TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - A refugee camp in the centre of Europe: clinical characteristics of asylum seekers arriving in Brussels
JO  - BMJ open
A1  - van Berlaer, Gerlant
A1  - Bohle Carbonell, Francisca
A1  - Manantsoa, Sofie
A1  - de Béthune, Xavier
A1  - Buyl, Ronald
A1  - DeBacker, Michel
A1  - Hubloue, Ives
SP  - e013963
EP  - e013963
VL  - 6
IS  - 11
N2  - BACKGROUND: In the summer of 2015, the exodus of Syrian war refugees and saturation of refugee camps in neighbouring countries led to the influx of asylum-seekers in European countries, including Belgium. This study aims to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of asylum seekers who arrived in a huddled refugee camp, in the centre of a well-developed country with all medical facilities. <br><br>METHODS: Using a descriptive cross-sectional study design, physicians of Médecins du Monde prospectively registered age, gender, origin, medical symptoms and diagnoses of all patients presenting to an erected field hospital in Brussels in September 2015. Diagnoses were post hoc categorised according to the International Classification of Diseases. <br><br>RESULTS: Of 4037 patients examined in the field hospital, 3907 were included and analysed for this study. Over 11% of patients suffered from injuries, but these were outnumbered by the proportion of patients with respiratory (36%), dental (9%), skin (9%) and digestive (8%) diagnoses. More than 49% had features of infections at the time of the consultation. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Asylum seekers arriving in a refugee camp in Brussels after a long and hazardous journey suffer mostly from respiratory, dental, skin and digestive diseases. Still, one in seven suffers from injury. These findings, consistent with other reports, should be anticipated when composing emergency medical teams and interagency emergency health or similar kits to be used in a field hospital, even in a Western European country. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN13523620, Results.<br><br>Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2044-6055
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013963
ID  - ref1
ER  -