The Presence and Profile of Neurological Conditions and Associated Psychiatric Comorbidities in U.S. Resettled Refugees: A Retrospective Single Center Study

This study aimed to characterize the frequency and range of neurological disorders in a sample of resettled refugees receiving care at a community health center in Massachusetts, U.S.A. We performed a retrospective medical record review of adult ( ≥ 18 years) resettled refugees between May 2001 and December 2012 at a community health center in Northeast Massachusetts. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics pertaining to neuropsychiatric health were collected from medical records using a standardized data extraction tool. Group comp arisons between those with and without neurological illness and associated sociodemographic and psychiatric characteristics were evaluated using χ2 and independent samples two-tailedt-tests. In our sample (n  = 779), 53.3% (n = 415) were male and 48.8% (n = 380) were from the African continent. The mean age was 33.2 ± 12.4 years (range 18–85). 36.8% were diagnosed with at least one neurological disorder and 18.1% with more than one neurological illness. The most common diagnoses were headaches (28.3%), sleep disorders (11.2%), cognitive impairment/ dementia (5.5%), and head trauma (5.5%). Exploratory analyses revealed that participants with neurological illness were more likely to be older (p <  .001), female (p = .002), and diagnosed with co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses (p <  .001) than those without neurological illness. Neurological disorders frequently co-occur with psychiatric comorbidities amon...
Source: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research