Applications and limitations of the concept of 'avoidable mortality' among immigrant groups in Europe: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: Avoidable mortality is often used as a key indicator of broader health inequalities. Health inequalities refer to unfair differences in the quality of health and wellbeing, and health care across different populations. This includes differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes, or access to health care. Migrants represent a disadvantaged and growing demographic with special health risks. This study analyses the usages of the concept of avoidable mortality as applied in studies on migrants in Europe. In doing so, the study aims to identify the strengths and limitations of the concept of avoidable mortality for comparative work.

STUDY DESIGN: A scoping review was conducted for the period of 1990-2011.

METHODS: Publications were identified by a systematic search of PUBMED and WEB OF SCIENCE. An additional five publications were found through the search via references. A total number of 37 publications from 10 European countries were included in the analysis.

RESULTS: The authors divided studies according to direct versus indirect usage of the concept. Studies with direct usage of the concept established a correlation between patterns of avoidable mortality and health care system performance. Additionally, they searched studies which indirectly used avoidable mortality to examine further evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of the concept. These studies used indicators of amenable mortality (at times alongside other mortality indicators) without making direct reference to the concept. Findings using both approaches identified a similar trend in principal causes of premature death. The difference between the two types of studies concerned the more detailed analysis of the causes of death in studies with direct usage categorising into treatable versus preventable causes of death, or health policy versus medical intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this article highlight the role of health care systems in contributing to migrant health outcomes: whereas mixed outcomes across a number of indicators of avoidable mortality used indirectly do arise, the large number of studies - especially those using the concept directly - evidence a higher share of premature mortality for migrants compared to host populations. These findings can provide policy makers with important insights into targeted ways of improving the access and quality of health services for marginalised populations. However, the strength and depth of such insights stand to improve, as current research on avoidable mortality is often indirect (rather than overt and systematic), thereby limiting the potential for cross-national comparison, as well as a clearer understanding of the links between health outcomes and health care system performance for a disadvantaged group.