Europa Ryan T, Eide Ketil, Hjern Anders, Manhica Helio, Dunlavy Andrea
Department of Health, Social and Welfare Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway, Norway.
Department of Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Scand J Public Health. 2024 Dec;52(8):942-950. doi: 10.1177/14034948231201895. Epub 2023 Oct 5.
We examined the patterns of healthcare utilisation for drug use disorders (DUDs) and charges related to narcotics among young refugees in Norway considering the role of sex, country of origin and condition of arrival (accompanied versus unaccompanied minors).
Based on national registers, sex-stratified Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios to assess the risk of being charged with a narcotics offence and the use of healthcare services related to DUDs. The sample consisted of 15,068 young refugees and 573,241 young Norwegians born in Norway to two Norwegian-born parents. All of the young people in the sample were born between 1983 and 1994. The follow-up period was from January 2008 to December 2015.
Compared with their Norwegian peers, both male and female refugees showed either a similar or lower risk of receiving healthcare for DUDs. However, male refugees showed an increased risk of being charged with a narcotic offence, except those from Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia. Accompanied male refugees were at a higher risk of being charged, while unaccompanied male refugees showed a lower risk.
Young male refugees generally had a higher risk of being charged for narcotic offences while showing a similar risk of receiving healthcare for DUDs compared to Norwegian-born young people. However, young men from Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia deviated from this pattern. This may be partially explained by the length of time spent in Norway. The results add support to previous qualitative studies suggesting that punitive drug policies may disproportionately affect men from minority groups. Further research controlling for parental household-level factors is warranted.
我们研究了挪威年轻难民中药物使用障碍（DUDs）的医疗保健利用模式以及与麻醉品相关的费用，并考虑了性别、原籍国和抵达状况（陪伴儿童与无人陪伴儿童）的作用。
基于国家登记数据，使用按性别分层的Cox回归模型来估计风险比，以评估被指控犯有麻醉品罪行的风险以及与DUDs相关的医疗服务使用情况。样本包括15,068名年轻难民和573,241名在挪威出生且父母均为挪威出生的年轻挪威人。样本中的所有年轻人均出生于1983年至1994年之间。随访期为2008年1月至2015年12月。
与挪威同龄人相比，男性和女性难民接受DUDs医疗保健的风险相似或更低。然而，男性难民被指控犯有麻醉品罪行的风险增加，但来自阿富汗和前南斯拉夫的男性难民除外。有陪伴的男性难民被指控的风险更高，而无人陪伴的男性难民风险较低。
与在挪威出生的年轻人相比，年轻男性难民通常被指控犯有麻醉品罪行的风险更高，而接受DUDs医疗保健的风险相似。然而，来自阿富汗和前南斯拉夫的年轻男性偏离了这种模式。这可能部分归因于在挪威停留的时间长度。这些结果为先前的定性研究提供了支持，表明惩罚性毒品政策可能对少数群体中的男性产生不成比例的影响。有必要进一步研究控制父母家庭层面的因素。
