Climate shock: Moving to colder climates and immigrant mortality.

ABSTRACT

Research shows that immigrants often have lower mortality rates than native-born residents in their countries of destination. However, it is unclear whether this mortality advantage holds for all immigrant groups. Specifically, considering the epidemiological research on the potential negative health effects of cold weather, we examine here whether relative mortality is moderated by differences in climate between origin and destination countries. We conducted a meta-regression analysis on 890 rate ratios from 55 publications, comparing all-cause and cardiovascular mortality of immigrants from 70 different countries and native populations in 12 destination countries. We found that immigrants who move between countries with a relatively similar climate experience a mortality advantage. However, those who move from a warmer to a colder climate do not. In fact, they have higher cardiovascular mortality rates when compared to the native population.