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Comparison of Health Care Resource Utilization by Immigrants Versus Native Elderly People

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Abstract

To compare the utilization of health care resources (drug prescriptions, hospital admissions and health care services) by immigrant versus native elderly people (65 years or more), by using administrative database of the Lombardy Region. For each immigrant (an older people born out of Italy), one person born in Lombardy (native) was randomly selected and matched by age, sex and general practitioner. The 25,508 immigrants selected were less prescribed with at least one drug (OR 0.72, 95 % CI 0.67–0.76) and had a lesser use of health care services (OR 0.79, 95 % CI 0.75–0.84) than natives. No statistically significant differences were found for hospital admission rates (OR 0.99, 95 % CI 0.99–1.04). A lower rate of health care resource utilization was observed in elderly immigrants who had been living in the host region for as many as 10 years.

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Conflict of interest

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Quality Assessment of Geriatric Therapies and Services, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Via Giuseppe La Masa, 19, 20156, Milan, Italy

    Carlotta Franchi, Luca Pasina, Codjo Djade Dignefa & Alessandro Nobili

  2. Laboratory of General Practice Research, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

    Marta Baviera, Laura Cortesi & Maria Carla Roncaglioni

  3. Laboratory of Mother and Child Health, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

    Marco Sequi

  4. Laboratory of Geriatric Neuropsychiatry, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

    Mauro Tettamanti

  5. Regional Health Ministry, Milan, Lombardy Region, Italy

    Ida Fortino, Angela Bortolotti & Luca Merlino

  6. Scientific Direction, IRCCS Maggiore Hospital Foundation, Milan, Italy

    Pier Mannuccio Mannucci

Authors
  1. Carlotta Franchi
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  2. Marta Baviera
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  3. Marco Sequi
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  4. Laura Cortesi
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  5. Mauro Tettamanti
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  6. Maria Carla Roncaglioni
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  7. Luca Pasina
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  8. Codjo Djade Dignefa
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  9. Ida Fortino
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  10. Angela Bortolotti
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  11. Luca Merlino
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  12. Pier Mannuccio Mannucci
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  13. Alessandro Nobili
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlotta Franchi.

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Franchi, C., Baviera, M., Sequi, M. et al. Comparison of Health Care Resource Utilization by Immigrants Versus Native Elderly People. J Immigrant Minority Health 18, 1–7 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0152-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0152-2

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