Prevalence of Mental Disorder and Somatic Co-morbidities Among Asylum Seekers in Marseille

Introduction : World Health Organization (WHO) considers that the heterogeneity of concepts and definitions of migrants is an obstacle to obtaining evidence to inform public health policies. Thus, it recommends distinguishing refugees from asylum seekers. Asylum seekers are migrants who recently arrived in their host country and whose administrative situation is being examined. They do not have the same access to health care or the same rights as refugees.

In France in 2021, 78,372 major people filled a first asylum application, a 26.4% increase compared to 2020 Regarding the mental health of exiles, a literature review informs us that 31.5% of them suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 31.5% from depression and 11.1% from anxiety disorders. However, these data are taken from studies that do not make a distinction between refugees and asylum seekers These missing data are a hindrance to the development of efficient strategies for the management of these populations within the health systems of Western countries.

The primary objective of this study was to describe the health status of asylum seekers who have recently arrived in their Western host country. The secondary objective was to investigate potential explanatory factors for the health status of asylum seekers.

Method: Single-center, cross-sectional, observational epidemiological study. The Refugee health screener (RHS15) questionnaire and the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) will be administered by a trained interviewer to each patient included on the day of their inclusion, in the asylum seekers reception platform (PADA).Potential use of tobacco, existence of an adapted treatment in case of a detected pathology and certain socio-demographic data will also be collected.

A telephone interpreting service will be used in the case of an allophone patient whose spoken language is not spoken by the interviewer. Each patient included will have an appointment to perform a standardised blood and urine sample.

Benefits : PREMENTADA study will provide a better understanding of the health status of the population of asylum seekers in France. As the existence of data is a prerequisite for evidence-based medicine, we notice the lack of previous studies specifically addressing this population in France.