ArticleBMJ open2016
A refugee camp in the centre of Europe: clinical characteristics of asylum seekers arriving in Brussels.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Dental Caries among Refugees in Europe: A Systematic Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- How is mental health associated with dental health in refugee children?European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026Article
- Disease spectrum and medical complaints among migrants: a study from three outpatient clinics for asylum seekers in Berlin, Germany.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- 'Respond'-A novel approach to healthcare delivery for people seeking asylum.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Management During Disasters and Humanitarian Emergencies: A Review of the Experiences Reported by Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs).Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Review
- Oral health, quality of life and general health of people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds from South Asia and the Middle East resettled in South Australia: a cross sectional survey.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Physical injuries and burns among refugees in Lebanon: implications for programs and policies.Conflict and health · 2023Article
- Higher prevalence of dental caries and periodontal problems among refugees: A scoping review.Journal of global health · 2023Article
- Communicable Diseases Prevalence among Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Infectious disease reports · 2023Review
- Health Care Organization in Poland in Light of the Refugee Crisis Related to the Military Conflict in Ukraine.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Dermatologic conditions of adult refugees following resettlement in the United States, 2015 to 2018.Journal of migration and health · 2023Article
- Health and illness in migrants and refugees arriving in Europe: analysis of the electronic Personal Health Record system.Journal of travel medicine · 2022Article
- Health status assessment of a population of asylum seekers in Northern Italy.Globalization and health · 2022Article
- [Care of infectious diseases in underage refugees exemplified by Ukraine].Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Kinderheilkunde · 2022Review
- [Updated recommendations on the treatment of infectious diseases in refugees in childhood and adolescence in Germany (situation as of 30 March 2022), registered as S1 guidelines (AWMF-Register Nr. 048-017)].Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Kinderheilkunde · 2022Review
- Eritrean Refugees' and Asylum-Seekers' Attitude towards and Access to Oral Healthcare in Heidelberg, Germany: A Qualitative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Article
- The Child Behavior Checklist as a Screening Instrument for PTSD in Refugee Children.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Migrant children in transit: health profile and social needs of unaccompanied and accompanied children visiting the MSF clinic in Belgrade, Serbia.Conflict and health · 2021Article
- National oral health survey on refugees in Germany 2016/2017: caries and subsequent complications.Clinical oral investigations · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn 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.
methodsUsing 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.
resultsOf 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.
conclusionsAsylum 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.
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