ArticleSSM - population health2021
A population-based study on mortality among Belgian immigrants during the first COVID-19 wave in Belgium. Can demographic and socioeconomic indicators explain differential mortality?
Article in SSM - population health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of vaccination, underlying health conditions, and working in healthcare in the socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 hospitalization: a mediation analysis using interventional effect models.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Delayed access to COVID-19 vaccination among migrants in Spain during 2021: an electronic health records-based study.Journal of migration and health · 2026Article
- Fragile gains: The impact of refugees and other permit immigrants on national life expectancy in Sweden before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of migration and health · 2026Article
- Understanding excess mortality during COVID in Belgium: the influence of pre-existing health status and social factors.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- Uncovering the toll of the first three COVID-19 waves: excess mortality and social patterns in Belgium.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- Unravelling demographic and socioeconomic patterns of COVID-19 death and other causes of death: results of an individual-level analysis of exhaustive cause of death data in Belgium, 2020.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2024Article
- Area and individual level analyses of demographic and socio-economic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Belgium.Vaccine: X · 2024Article
- COVID-19 hospitalization, mortality and pre-mature mortality by a history of immigration in Ontario, Canada: a population-based cohort study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2024Article
- Social health gradient and risk factors among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and pre-pandemic respiratory infections. A linked national individual case-control study in Belgium.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Sociodemographic and socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Belgium: a nationwide record linkage study.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2023Article
- Article
- Social inequalities and long-term health impact of COVID-19 in Belgium: protocol of the HELICON population data linkage.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Sub-Saharan African communities' experiences and engagement with COVID-19 and the related control strategies in Antwerp, Belgium.International journal for equity in health · 2023Article
- Social and clinical risk factors associated with hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Brussels's deprived and multiethnic areas.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Mortality impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on immigrant populations in Spain.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Factors associated with COVID-19 booster vaccine willingness among migrants from the Eastern Mediterranean living in Australia: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the mortality profiles of the foreign-born in France during the first pandemic wave.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Article
- Higher risk, higher protection: COVID-19 risk among immigrants in France-results from the population-based EpiCov survey.European journal of public health · 2022Article
- COVID-19 as a social disease: qualitative analysis of COVID-19 prevention needs, impact of control measures and community responses among racialized/ethnic minorities in Antwerp, Belgium.International journal for equity in health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionBelgium has noted a significant excess mortality during the first COVID-19 wave. Research in other countries has shown that people with migrant origin are disproportionally affected. Belgium has an ethnically diverse and increasingly ageing population and is therefore particularly apt to study differential mortality by migrant group during this first wave of COVID-19. DATA AND
methodsWe used nationwide individually-linked data from the Belgian National Register providing sociodemographic indicators and mortality; and the administrative census of 2011 providing indicators of socioeconomic position. Age-standardized all-cause mortality rates (ASMRs) were calculated during the first COVID-19 wave (weeks 11-20 in 2020) and compared with ASMRs during weeks 11-20 in 2019 to calculate excess mortality by migrant origin, age and gender. For both years, relative inequalities were calculated by migrant group using Poisson regression, with and without adjustment for sociodemographic and socioeconomic indicators.
resultsAmong the middle-aged, ASMRs revealed increased mortality in all origin groups, with significant excess mortality for Belgians and Sub-Saharan African men. At old age, excess mortality up to 60% was observed for all groups. In relative terms, most male elderly migrant groups showed higher mortality than natives, as opposed to 2019 and to women. Adding the control variables decreased this excess mortality. DISCUSSION: This study underlined important inequalities in overall and excess mortality in specific migrant communities, especially in men. Tailor-made policy measures and communication strategies should be set-up taking into account the particular risks to which groups are exposed.
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