Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain

Background: The recent increase in the number of immigrants of Barcelona represents a challenge for the public healthcare system, the emergency department being the most used healthcare service by this group. However, utilisation rates in our environment have not yet been studied. We aimed to compar...

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Autores: Burón, Andrea, Cots, Francesc, García, Óscar, Vall, Oriol, Castells, Xavier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2008
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/69088
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/69088
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-51
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Emergency department
Utilisation rate
Immigrant population
Emergency visit
Health card
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spelling Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, SpainBurón, AndreaCots, FrancescGarcía, ÓscarVall, OriolCastells, XavierEmergency departmentUtilisation rateImmigrant populationEmergency visitHealth cardBackground: The recent increase in the number of immigrants of Barcelona represents a challenge for the public healthcare system, the emergency department being the most used healthcare service by this group. However, utilisation rates in our environment have not yet been studied. We aimed to compare emergency department utilisation rates between Spanish-born and foreign-born residents in a public hospital of Barcelona. Methods: The study population included all adults residing in the area of study and visiting the emergency department of Hospital del Mar in 2004. The emergency care episodes were selected from the Emergency Department register, and the population figures from the Statistics Department of Barcelona. Emergency care episodes were classified into five large clinical categories. Adjusted rate ratios (RR) of utilisation among foreign-born vs. Spanish-born residents were assessed through negative binomial regression. Results: The overall utilisation rate was 382 emergency contacts per 1,000 persons-years. The RR for foreign-born versus Spanish-born residents was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.52; 0.74%). The RR was also significantly below one in surgery (0.51, 95% CI: 0.42; 0.63), traumatology (0.47, 95% CI: 0.38; 0.59), medicine (0.48, 95% CI: 0.38; 0.59) and psychiatry (0.42, 95% CI: 0.18; 0.97). No differences were found in utilisation of gynaecology and minor emergency services. Conclusion: The overall lower utilisation rates obtained for foreign-born residents is consistent with previous studies and is probably due to the "healthy immigrant effect". Thus, the population increase due to immigration does not translate directly into a corresponding increase in the number of emergency contacts. The lack of differences in minor and gynaecological emergency care supports the hypothesis that immigrants overcome certain barriers by using the emergency department to access to health services. The issue of healthcare barriers should therefore be addressed, especially among immigrants.BioMed Central202520252008info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/69088http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-51reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésBMC Health Serv Res. 2008 Mar 3;8:51© 2008 Buron et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:10230/690882026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
title Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
spellingShingle Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
Burón, Andrea
Emergency department
Utilisation rate
Immigrant population
Emergency visit
Health card
title_short Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
title_full Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
title_fullStr Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
title_full_unstemmed Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
title_sort Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Burón, Andrea
Cots, Francesc
García, Óscar
Vall, Oriol
Castells, Xavier
author Burón, Andrea
author_facet Burón, Andrea
Cots, Francesc
García, Óscar
Vall, Oriol
Castells, Xavier
author_role author
author2 Cots, Francesc
García, Óscar
Vall, Oriol
Castells, Xavier
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Emergency department
Utilisation rate
Immigrant population
Emergency visit
Health card
topic Emergency department
Utilisation rate
Immigrant population
Emergency visit
Health card
description Background: The recent increase in the number of immigrants of Barcelona represents a challenge for the public healthcare system, the emergency department being the most used healthcare service by this group. However, utilisation rates in our environment have not yet been studied. We aimed to compare emergency department utilisation rates between Spanish-born and foreign-born residents in a public hospital of Barcelona. Methods: The study population included all adults residing in the area of study and visiting the emergency department of Hospital del Mar in 2004. The emergency care episodes were selected from the Emergency Department register, and the population figures from the Statistics Department of Barcelona. Emergency care episodes were classified into five large clinical categories. Adjusted rate ratios (RR) of utilisation among foreign-born vs. Spanish-born residents were assessed through negative binomial regression. Results: The overall utilisation rate was 382 emergency contacts per 1,000 persons-years. The RR for foreign-born versus Spanish-born residents was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.52; 0.74%). The RR was also significantly below one in surgery (0.51, 95% CI: 0.42; 0.63), traumatology (0.47, 95% CI: 0.38; 0.59), medicine (0.48, 95% CI: 0.38; 0.59) and psychiatry (0.42, 95% CI: 0.18; 0.97). No differences were found in utilisation of gynaecology and minor emergency services. Conclusion: The overall lower utilisation rates obtained for foreign-born residents is consistent with previous studies and is probably due to the "healthy immigrant effect". Thus, the population increase due to immigration does not translate directly into a corresponding increase in the number of emergency contacts. The lack of differences in minor and gynaecological emergency care supports the hypothesis that immigrants overcome certain barriers by using the emergency department to access to health services. The issue of healthcare barriers should therefore be addressed, especially among immigrants.
publishDate 2008
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2008
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10230/69088
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-51
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/69088
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-51
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv BMC Health Serv Res. 2008 Mar 3;8:51
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
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