Impact on and use of an inner-city London Infectious Diseases Department by international migrants: a questionnaire survey

2007

Impact of International Migrants on an Infectious Diseases Department in London

Sample size: 111 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Graham Cooke, Sally Hargreaves, Jana Natkunarajah, Gurjinder Sandhu, Devesh Dhasmana, Joseph Eliahoo, Alison Holmes, Jon S Friedland

Primary Institution: Imperial College, London

What are the implications of international migration on the use of health services in an inner-city London Infectious Diseases Department?

Migrants presented with a range of more severe infections, indicating barriers to accessing appropriate health care.

Overseas-born patients were over-represented compared to local Census data.
Two deaths occurred in the overseas-born group, both from sepsis.
Overseas-born patients presented with a broader range and more severe infections than UK-born patients.
Not having registered with a primary-care physician was associated with being overseas born.

This study found that many migrants get very sick when they come to London because they can't get the health care they need.

An anonymous 20-point questionnaire survey was administered to all admitted patients over a 6-week period.

Potential bias due to self-selection of participants and the voluntary nature of the survey.

The findings may not be generalizable to all migrant groups in the UK due to the specific context of the study.

111 patients, 58 (52.2%) UK-born and 53 (47.7%) overseas-born, with a diverse range of countries of origin.

p = 0.002

95% CI 0.049–0.235

p<0.05

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