Status inconsistency and mortality in the immigrant population in the Turin and the Emilian Longitudinal Studies

OBJECTIVES: to compare the educational gradient in mortality between Italians and immigrants and to assess the hypothesis of status inconsistency in the immigrant population, evaluating the relationship between educational qualification and occupational class.DESIGN: multicentre longitudinal study.SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: subjects aged 30-64 years, resident in Turin, Bologna, Modena, or Reggio Emilia who took part in the 2011 Census and followed up until 31.12.2018.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: all-cause mortality by educational qualification and occupational class was compared between Italians and immigrants from High Migratory Pressure countries; analyses were carried out using mortality rate ratios (MRR) and relative index of inequality (RII), applying Poisson models, adjusted for city, calendar period, age, and macroareas of origin, stratified by gender.RESULTS: occupational class among immigrants is evenly distributed across educational qualifications. Compared with Italians, immigrant men and women had a weaker and non-significant inverse educational gradient in mortality, which did not change substantially after the adjustment for occupational class.CONCLUSIONS: the results support the status inconsistency hypothesis, which may be partly responsible for the observed flattening of the educational gradients. The macroarea of origin appears to be a key determinant of mortality inequalities. Therefore, the use of educational qualification in exploring health inequalities among immigrants should be always complemented with other indicators of socioeconomic position and migratory history.