Institute of Public Health, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Jun 28;11:509. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-509.
Inadequate utilization of healthcare services by migrant populations is an important public health concern. Inadequate drug consumption and poor compliance to the therapeutic regimen are common manifestations of low health-care seeking behavior present in migrants even in the countries with well-established healthcare systems. There are few studies on the use of medicines among the different groups of migrants in Germany. The objective of this study is to investigate drug consumption patterns of ethnic German migrants (Aussiedler) and their current health status.
A cross-sectional study nested into a cohort of 18,621 individuals aged 20-70 years who migrated to Germany from the former Soviet Union between 1990 and 2005 was conducted. Data on consumption of drugs, drug handling, major health risk factors, and one-year disease prevalence were obtained for 114 individuals through a self-administered questionnaire and phone interviews. Results were compared to the data on the German population derived from the Disease Analyzer database and Robert Koch Institute (RKI) annual reports. Direct age standardization, test of differences, Chi-square test, and descriptive statistics were applied as appropriate. For drug classification the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) system was used.
Of the respondents, 97% reported to have at least one disease within a 12-month period. The one-year prevalence of asthma (6.9%), hypertension (26.7%), chronic bronchitis (8.6%), and diabetes (4.9%) in migrants was similar to the general German population. 51% regularly took either over-the-counter (OTC) medication or prescription medicines. Six ATC groups were analyzed. The highest drug consumption was reported for the ATC cardiovascular (22%), nervous (9%), and muskulo-skeletal system (8%). 30% used OTC medicines obtained in the country of origin. Difficulties with drug handling were rare. Alcohol consumption did not differ from the German population (p = 0.19 males and 0.27 females), however smoking prevalence was lower (p < 0.01) in both sexes.
Ethnic German migrants seem to differ only slightly from Germans in health status, drug utilization, and disease risk factors, and if so, not in an extreme way. Country of origin remains a source of medicines for a substantial part of migrants. The study is limited by a small sample size and low response rate.
移民人群对医疗服务的利用不足是一个重要的公共卫生问题。即使在医疗体系完善的国家，移民人群也普遍存在寻求医疗服务行为不足的情况，表现为药物消耗不足和治疗方案依从性差。关于德国不同移民群体用药情况的研究较少。本研究旨在调查德裔移民（Aussiedler）的药物消耗模式及其当前健康状况。
对 1990 年至 2005 年间从前苏联移民到德国的 18621 名年龄在 20-70 岁的人群进行了一项嵌套在队列研究中的横断面研究。通过自填问卷和电话访谈获得了 114 名参与者的药物使用情况、药物处理、主要健康风险因素和一年疾病患病率数据。将结果与从疾病分析数据库和罗伯特科赫研究所（RKI）年度报告中获得的德国人群数据进行比较。适当应用了年龄直接标准化、差异检验、卡方检验和描述性统计。药物分类采用解剖治疗化学（ATC）系统。
在受访者中，97%的人在 12 个月内至少有一种疾病。移民中哮喘（6.9%）、高血压（26.7%）、慢性支气管炎（8.6%）和糖尿病（4.9%）的一年患病率与德国一般人群相似。51%的人定期服用非处方（OTC）药物或处方药。分析了 6 个 ATC 组。心血管系统（22%）、神经系统（9%）和肌肉骨骼系统（8%）的药物消耗最高。30%的人使用在原籍国获得的 OTC 药物。药物处理困难很少见。男性（p=0.19）和女性（p=0.27）的酒精摄入量与德国人群无差异，但两性的吸烟率均较低（p<0.01）。
德裔移民在健康状况、药物利用和疾病风险因素方面似乎与德国人只有细微差异，如果有的话，也不是极端的。原籍国仍然是相当一部分移民药物的来源。该研究受到样本量小和低应答率的限制。
