TY - JOUR
T1 - A refugee camp in the centre of Europe
T2 - clinical characteristics of asylum seekers arriving in Brussels
AU - van Berlaer, Gerlant
AU - Bohle Carbonell, Francisca
AU - Manantsoa, Sofie
AU - de Béthune, Xavier
AU - Buyl, Ronald
AU - Debacker, Michel
AU - Hubloue, Ives
N1 - Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.
PY - 2016/11/24
Y1 - 2016/11/24
N2 - BACKGROUND: In the summer of 2015, the exodus of Syrian war refugees and saturation of refugee camps in neighbouring countries led to the influx of asylum-seekers in European countries, including Belgium. This study aims to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of asylum seekers who arrived in a huddled refugee camp, in the centre of a well-developed country with all medical facilities.METHODS: Using a descriptive cross-sectional study design, physicians of Médecins du Monde prospectively registered age, gender, origin, medical symptoms and diagnoses of all patients presenting to an erected field hospital in Brussels in September 2015. Diagnoses were post hoc categorised according to the International Classification of Diseases.RESULTS: Of 4037 patients examined in the field hospital, 3907 were included and analysed for this study. Over 11% of patients suffered from injuries, but these were outnumbered by the proportion of patients with respiratory (36%), dental (9%), skin (9%) and digestive (8%) diagnoses. More than 49% had features of infections at the time of the consultation.CONCLUSIONS: Asylum seekers arriving in a refugee camp in Brussels after a long and hazardous journey suffer mostly from respiratory, dental, skin and digestive diseases. Still, one in seven suffers from injury. These findings, consistent with other reports, should be anticipated when composing emergency medical teams and interagency emergency health or similar kits to be used in a field hospital, even in a Western European country.TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN13523620, Results.
AB - BACKGROUND: In the summer of 2015, the exodus of Syrian war refugees and saturation of refugee camps in neighbouring countries led to the influx of asylum-seekers in European countries, including Belgium. This study aims to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of asylum seekers who arrived in a huddled refugee camp, in the centre of a well-developed country with all medical facilities.METHODS: Using a descriptive cross-sectional study design, physicians of Médecins du Monde prospectively registered age, gender, origin, medical symptoms and diagnoses of all patients presenting to an erected field hospital in Brussels in September 2015. Diagnoses were post hoc categorised according to the International Classification of Diseases.RESULTS: Of 4037 patients examined in the field hospital, 3907 were included and analysed for this study. Over 11% of patients suffered from injuries, but these were outnumbered by the proportion of patients with respiratory (36%), dental (9%), skin (9%) and digestive (8%) diagnoses. More than 49% had features of infections at the time of the consultation.CONCLUSIONS: Asylum seekers arriving in a refugee camp in Brussels after a long and hazardous journey suffer mostly from respiratory, dental, skin and digestive diseases. Still, one in seven suffers from injury. These findings, consistent with other reports, should be anticipated when composing emergency medical teams and interagency emergency health or similar kits to be used in a field hospital, even in a Western European country.TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN13523620, Results.
KW - accident and emergency medicine
KW - epidemiology
KW - primary care
KW - public health
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013963
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013963
M3 - Article
C2 - 27884856
VL - 6
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
SN - 2044-6055
IS - 11
M1 - e013963
ER -