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Immigration and neurological diseases: a longitudinal study in an acute neurological care

Neurological Sciences volume 33, pages 979–983 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Very few data exist on causes and outcomes of hospitalization of immigrants in Italy. Even though immigration is a real challenge for the western countries, we are still unaware of how it reflects on the costs and the management of an acute care department. This study was aimed to compare the patterns of hospital use by immigrants incoming to the Acute Care Department of Neurology in Brescia, Italy, with those of the resident Italian people. The study was based on the hospital discharge data. Discharges of immigrants were compared to those of a random selection of Italian patients matched by age and sex. The length of the study period was of 2.5 years. A similar pattern of hospital use by age was observed between foreigners and Italian patients; however, average length of hospitalization was significantly longer in immigrant population.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. C. Concoreggi and Dr. Issa for helpful suggestions. We are also grateful to Dr. A. Caroli for statistical support.

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  1. Neurological Department, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

    Fabrizio Rinaldi, Paolo Liberini, Renata Rao, Elisabetta Venturelli, Stefano Gipponi, Elisa Pari, Eluisa Sapia & Alessandro Padovani

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  1. Fabrizio Rinaldi
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  2. Paolo Liberini
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  3. Renata Rao
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  4. Elisabetta Venturelli
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  5. Stefano Gipponi
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  6. Elisa Pari
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  7. Eluisa Sapia
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  8. Alessandro Padovani
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Correspondence to Fabrizio Rinaldi.

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Rinaldi, F., Liberini, P., Rao, R. et al. Immigration and neurological diseases: a longitudinal study in an acute neurological care. Neurol Sci 33, 979–983 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-011-0868-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-011-0868-x

Keywords

  • Immigration
  • Neurology
  • Italy
  • Acute Care
  • Epidemiology
  • Gender