Procome Research Group, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, (LIME) Karolinska Institutet (KI), Karolinska Institutet, Region Stockholm, 171 77, Sweden.
Region Stockholm, Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (CES, with Swedish acronym), Region Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 24;23(1):197. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-04679-y.
There are about 80 million forcibly displaced people globally. Migrants are at heightened risk for mental illness compared to host country populations. While previous research highlights the need to adequately assess mental illness, few have taken the diversity among newly arrived migrants into account. This study aims to estimate the prevalence and associated risk factors of mental illness among asylum seekers, quota and other refugees in Stockholm, Sweden.
Using a cross-sectional design, data was collected as part of a mental health screening initiative integrated into routine health examinations in two health care clinics in Stockholm. Screening was done with the Refugee Health Screener, RHS-13, a validated instrument for assessing mental health in refugee populations.
A total of 1163 individuals were eligible for screening, of whom 566 participated (response rate 48.6%). Among the participants, 47.9% indicated symptoms of mental illness. Compared with asylum seekers, the risk of mental illness was lower among quota and other refugees (adjusted odds ratio 0.60, 95% confidence interval 0.37-1.00). Female sex, higher age, coming from a middle-income country and low probability of being granted asylum were significant predictors of mental illness.
Refugee legal status is associated with mental illness. Asylum seekers are at greater risk of mental illness compared to quota and other refugees. Our findings call for screening for mental illness among newly arrived migrants, especially among those with pending residence permits.
全球约有 8000 万被迫流离失所者。与东道国人口相比，移民患精神疾病的风险更高。尽管之前的研究强调需要充分评估精神疾病，但很少有人考虑到新抵达移民的多样性。本研究旨在估计斯德哥尔摩寻求庇护者、配额和其他难民的精神疾病患病率及其相关风险因素。
本研究采用横断面设计，数据是作为斯德哥尔摩两家医疗诊所常规健康检查中一项心理健康筛查倡议的一部分收集的。筛查使用难民健康筛查器（RHS-13）进行，这是一种用于评估难民人群心理健康的经过验证的工具。
共有 1163 人符合筛查条件，其中 566 人参加了筛查（应答率 48.6%）。在参与者中，47.9%表示有精神疾病症状。与寻求庇护者相比，配额和其他难民的精神疾病风险较低（调整后的优势比 0.60，95%置信区间 0.37-1.00）。女性、年龄较大、来自中等收入国家以及获得庇护的可能性较低是精神疾病的显著预测因素。
难民法律地位与精神疾病有关。与配额和其他难民相比，寻求庇护者患精神疾病的风险更高。我们的研究结果呼吁对新抵达的移民进行精神疾病筛查，特别是对那些居留许可仍在等待审批的移民进行筛查。
