López-Atanes Mayte, Rosenkranz Moritz, Erkoreka Leire, Recio-Barbero Maria, Bari Melav, Hiller Philipp, Penka Simone, Lindert Jutta, Martens Marcus, Schäfer Ingo
Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2025 Feb 25. doi: 10.1007/s00127-025-02842-2.
Refugees seem to be at enhanced risk for substance use disorders. At the same time, they have less access to services and their health needs remain poorly understood. This study aims to evaluate the specific needs of refugees as compared to German-born individuals seeking help for substance use disorders.
We conducted an observational case-control study using all treatment episodes in outpatient addiction facilities in three German federal states during the year 2020. A total of 719 refugee clients were matched to 713 German-born individuals using propensity score matching. We compared potential needs related to features of substance use as well as different psychosocial areas.
The final sample of refugees was composed of n = 384 (26.8%) cases from Afghanistan, n = 214 (14.9%) from Syria and n = 121 (8.4%) from Iraq. Clients consulted mostly due to cannabis use (44.8%) or opioid use (20.1%). Intravenous use of drugs and needle sharing was significantly lower in refugees (p < 0.05). A higher proportion of refugees than Germans lived in provisional housing, were unemployed or in charge of minor children (p < 0.05). Mental and physical comorbidities were significantly higher in refugees (p < 0.05). They were also more likely to have been victims of violence and less likely to present violent behaviors.
Refugees with substance use disorders differ regarding a spectrum of psychosocial issues from German-born individuals. This highlights the need to link addiction treatment with other parts of the health care and psychosocial support systems to provide adequate care for this group.
难民似乎患物质使用障碍的风险更高。与此同时，他们获得服务的机会较少，其健康需求仍未得到充分了解。本研究旨在评估与寻求物质使用障碍帮助的德国本土居民相比，难民的特殊需求。
我们进行了一项观察性病例对照研究，使用了2020年德国三个联邦州门诊成瘾治疗机构的所有治疗案例。通过倾向得分匹配，将719名难民客户与713名德国本土居民进行匹配。我们比较了与物质使用特征以及不同心理社会领域相关的潜在需求。
最终的难民样本包括来自阿富汗的n = 384例（26.8%）、来自叙利亚的n = 214例（14.9%）和来自伊拉克的n = 121例（8.4%）。客户咨询最多的原因是大麻使用（44.8%）或阿片类药物使用（20.1%）。难民中静脉注射毒品和共用针头的情况明显较少（p < 0.05）。与德国人相比，有更高比例的难民居住在临时住房中、失业或负责照顾未成年子女（p < 0.05）。难民的精神和身体合并症明显更多（p < 0.05）。他们也更有可能成为暴力受害者，而出现暴力行为的可能性较小。
患有物质使用障碍的难民在一系列心理社会问题上与德国本土居民不同。这凸显了将成瘾治疗与医疗保健和心理社会支持系统的其他部分联系起来，以便为这一群体提供充分护理的必要性。
