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[The pediatrician and the child in a multiethnic society]
R Virdis1, M E Street, C Terzi
1Clinica Pediatrica, Università di Parma.
Insights
Pediatricians face new health challenges due to increasing immigration, including managing specific diseases and ensuring immunizations are up-to-date for children from developing countries.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Global Health
- Immigration Medicine
Context:
- Rising immigration from developing nations presents unique pediatric health concerns.
- Italian pediatricians need to address health issues uncommon in native children.
- Immigrant children may have increased susceptibility to common pediatric illnesses, particularly infections.
Purpose:
- To inform Italian pediatricians about emerging health challenges in immigrant children.
- To highlight the need for updated knowledge on tropical diseases and immunization protocols.
- To emphasize special considerations for internationally adopted children.
Summary:
- Immigrant children require attention for diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and sickle cell anemia.
- Assessing and potentially repeating immunizations is crucial for this population.
- Adopted children often have complex medical histories, including malnutrition, abuse, and congenital issues, with central precocious puberty noted in some girls.
Impact:
- Enhances pediatric care for immigrant and adopted children.
- Promotes proactive management of infectious and congenital diseases.
- Aids in the timely diagnosis and treatment of conditions like central precocious puberty.
Abstract:
The increasing immigration from developing countries has determined new health problems. Italian Pediatricians must become acquainted with these health concerns such as the excessive use of public pediatric structures, especially hospitals, specific diseases unusual among Italian children (malaria, tuberculosis, tropical parassitosis, sickle cell anemia, rickets and others), control of previous immunizations and repetition when one is not sure of their efficacy. Moreover, immigrated children seem to be more susceptible to common pediatric diseases (mostly infections) than Italian children. Finally, children adopted from developing countries deserve special attention because they arrive from a very poor social context with frequent history of important infectious diseases, congenital diseases, malnutrition and abuse. Central precocious puberty is a frequent evolution in some of the adopted girls.