This material was presented in the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry which was organised by the European Psychiatry Association in Florence, Italy from 1-4th April 2017. I had access to the material as I attended the full Congress. Please note that this material remains the intellectual property of the European Psychiatry Association and its authors and any citation should include a full reference to it. For more information on the EPA and how to become a member, please visit: http://www.europsy.net/

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J Immigr Minor Health, 2016
Copyright © 2017 - Email: noemivaccino@msn.com
Noemi Vaccino1, Maria S Signorelli1, Alessandro
Rodolico1, Maria C Riso1,2, Eugenio Aguglia1
BACKGROUND
In Europe there is a history of immigration increasing from month to
month in the last few years. The U.N. refugee agency says
persecution and conflict raised the total number of refugees and
internally displaced people worldwide to a record 65.3 million at the
end of last year. It’s also been reported that at least 5,096 migrants
had died in the Mediterranean Sea since January to December 2016
in an attempt to reach Europe, making 2016 the deadliest year on
record in the Mediterranean (compared to 3,777 in 2015)1.
Thus the problem is getting bigger and bigger. Social, political and
health related effects of “European migrant crisis” are challenging
our Old Continent. The posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the
most studied and the most indicative of distress and suffering
experienced by refugee people. A critical review of 20112 pointed out
that refugees with PTSD are, at first, exposed to pre-migration
traumatic events, and then, later on, have to deal with resettlement
difficulties, and the post migration stressors, such as immigration
detention and temporary protection with a threat of repatriation.
In scientific literature, many studies focused on immigration mental
health problems. However, no studies have dealt with the evaluation
of PTSD in a setting of first stay, where probably little time has
passed since the last traumatic event. Our aim is to evaluate the
prevalence of PTSD in this type of sample.
A pilot study on Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder prevalence in asylum seeker in
primary reception setting
RESULTS
In this pilot study we collected 61 questionnaires. The majority of
them came from male subjects (46). The prevalence of PTSD was
44%. After comparing subjects with and without PTSD there was not
any demographic difference between groups (Table 1), neither the
country of origin influenced PTSD diagnosis (p=0.06) (Fig. 1).
1Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Psychiatry Unit, University of Catania, Italy
2Italian Red Cross, Local Branch of Catania, Italy
Table 1 Total PTSD
(N=27, 44%)
No PTSD
(N=34, 56%)
Mean Age 23.47 (±5.32) 23.92 (±5.27) 23.11 (±5.34)
Sex
distribution
(F/M)
15/46 5/22 10/24
Years of
education
7.15 (±5.46) 6.12 (±5.82) 7.96 (±5)
Married 21.2% 26.83% 16.78%
Employed
before leaving
53.4% 58.6% 49.3%
Religion
Christian
Islam
Others
47.1%
49.4%
3.5%
46%
50%
4%
48%
49%
3%
0 1 2 1 2
4
1 2
8
2
0 1 1 21
1
2
1
3
1
3 1
12
7
2 0 0
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
PTSD No PTSD
Figure 1
According to the PTSD checklist the mean score was 44 (±16). The
most frequent symptoms belonged to intrusive thoughts, like “feeling
upset when something reminded you of a stressful experience from
the past” (83%), having “repeated, disturbing dreams of a stressful
experience from the past” (77%), having “repeated, disturbing
memories, thoughts, or images of a stressful experience from the
past” (75%), “having physical reactions (e.g., heart pounding, trouble
breathing, or sweating) when something reminded stressful
experience from the past” (73%). Years of schooling (p=0.027) and
length of stay in Italy (p=0.025) are negatively correlated to PCL-C
total score.
CONCLUSION
High rates of PTSD depict a reality that cannot be left apart. Our
attention toward immigrants must focus also on their mental health
issues. Europe Union should consider new solutions to take care of
these critical aspects.
METHODS
We designed a cross-sectional study for prevalence estimation in the
C.A.R.A. (Centro Accoglienza Richiedenti Asilo) of Mineo, a
reception centre where asylum seekers stay for their first period in
Italy. They are given hospitality (for a maximum of 18 months) until
the possibility of their permanence is verified. We created a survey
asking for general information. Participants also received PTSD
Checklist for DSM-IV (PCL-C), adopting 45 as cut-off for
diagnosis3,4. Questionnaires have been delivered house-to-house and
collected when completed.
The distribution of demographic variables is given in terms of means
and standard deviations in continuous variables, and counts and
percentages in categorical variables. Prevalence rates and standard
errors were weighted to the sex distribution of the total migrant
sample. Student’s t-tests and χ2 tests were used to analyse
differences in demographic and general variables between subjects
suffering from PTSD and others that did not. ANOVA analysis was
used to evaluate any difference about PCL total score related to
nationality. Regression models were used to test the weighted effects
of demographic variables on current PTSD checklist score. Sex, age,
marital status, duration of stay in Italy, country of origin, religion and
educational level were included as covariates.
The level of statistical significance was α< 0.05
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks go to Red Cross Local Branch of Catania.