BMC Public Health 2007, 7:27 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/27 nomic variables. An adjustment for migration-related var- iables changed it only to the limited extent. These findings and prior awareness of the health of immi- grants from countries focused on in the present study should be acknowledged, particularly with the continuing expansion of the European Union. Competing interests The author(s) declare that they have no competing inter- ests. Authors' contributions All three authors have made substantial contributions to the present study. All the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript. YB performed the analyses and the literature review and was mainly responsible for the writing of the manuscript. SEJ participated in the design of the study and coordi- nated the statistical analysis and helped to revise an earlier version of the manuscript. JS participated in the design and coordination of the study and helped to draft the manuscript. 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