[Outpatient psychiatric care in the immigrant population of Segovia (2001-2008): descriptive study]

Immigration is a phenomenon with a significant impact on mental health. The aims of this study were to describe health care characteristics, time trends, differences among Immigrant, and diagnoses associated with new outpatient psychiatric consultation Immigrant in Segovia.

A descriptive study of new consultations with sociodemographic, health care and clinical variables computerized records from the «Antonio Machado» Mental Health Center for 2001-2002 and 2008 comparing immigrant and Spanish population. Population incidences were calculated by sex, geographic regions and countries of origin. By multivariate logistic regression assessed the relationship between ICD-10 diagnoses and immigration.

Immigrants had an average age 10 years younger than the Spanish. Incidence rate of new consultation was always higher in women, decreased in immigrants and increased in the Spanish between 2001 and 2008. South Central Americans and Eastern Europeans had the highest and lowest rates of new visits, respectively. Bulgaria, Morocco, Romania and Poland were the countries most representative in 2008, with low incidences. Neurotic and somatoform disorders were the most common regardless of the origin of the patient. Psychotic and personality disorders were positively associated with immigration in the multivariate analysis.

The attention of mental health immigrants in Segovia is characterized by young age, lower incidence of new queries with important variations between regions, and diagnostic association with processes more severe, which may reflect underdiagnosis and underutilization phenomena.