American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume 98, Issue 1, 2018, Pages 300-307

Health status of asylum Seekers, Spain (Article) (Open Access)

Serre-Delcor N.* , Ascaso C. , Soriano-Arandes A. , Collazos-Sanchez F. , Trevinõ-Maruri B. , Sulleiro E. , Pou-Ciruelo D. , Bocanegra-Garcia C. , Molina-Romero I.
  • a Tropical Medicine and International Health Unit Vall d'Hebron-Drassanes, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, InstitutCatala de LaSalut, Avinguda Drassanes 17-21, Barcelona, 08001, Spain
  • b Department of Basic Clinical Practice, Institut de Investigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain
  • c Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Institut Catalade la Salut, Barcelona, Spain
  • d Department of Psychiatric, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, InstitutCatalade la Salut, Barcelona, Spain
  • e Tropical Medicine and International Health Unit Vall d'Hebron-Drassanes, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, InstitutCatala de LaSalut, Avinguda Drassanes 17-21, Barcelona, 08001, Spain
  • f Department of Microbiology, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Institut Catala de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain
  • g Tropical Medicine and International Health Unit Vall d'Hebron-Drassanes, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, InstitutCatala de LaSalut, Avinguda Drassanes 17-21, Barcelona, 08001, Spain
  • h Tropical Medicine and International Health Unit Vall d'Hebron-Drassanes, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, InstitutCatala de LaSalut, Avinguda Drassanes 17-21, Barcelona, 08001, Spain
  • i Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Institut Catala de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract

The rising rate of conflicts and the unsafe situation caused by reasons of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political opinion, or nationality entail an increase in the number of migratorymovements. The goal of this article is to describe the health status of asylumseekers visited in an international health center.We conducted a retrospective study of the asylum seekers visited between July 2013 and June 2016. A total of 303 cases were included. The median age was 28.0 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 21-35), and 203 (67.0%) weremen. Of the total, 128 cases (42.2%) were fromAsia, 82 (27.1%) fromEastern Europe, 42 (13.9%) from sub-Saharan Africa, 34 (11.2%) fromAmerica, and 17 (5.6%) fromMaghreb. Themajority,287 (94.7%),were asymptomatic. Seventy of the 303(23.1%) caseswere diagnosedwithat leastone infection, this beingmore prevalent inmen; migrants fromsub-SaharanAfrica; and in those who took a land-maritimemigratory route. Eight of the 303 (2.6%) cases were referred to the transcultural psychiatric department. Two important challenges of the studywere the communication barriers and the legal or social situation that condition the psychological symptoms. In 48 of the 303 (15.8%) cases, there was diagnosed a noncommunicable diseases. The process of care was completed by 82.5%; although 21.9%completed the vaccination for hepatitis B. The asylum seekers in this study were in general healthy young men, although special attention was given to infectious diseases with certain geoepidemiological backgrounds. Unstable living arrangements, linguistic, and cultural barriers could account for the failure of the course of care. © 2018 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

Europe, Eastern Africa south of the Sahara refugee sex ratio human sex difference Refugees Asia statistics and numerical data health status Eastern Europe ethnology Mental Disorders mental disease asylum seeker Young Adult Humans migrant Adolescent consultation male Spain female Western Hemisphere Article Retrospective Studies patient compliance infection prevention adult major clinical study hepatitis B vaccine asymptomatic disease infection retrospective study vaccination hepatitis B drug effect non communicable disease Noncommunicable Diseases
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85040523807&doi=10.4269%2fajtmh.17-0438&partnerID=40&md5=20167d85c27c4c88d20b415adfc9ae8a
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0438
ISSN: 00029637
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English