Beyond the native bias

Abstract In medical research, explanations of ethnical differences in the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes generally do not go beyond the influence of genetics. Moreover, the statistical samples used in these studies do not represent the variety of ethnic backgrounds that are present in the Netherlands. For this reason, this thesis has studied the relationship between migration background and the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes, and it has examined whether socioeconomic status and the amount of confidence in healthcare that Dutch citizens with and without a migration background experience could explain this relationship. This is done by conducting multiple (log)linear regression analyses with data from the LISS Immigrant Panel, which have shown that Dutch citizens with a non-Western migration background are at higher risk of developing hypertension and diabetes than Dutch natives. However, differences in socioeconomic status and confidence in healthcare could not explain these relationships. For this reason, the main recommendation for future research is to perform large-scale analyses on both diabetic and hypertensive patients with a non-Western migration background in order to gain more insight in their health status.