tempo-adjusted measures indicate moderately low fertility levels of 1.6-1.7 children per woman in the region. In the recent years, fertility levels have been rising in all three countries with recuperation being more vigorous in Estonia and less so in Lithuania. Estonia and Latvia also appear more advanced in terms of the spread of childbearing among cohabiting couples, with the proportion of non-marital births comparable to Scandinavian countries. The article discusses the factors underlying the observed similarities and dissimilarities in fertility patterns, pointing to the plausible demographic path dependence

Life-course Factors and Later Life Health in Eastern and Western Europe

Human development and ageing are lifelong processes, where earlier life conditions and events are interlinked with later life outcomes. Patterns of inequality within and among cohorts emerge over time as products of the interplay between institutional arrangements and individual life, often dependent on childhood or earlier life circumstances. The life conditions and experiences of older adults in Eastern and Western Europe differ significantly, but whether their cumulative effects on later life outcomes vary across these two regions has not been compared. We explore the effects of socioeconomic position, the experience of a period of hunger, the dispossession of assets, and discrimination suffered by parents in respondents’ life courses on later life health inequalities in Europe. Self-reported health, everyday activity limitations, and cognitive functioning are the main outcomes that provide an adequate overview of different health domains. We mainly use data from the seventh wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE 2017) and restrict our sample to respondents aged 65 and older from 26 European countries (N=41,566). We find that older people in Eastern Europe fare worse in self-rated health and everyday activity limitations than Western Europeans, while Eastern Europeans indicate somewhat better outcomes in cognitive functioning. A disadvantaged socioeconomic position in childhood and adulthood has the strongest association with all health outcomes, followed by the experience of hunger over the life course for the whole of Europe. However, we do not find diverging associations between life-course factors and health outcomes in Eastern and Western Europe. We argue that self-reported health, everyday activity limitations and cognitive functioning have to be analysed within their own frameworks and cannot yield conclusions that are uniform for all health outcomes. Moreover, major generalisations either about Eastern or Western Europe must be treated with caution as the regions have very different historical as well as demographic developments and thus cannot be treated as uniform. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”

THE IMPACT OF LIFE-COURSE SOCIO-ECONOMIC POSITION ON QUALITY OF LIFE AT LATER AGES : EVIDENCE FROM ESTONIA

This study, guided by life-course theory and cumulative (dis)advantage theory, investigates the impact of the accumulation of socio-economic advantages and disadvantages, over the life course, on the quality of life (QoL) of the older population, and the mediating role of their current financial distress. In our study, we focus on the accumulation model. The study primarily uses data from Estonia in wave 4 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), with supplemental data from wave 5. Linear regression models were calculated based on two measures of quality of life : CASP-12 and life satisfaction. When measured by CASP-12, the socio-economic position in adulthood seems to play a more important role than that of childhood for the current quality of life of older people and even seems to compensate for it slightly when the current financial distress level is controlled for. However, when measured by life satisfaction, accumulated socio-economic (dis)advantages, especially in early youth, have a greater impact on the current quality of life of older people. It is important to acknowledge that different measures of QoL might yield different results.Este estudo, orientado pelas teorias do curso de vida e das (des)vantagens cumulativas, investiga o impacto da acúmulação de vantagens e desvantagens socioeconómicas ao longo da vida na qualidade de vida (QdV) da população idosa e o papel mediador das suas dificuldades financeiras atuais. O estudo focou-se no modelo de acumulação e foram utilizados dados da Estónia em especial na 4ª vaga do SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), com dados suplementares da 5ª vaga. Modelos de regressão linear foram calculados com base em duas medidas de qualidade de vida : CASP-12 e satisfação de vida. Quando medida por CASP-12, a posição socioeconómica na vida adulta parece desempenhar um papel mais importante do que na infância para a qualidade de vida atual das pessoas idosas, e até parece compensá-lo ligeiramente quando o nível atual de dificuldade financeira é controlado. No entanto, quando medida pela satisfação de vida, as (des)vantagens socioeconómicas acumuladas, sobretudo no início da juventude, têm um maior impacto na qualidade de vida atual das pessoas idosas. Diferentes medidas de QdV podem produzir resultados diferentes a que é necessário prestar atenção

Perinatal health monitoring in Europe: results from the EURO-PERISTAT project

Data about deliveries, births, mothers and newborn babies are collected extensively to monitor the health and care of mothers and babies during pregnancy, delivery and the post-partum period, but there is no common approach in Europe. We analysed the problems related to using the European data for international comparisons of perinatal health. We made an inventory of relevant data sources in 25 European Union (EU) member states and Norway, and collected perinatal data using a previously defined indicator list. The main sources were civil registration based on birth and death certificates, medical birth registers, hospital discharge systems, congenital anomaly registers, confidential enquiries and audits. A few countries provided data from routine perinatal surveys or from aggregated data collection systems. The main methodological problems were related to differences in registration criteria and definitions, coverage of data collection, problems in combining information from different sources, missing data and random variation for rare events. Collection of European perinatal health information is feasible, but the national health information systems need improvements to fill gaps. To improve international comparisons, stillbirth definitions should be standardised and a short list of causes of fetal and infant deaths should be developed