Gaceta Sanitaria
Volume 29, Issue 6, 2015, Pages 461-463

Methodological limitations and recommendations in publications on migrant population health in Spain [Limitaciones y recomendaciones metodológicas en las publicaciones sobre salud de la población inmigrante en España] (Article) (Open Access)

Monge S.* , Ronda E. , Pons-Vigués M. , Vives Cases C. , Malmusi D. , Gil-González D.
  • a Grupo de Trabajo de la SEE sobre Determinantes Sociales de la Salud, Iniciat. de Inmigr., Spain, CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
  • b CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
  • c Grupo de Trabajo de la SEE sobre Determinantes Sociales de la Salud, Iniciat. de Inmigr., Spain, Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Atenció Primaria (IDIAP) Jordi Gol, Barcelona, Spain
  • d Grupo de Trabajo de la SEE sobre Determinantes Sociales de la Salud, Iniciat. de Inmigr., Spain, CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain
  • e Grupo de Trabajo de la SEE sobre Determinantes Sociales de la Salud, Iniciat. de Inmigr., Spain, Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • f Grupo de Trabajo de la SEE sobre Determinantes Sociales de la Salud, Iniciat. de Inmigr., Spain, CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain

Abstract

Our objective was to describe the methodological limitations and recommendations identified by authors of original articles on immigration and health in Spain. A literature review was conducted of original articles published in Spanish or English between 1998 and 2012 combining keywords on immigration and health. A total of 311 articles were included; of these, 176 (56.6%) mentioned limitations, and 15 (4.8%) made recommendations. The most frequently mentioned limitations included the following: reduced sample sizes; internal validity and sample representativeness issues, with under- or overrepresentation of specific groups; problems of validity of the collected information and missing data mostly related to measurement tools; and absence of key variables for adjustment or stratification. Based on these results, a series of recommendations are proposed to minimise common limitations and advance the quality of scientific production on immigration and health in our setting. © 2015 SESPAS.

Author Keywords

Methodology Spain Epidemiologic studies Emigration and immigration Review

Index Keywords

information processing Epidemiologic Research Design Emigrants and Immigrants Spain sample size health status Humans reproducibility Reproducibility of Results human epidemiology migrant Data Collection Bibliometrics
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84945454631&doi=10.1016%2fj.gaceta.2015.07.012&partnerID=40&md5=54c4c639b1021dffb912ee8ff67820df
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaceta.2015.07.012
ISSN: 02139111
Cited by: 11
Original Language: Spanish