Hospitalization price of cohorts with completely different international locations of origin and ratio of readmission price within the subsequent 12 months of every cohort and their (age, intercourse, area of residence, and month of hospital go to) matched cohort of Austrian sufferers—left: females (with out pregnancy-related hospital stays), proper: males. International locations in daring exhibit statistically considerably completely different readmission charges in comparison with matched Austrian counterparts. Credit score: Complexity Science Hub
Researchers on the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) analyzed 13 million inpatient hospital stays involving round 4 million people in Austria: Though about 20% of the inhabitants in Austria doesn’t maintain Austrian citizenship, this group accounts for less than 9.4% of hospital sufferers and 9.8% of complete hospital nights.
An estimated 300 million folks—about 3.6% of the worldwide inhabitants—are worldwide migrants. But research persistently present that migrants entry well being care providers much less incessantly than native populations. For instance, a worldwide evaluation of information from 84 international locations between 2018 and 2021 discovered that in solely half of them do migrants have equal entry to well being care.
In Austria, the place one in 5 residents is a migrant, the query of how migrants interact with the well being care system is of specific urgency. It was additionally the start line for a latest examine performed by researchers at CSH and the Medical College of Vienna, which was revealed within the Journal of Migration and Well being.
“Reliable data on medical care for migrants can help identify access barriers and gaps in health care provision, improve quality of life, enable efficient resource planning, and shape stereotypical debates based on facts,” says Elma Dervic, researcher at CSH and lead writer of the examine.
Fewer hospital stays
The researchers examined information on round 13 million hospital stays in Austria between 2015 and 2019. Their outcomes present that individuals who dwell in Austria however don’t maintain Austrian citizenship have considerably decrease hospitalization charges. This is applicable to all nationalities besides German residents, who report essentially the most hospital stays per capita and whose utilization patterns resemble these of Austrians—each by way of the hospital departments they’re admitted to and their major and general diagnoses. All different nationalities present clear variations.
For males, the hospitalization price per capita is highest amongst Austrians (0.235), adopted by Slovaks (0.229) and Italians (0.226). North Macedonians (0.125), Croatians (0.131), and Serbians (0.133) have the fewest hospital stays. The hospitalization price displays the probability that an individual of a given nationality shall be admitted to hospital inside one 12 months. For example, the speed for Turkish girls in 2019 was calculated by dividing the variety of feminine Turkish sufferers by the variety of feminine Turkish residents dwelling in Austria.
For girls (excluding pregnancy-related stays), Germans (0.223) have essentially the most hospital stays—forward of Syrian (0.209) and Austrian girls (0.207). The hospitalization price is lowest amongst Russian girls (0.109), North Macedonian girls (0.118), and Serbian girls (0.126).
Extra readmissions
Whereas general hospitalization charges are decrease amongst migrants than Austrians, readmission charges (how typically sufferers are readmitted to the hospital inside one 12 months) are increased. “This could indicate that people without Austrian citizenship go to the hospital later in the course of an illness,” explains Dervic.
Amongst males, Syrians have the very best readmission price—adopted by Russians and Afghans. Solely Hungarians have a considerably decrease price than Austrians.
Amongst girls (excluding pregnancy-related stays), the readmission price is highest for Afghan girls—adopted by Serbian, German, and Bulgarian girls. It’s lowest amongst North Macedonian girls. Nonetheless, Turkish, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian, Croatian, and Bosnian girls even have readmission charges beneath these of Austrian girls.
Variety of a) sufferers and b) hospital stays throughout prime ten counties of origin, decided by the affected person counts from in-hospital information. Credit score: Complexity Science Hub; revealed in: Journal of Migration and Well being
‘Wholesome migrant’ or entry limitations
Readmission charges may very well be notably revealing in an effort to acquire insights into the well being care of migrants—and to know why they’re hospitalized much less incessantly, based on the researchers.
Firstly, there’s the so-called “Healthy Migrant Effect.” It refers to the concept that individuals who migrate to a different nation are usually comparatively wholesome and infrequently younger—that means they arrive in higher well being than the typical inhabitants.
“If this effect were the main reason for the lower hospitalization rates among migrants in Austria, we would also expect their readmission rates to be low,” explains Dervic. Furthermore, the researchers managed for age of their evaluation, that means they in contrast solely people throughout the identical age teams.
Secondly, nevertheless, if entry limitations (equivalent to language or cultural limitations) play a task within the decrease hospitalization charges, migrants would possibly nonetheless endure from important well being points however keep away from hospitals till a lot later. This could then end in increased readmission charges, as sicknesses are extra superior on the time of the preliminary hospital go to.
For instance, folks from Hungary, Romania and—within the case of girls—Turkey present decrease readmission charges, which may be in step with the “Healthy Migrant Effect.” Sufferers from Russia, Serbia and—within the case of males—Turkey present increased readmission charges, which is extra indicative of limitations to entry.
Males much less more likely to be hospitalized
Male sufferers of all nationalities have decrease hospitalization charges than girls of the identical nationality. For sure nationalities, the variations are notably pronounced: 32% extra Turkish girls than Turkish males had been admitted to the hospital, 26% extra amongst Germans, and 28% extra Serbian girls than Serbian males.
Completely different diagnoses
When evaluating preliminary admissions, clear variations emerged between Austrian and non-Austrian sufferers. For instance, non-Austrians had been admitted much less incessantly to basic and vascular surgical procedure, however extra incessantly to inside drugs departments (together with cardiology and nephrology), hematology, oncology, and radiology—which may very well be an indication that these folks extra typically endure from continual or extreme sicknesses, based on the researchers.
“Additionally, psychiatric diagnoses were made less frequently among non-Austrians. This suggests that mental illnesses are underdiagnosed among migrants,” explains Peter Klimek from CSH and MedUni Vienna. All of those variations had been considerably smaller amongst sufferers with German citizenship.
“Our study shows that the different use of the Austrian health care system by people of different nationalities cannot be explained solely by the ‘Healthy Migrant Effect’ or cultural barriers,” says Klimek.
“Rather, the use of the health care system by migrant population groups must be differentiated by nationality, as there are obviously different patterns of use in different groups. Future measures should specifically facilitate access—especially to outpatient care—for example through better translation services or orientation aids in the health care system.”
Extra info:
Elma Dervić et al, Healthcare utilization patterns amongst migrant populations: Elevated readmissions counsel poorer entry. A population-wide retrospective cohort examine, Journal of Migration and Well being (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jmh.2025.100340
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Hospital stays amongst migrants in Austria a lot decrease than amongst Austrians (2025, August 21)
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