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Underutilisation of psychiatric care among refugee adolescents in Stockholm
Author(s) -
Berg Lisa,
Ljunggren Gunnar,
Hjern Anders
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.15520
Subject(s) - refugee , medicine , residence , referral , psychiatry , mental health , population , health care , demography , family medicine , environmental health , archaeology , sociology , economics , history , economic growth
Aim Refugee children have been shown to underutilise psychiatric services in Scandinavia. The aim of this study was to investigate determinants of psychiatric care utilisation in adolescents in refugee families. Methods The study used regional data on healthcare use linked to sociodemographic data from national registers in a total population of 93 537 adolescents in the Stockholm County born in 1995‐2000, including 18 831 with a refugee background. Cox regression analyses were fitted to estimate Hazard ratios (HRs) of psychiatric care utilisation in the age‐span 11‐18 years. Results Psychiatric care use was lower in the large majority of adolescents in refugee families that originated in low‐ and middle‐income countries, with adjusted HRs 0.34 (95% CI 0.28‐0.42) and 0.51 (95% CI 0.46‐0.56), respectively, compared with the Swedish majority population. Among the foreign‐born refugee adolescents, psychiatric care use increased with duration of residence in Sweden and was higher in children who obtained residency as asylum seekers compared with those who settled in family reunification. Conclusion Adolescents in newly settled refugee families with a background in low‐ and middle‐income countries should be a priority in mental health assessment of refugee children and referral to psychiatric care facilitated for children in need.