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Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview

PRINCIPALS: Over the last two decades, the total annual number of applications for asylum in the countries of the European Union has increased from 15,000 to more than 300,000 people. The aim of this study was to give a first overview on multimorbidity of adult asylum seekers. METHODS: Our retrospec...

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Autores principales: Pfortmueller, Carmen A., Stotz, Manuela, Lindner, Gregor, Müller, Thomas, Rodondi, Nicolas, Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3869724/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24376565
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082671
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author Pfortmueller, Carmen A.
Stotz, Manuela
Lindner, Gregor
Müller, Thomas
Rodondi, Nicolas
Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.
author_facet Pfortmueller, Carmen A.
Stotz, Manuela
Lindner, Gregor
Müller, Thomas
Rodondi, Nicolas
Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.
author_sort Pfortmueller, Carmen A.
collection PubMed
description PRINCIPALS: Over the last two decades, the total annual number of applications for asylum in the countries of the European Union has increased from 15,000 to more than 300,000 people. The aim of this study was to give a first overview on multimorbidity of adult asylum seekers. METHODS: Our retrospective Swiss single center data analysis examined multimorbidity of adult asylums seekers admitted to our ED between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2012. RESULTS: A total of 3170 patients were eligible for the study; they were predominantly male (2392 male, 75.5% versus 778 female, 24.5). The median age of the patients was 28 years (range 28–82). The most common region of origin was Africa (1544, 48.7%), followed by the Middle East (736, 23.6%). 2144 (67.6%) of all patients were not multimorbid. A total of 1183 (37.7%) of our patients were multimorbid. The mean Charlson comorbidity index was 0.25 (SD 1.1, range 0–12). 634 (20%) of all patients sufferem from psychiatric diseases, followed by chronic medical conditions (12.6%, 399) and infectious diseases (4.7%, 150). Overall, 11% (349) of our patients presented as a direct consequence of prior violence. Patients from Sri Lanka/India most often suffered from addictions problems (50/240, 20.8%, p<0.0001). Infectious diseases were most frequent in patients from Africa (6.6%), followed by the Balkans and Eastern Europe/Russia (each 3.8%). CONCLUSION: The health care problems of asylum seekers are manifold. More than 60% of the study population assessed in our study did not suffer from more than one disease. Nevertheless a significant percentage of asylum seekers is multimorbid and exhibits underlying psychiatric, infectious or chronic medical conditions despite their young age.
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spelling pubmed-38697242013-12-27 Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview Pfortmueller, Carmen A. Stotz, Manuela Lindner, Gregor Müller, Thomas Rodondi, Nicolas Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K. PLoS One Research Article PRINCIPALS: Over the last two decades, the total annual number of applications for asylum in the countries of the European Union has increased from 15,000 to more than 300,000 people. The aim of this study was to give a first overview on multimorbidity of adult asylum seekers. METHODS: Our retrospective Swiss single center data analysis examined multimorbidity of adult asylums seekers admitted to our ED between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2012. RESULTS: A total of 3170 patients were eligible for the study; they were predominantly male (2392 male, 75.5% versus 778 female, 24.5). The median age of the patients was 28 years (range 28–82). The most common region of origin was Africa (1544, 48.7%), followed by the Middle East (736, 23.6%). 2144 (67.6%) of all patients were not multimorbid. A total of 1183 (37.7%) of our patients were multimorbid. The mean Charlson comorbidity index was 0.25 (SD 1.1, range 0–12). 634 (20%) of all patients sufferem from psychiatric diseases, followed by chronic medical conditions (12.6%, 399) and infectious diseases (4.7%, 150). Overall, 11% (349) of our patients presented as a direct consequence of prior violence. Patients from Sri Lanka/India most often suffered from addictions problems (50/240, 20.8%, p<0.0001). Infectious diseases were most frequent in patients from Africa (6.6%), followed by the Balkans and Eastern Europe/Russia (each 3.8%). CONCLUSION: The health care problems of asylum seekers are manifold. More than 60% of the study population assessed in our study did not suffer from more than one disease. Nevertheless a significant percentage of asylum seekers is multimorbid and exhibits underlying psychiatric, infectious or chronic medical conditions despite their young age. Public Library of Science 2013-12-20 /pmc/articles/PMC3869724/ /pubmed/24376565 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082671 Text en © 2013 Pfortmueller et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Pfortmueller, Carmen A.
Stotz, Manuela
Lindner, Gregor
Müller, Thomas
Rodondi, Nicolas
Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.
Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview
title Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview
title_full Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview
title_fullStr Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview
title_full_unstemmed Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview
title_short Multimorbidity in Adult Asylum Seekers: A First Overview
title_sort multimorbidity in adult asylum seekers: a first overview
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3869724/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24376565
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082671
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