Morbidity of foreign travelers in Attica, Greece: a retrospective study

Over the last decade, travel medicine was mainly focused on the epidemiology of diseases among travelers to developing countries. However, less is known about travel-related morbidity in Europe. We evaluated the demographic and clinical characteristics of foreign travelers to Greece during a 5-year...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2012-09, Vol.31 (9), p.2141-2146
Main Authors: Theocharis, G., Polyzos, K. A., Vouloumanou, E. K., Peppas, G., Spiropoulos, T., Barbas, S. G., Falagas, M. E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Autumn
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Child
Child, Preschool
Developing countries
Disease
Epidemiology
Ethics
Family physicians
Female
Gastrointestinal Diseases - epidemiology
Greece - epidemiology
Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data
Hospitals
Humans
Infant
Infectious diseases
Internal Medicine
LDCs
Male
Medical Microbiology
Medical personnel
Medical sciences
Medicine
Middle Aged
Morbidity
Musculoskeletal Diseases - epidemiology
Patients
Respiratory Tract Diseases - epidemiology
Retrospective Studies
Socioeconomics
Travel
Travel medicine
Travel Medicine - statistics & numerical data
Urologic Diseases - epidemiology
Winter
Young Adult
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Summary:Over the last decade, travel medicine was mainly focused on the epidemiology of diseases among travelers to developing countries. However, less is known about travel-related morbidity in Europe. We evaluated the demographic and clinical characteristics of foreign travelers to Greece during a 5-year period (01/01/2005 - 31/12/2009) who sought medical services from a network of physicians performing house-call visits (SOS Doctors) in the area of Attica, Greece. Overall, 3,414 foreign travelers [children (≤18 years of age): 27%] were identified; 151 (4.4%) required transfer to a hospital. The most common clinical entities were: respiratory disorders (34%), diarrheal disease (19%), musculoskeletal (12%), dermatologic (7%), non-diarrheal gastrointestinal (6%), and genitourinary (5%) disorders. Respiratory disorders were the most frequent diagnosis during all seasons, followed by diarrheal gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal disorders. Respiratory and dental conditions were observed significantly more frequently in children. Respiratory disorders were observed significantly more frequently during winter (47%) compared to spring (36.7%), summer (30.9%), and autumn (30.5%), ( p  
ISSN:0934-9723
1435-4373
DOI:10.1007/s10096-012-1548-3