The article presents a one year study of 227 immigrant children admitted to the Paediatric Department at Aker hospital, Oslo. Immigrant children comprised 16.5% of the admissions and, on average, had a longer stay in hospital than was the case for the department as a whole. Pakistani children were in the majority and accounted for 57.7% of the total number of admissions. Immigrant children show a higher incidence of imported diseases, due to visits to their native countries, mainly third world countries. Nutritional problems such as iron deficiency were particularly frequent in children between one and three years of age. An interpreter was used for 17.5% of the admitted children. The study showed, however, that interpreters should have been used even more. An increasing number of immigrant and refugee children impose new demands on today's health personnel: the need for further knowledge about the immigrants' cultural background and way of life. A larger proportion of immigrants among health personnel in our hospitals would prove beneficial.

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child hospitalization Child, Hospitalized Emigration and Immigration psychological aspect Norway Article human English Abstract migration Child