Hospitalization for surgical procedures is lower among immigrants than among non-immigrant preschool children: results from a region-wide study in Italy.
Résumé
Background: Whether immigrant children receive unnecessary treatments and surgical procedures to a greater extent than non-immigrants remains controversial. The study investigates whether hospitalization rates differ between immigrant and non-immigrant preschool children and the extent to which such differences relate to specific pathological conditions. Methods: All discharges occurring to children aged 1-5 years between 2005 and 2007 in the Italian Region of Veneto (4,8 million inhabitants) were analyzed by Diagnosis Related Groups-DRGs. Crude and age-standardized hospitalization rate ratios-RRs of immigrant versus Italian children were computed. Results: Hospitalization rates for medical conditions were similar between immigrant and Italian children. However, hospitalization rates among immigrant children were significantly lower than those among Italians for all the most frequent surgical DRGs. RRs of immigrant versus Italian children were 0.46(0.41-0.51) for tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy and 0.46(0.38-0.57) for testes procedures in males; 0.44(0.38-0.49) for tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy and 0.47(0.34-0.65) for extraocular procedures in females. Only circumcision procedures were more frequent (four-fold excess) among immigrants. Conclusion: Hospitalization rates for all most frequent surgical procedures are significantly lower among immigrants compared to non-immigrant preschool children. Reduced surgery rates among immigrants might result from a complex interplay between parental attitudes and knowledge on pediatric conditions, language barriers, and access to primary care.
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...