Revista Espanola de Salud Publica
Volume 88, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 135-155

Use of health services for immigrants and native populations: A systematic review [Frecuentación de las consultas demedicinageneraly especializada por población inmigrante yautóctona: unarevisión sistemática] (Review)

Carmona R.* , AlcázarAlcázar R. , Sarría-Santamera A. , Regidor E.
  • a Agencia de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias. Instituto de Salud Car-los III, Avenida Monforte de Lemos N 5., Pabellón 4, Madrid 28029, Spain
  • b Agencia de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias. Instituto de Salud Car-los III, Avenida Monforte de Lemos N 5., Pabellón 4, Madrid 28029, Spain
  • c Agencia de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias. Instituto de Salud Car-los III, Avenida Monforte de Lemos N 5., Pabellón 4, Madrid 28029, Spain, Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Universidad de Alcalá. Alcalá de Henares.Madrid, Spain, Red de Investigación en Servicios de Salud, Enfermedades Crónicas (REDISSEC), Madrid, Spain
  • d Departamento de Medicina Preventiva, Salud Pública e Historia de la Ciencia, Universidad Complutensede Madrid, Spain, CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain

Abstract

Background: Spain was among the top immigration destinations globally between 1990 and 2005, becoming in 2006 in the European country with the highest net migration. As a result of the migration pro-cess and the living conditions in the host countries, immigrants' health may be affected. Limited research has investigated access and use of health services for this population. The aim of this study was to describe the scientific evidence on the use of general and specialist medical servi-ces for the immigrant population compared to the native. Methods: Systematic review. It has carried out a search of the natio-nal and international scientific literature of comparative studies on the use of general and specialist medical services among immigrant and native since 1994-2013. It was used the MEDLINE database as well as a manual search, no language limit or type of study. The methodological quality of the 29 studies included was evaluated. Subject, context, methodological and extrinsic characteristics were collected for comparison of the inclu-ded studies. Results: We selected 29 studies on the general practitioners' (9 from Spain) and 15 of specialist physician (7 from Spain), they mainly used health surveys as a source of information. Analyze both the attendance and contact with the general practitioner / specialist by nationality or country of birth (among others), mostly by adjusting variables of need and / or socioeconomic. Conclusion: Overall, the immigrant population in Spain have a simi-lar use of general medical services than the native population, and less or similar use of the specialist physician services. These results are in line with studies in other countries.

Author Keywords

Health services accessibility Systematic review emigrants and immigrants

Index Keywords

general practice health service Emigrants and Immigrants Utilization Review specialization Spain Review Health Services Accessibility language ethnology health services statistics Europe Health Services Needs and Demand human Humans migrant health care delivery
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84899684781&partnerID=40&md5=ece3d8bb9612f1d3b406349da3723abd
ISSN: 11355727
Cited by: 10
Original Language: Spanish