Health care provided to asylum-seeking and non-asylum-seeking paediatric patients at a Swiss tertiary hospital
Abstract Background & Methods To compare health care provided to asylum-seeking and non-asylum-seeking children, we performed a cross-sectional study in a paediatric tertiary care hospital in Switzerland. Patients were identified using administrative and medical electronic health records from January 2016 - December 2017. Results A total of 202’316 visits by 55’789 patients were included, of which asylum-seeking patients accounted for 1674 (1%) visits by 439 (1%) patients. The emergency department had the highest number of visits in both groups with a lower proportion in asylum-seeking compared to non-asylum-seeking children: 19% (317/1674) and 32% (64’315/200’642) respectively. Hospital admissions were more common in asylum-seeking patients 11% (184/1674) and 7% (14’692/200’642). Frequent visits accounted for 48% (807/1674) of total visits in asylum-seeking and 25% (49’886/200’642) of total visits in non-asylum-seeking patients. Conclusions Hospital visits by asylum-seeking children represented a small proportion of all visits. The emergency department had the highest number of visits in all patients and was less frequently used in asylum-seeking children. Higher admission rates and a larger proportion of visits from frequently visiting patients suggest that asylum-seeking patients may present with more complex diseases.