Medical check-up of newly arrived unaccompanied minors: A dedicated pediatric consultation service in a hospital

Healthcare for the increasing number of migrants in Europe, and particularly of unaccompanied minors (UMs) seeking asylum, has become a major challenge. We aimed to describe the health issues of UMs managed in a dedicated pediatric consultation service in a care center in Paris. All UMs attending a...

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Published in:	Archives de pédiatrie : organe officiel de la Société française de pédiatrie Vol. 28; no. 8; pp. 689 - 695
Main Authors:	Bergevin, A., Husain, M., Cruz, M., Blanc, C. Le, Dieme, A., Girardin, M.-L., Toujouse, C., Tkhayat, R. Ben, Slabab, S., Corseri, O., Maglorius, M., Vercamer, C., Eskander, E., Desselas, E., Lachaume, N., Garraffo, A., Sorge, F., Roux, E. Le, Gaschignard, J., Caseris, M., Faye, A.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	France Elsevier Masson SAS 01-11-2021
Subjects:	Adolescent Child Female Hospitals - statistics & numerical data Humans Infectious diseases Male Migrant Minors - psychology Paris Pediatrics - methods Pediatrics - statistics & numerical data Posttraumatic stress disorder Referral and Consultation - classification Referral and Consultation - statistics & numerical data Refugees - statistics & numerical data Retrospective Studies Unaccompanied minors Violence Paris Posttraumatic stress disorder Infectious diseases Violence Migrant Unaccompanied minors
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Summary:	Healthcare for the increasing number of migrants in Europe, and particularly of unaccompanied minors (UMs) seeking asylum, has become a major challenge. We aimed to describe the health issues of UMs managed in a dedicated pediatric consultation service in a care center in Paris. All UMs attending a dedicated migrant medical consultation service in Robert Debré Hospital, Paris, France, were included in a single-center retrospective observational study from September 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018. Out of the 107 UMs who were included, 87% had a health problem (n=93) and 52% had an infectious disease (n=56). The main infectious diagnoses were schistosomiasis (22%), latent tuberculosis (22%), intestinal parasitosis (16%), and chronic hepatitis B (8%). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and overweight were common (35% and 20%, respectively). The median age was 15 years old (IQR, 14–16), the male/female ratio was 95/12. Most of the children were from sub-Saharan Africa (n=67), 46% had crossed Libya (n=49) and, when compared to the other migration routes, faced an increasing risk of violence (69%, p=0.04), imprisonment (53%, p=0.03), and forced labor (48%, p=0.02). The median duration of the trip before reaching France was 6 months (IQR, 2-13), the median time to consultation was 2 months (0–5) and was not associated with an increased risk of health problems. A total of 43 UMs were lost to follow-up. Health problems, particularly infectious diseases and PTSD, are common among UMs and should prompt an early medical consultation with psychiatric evaluation. Follow-up is problematic and could be improved by an on-line health book.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0929-693X 1769-664X
DOI:	10.1016/j.arcped.2021.09.012