Prevalence of tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and HIV among asylum seekers and refugees in the UK
Citation: Clark RC, Mytton J. Estimating infectious disease in UK asylum seekers and refugees: a systematic review of prevalence studies. Journal of Public Health. 2007;29(4):420-8.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Nothing noted.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for published and unpublished studies to determine the prevalence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, and hepatitis B among asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. The authors restricted their searches to studies published in English after 1985 and excluded studies of economic migrants who were not asylum seekers or refugees. The authors found five studies(53,421 people), three published and two unpublished.
What was found: Three studies reported prevalence rates for tuberculosis between 1.33 and 10.42 per 1,000. The three studies reported hepatitis B rates from 57 to 118 per 1,000. One study found a prevalence rate for HIV of 38.19 per 1,000. Variations in definitions, sampling, and methods between studies limited the generalisability of the findings.
Implications: The authors of this review stated that failure to identify asylum status represented a missed opportunity to collect surveillance data and refer individuals for appropriate treatment. There was a need for reliable methods to identify asylum seekers and refugees to accurately determine the prevalence of communicable diseases.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discuss their findings in the context of place of residence race, ethnicity, culture, and language.
This summary was written by Joly Ghanawi, checked by Sydeny Johnson and finalized by William Summerskill.