IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i17p3007-d259394.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Migration, Work, and Health: Lessons Learned from a Clinical Case Series in a Northern Italy Public Hospital

Author

Listed:
  • Cecilia Arici

    (Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Section of Occupational Health, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
    University Research Center “Integrated Models for Prevention and Protection in Environmental and Occupational Health”, Universities of Verona, Brescia and Milano Bicocca, 37134 Verona, Italy)

  • Tishad Tamhid

    (Postgraduate School of Occupational Medicine, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy)

  • Stefano Porru

    (Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Section of Occupational Health, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
    University Research Center “Integrated Models for Prevention and Protection in Environmental and Occupational Health”, Universities of Verona, Brescia and Milano Bicocca, 37134 Verona, Italy)

Abstract

Background: Migrant workers (MWs) generally perform dangerous jobs and have reduced access to occupational health (OH) care, therefore being prone to developing occupational diseases (OD). The aim of the work is to describe a case series of MWs and report on related outcomes for OH professionals. Methods: A case series of 724 MWs, sent from January 2001 to June 2013 to a public OH unit for OD or fitness-for-work (FFW) evaluation, was entered in a dedicated database and elaborated for descriptive statistics with Microsoft Excel. Results: MWs were mostly (75%) men, with a mean age of 40. They came mainly from Morocco, Senegal, Albania, Romania, and Pakistan. Main sectors of employment were manufacturing, metal industry, services, construction. OD were found in 210 cases, main diagnoses being: Lumbar disc and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (51%), contact dermatitis (15%), allergic asthma (8%), noise-induced hearing loss (7%), tumors (3%), psychiatric disorders (2%). Moreover, 136 FFW judgements were formulated, with some limitations/restrictions expressed. Finally, a relevant prevalence of some chronic non-occupational diseases was found. Conclusions: MWs in Italy may suffer from OH inequalities. Qualified public OH professionals and occupational physicians in workplaces should have a proactive role to concretely meet MWs’ health needs.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecilia Arici & Tishad Tamhid & Stefano Porru, 2019. "Migration, Work, and Health: Lessons Learned from a Clinical Case Series in a Northern Italy Public Hospital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-8, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:17:p:3007-:d:259394
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/17/3007/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/17/3007/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:17:p:3007-:d:259394. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.