Lower Incidence of Hypertension among Swedish Speakers as Compared to Finnish Speakers in the Helsinki Birth Cohort from Finland - An Example of Early Programming of Disease?

: Suominen S, Forsen T, Volanen SM, Isomaa B, Vahlberg T, Eriksson J

: 2012

: Communications in Computer and Information Science

: EXPLORING THE ABYSS OF INEQUALITIES

: COMM COM INF SC

: 313

: 52

: 59

: 2

: 978-3-642-32849-7

: 1865-0929

The Swedish speaking population (circa 5%) is healthier than the corresponding Finnish speaking population in Finland. The aim of the study was to explore whether registry based incidence of hypertension, approximated by initiation of antihypertensive medication in 1971-2002, varies between the language groups by using the prospective Helsinki Birth Cohort data. The data comprises 13 345 men and women born in Helsinki University Central Hospital from 1934 to 1944. In a multivariate logistic regression model having a Swedish speaking mother predicted significantly a decreased incidence of hypertension even when adjusted for a number of potential confounders as father's socioeconomic status at birth, adult BMI, birth size as well as age and sex. Many of the confounders also predicted significantly incidence of hypertension in the same model. Cultural factors characterizing the Swedish speaking minority but concomitantly biomedical factors related to early growth play a role in the origin of these differences.