International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume 15, Issue 7, 2018

Psychiatric emergencies of asylum seekers; descriptive analysis and comparison with immigrants of warranted residence (Article) (Open Access)

Schoretsanitis G.* , Eisenhardt S. , Ricklin M.E. , Srivastava D.S. , Walther S. , Exadaktylos A.
  • a University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bern, 3008, Switzerland, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, JARA–Translational Brain Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, 52074, Germany
  • b University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bern, 3008, Switzerland
  • c Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Freiburgstrasse, Bern, 3010, Switzerland
  • d Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Freiburgstrasse, Bern, 3010, Switzerland
  • e University Hospital of Psychiatry, Bern, 3008, Switzerland
  • f Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Freiburgstrasse, Bern, 3010, Switzerland

Abstract

Background: The aim of our study was to assess utilization patterns of psychiatric services by asylum seekers. Methods: We included 119 adults who presented themselves at the University Emergency Department between 1 March 2012 and 1 January 2017 for psychiatric consultation. Descriptive data were compared with a control group of non-Swiss individuals with warranted residence permits using Mann-Whitney-U and chi square (χ2) tests. Results: Patients were mainly single, male, residing in reception centers, and presented themselves most frequently due to suicidal ideation. Almost 60% of the patients were assigned to inpatient treatments, with 28 involuntary cases. Compared to the control group, asylum seekers were younger and more often men (p < 0.001 for both). Further, they less often had family in Switzerland (χ2 = 9.91, p = 0.007). The proportion of patients coming in as walk-ins was significantly higher in the control group than in asylum seekers (χ2 = 37.0, p < 0.001). Asylum seekers were more frequently referred due to suicidal ideation and aggressive behavior than participants in the control group (χ2 = 80.07, p < 0.001). Diagnoses for asylum seekers infrequently included mood, as they often reported stress-related disorders (χ2 = 19.6, p = 0.021) and they were infrequently released home (χ2 = 9.19, p = 0.027). Conclusion: Asylum seekers more frequently demonstrated severe symptoms such as suicidal ideation and aggressive behavior and they were mainly treated as inpatients, potentially due to minimal social resources. © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Author Keywords

Involuntary treatment Asylum seekers Psychiatric emergency services Psychiatric hospitalization

Index Keywords

stress assessment descriptive research involuntary commitment psychiatric emergency mood disorder immigrant hospital patient hospitalization refugee human Refugees statistics and numerical data controlled study comparative study asylum seeker Young Adult Humans migrant psychology Aggression consultation male Emigrants and Immigrants Emergency Services, Psychiatric female patient referral Article health care utilization major clinical study adult gender age cohort analysis disease severity retrospective study Switzerland Suicide suicidal ideation psychiatric emergency service
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85049086362&doi=10.3390%2fijerph15071300&partnerID=40&md5=d947c677c068596927ff201836f23492
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15071300
ISSN: 16617827
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English