Pre-travel health care of immigrants returning home to visit friends and relatives.
Publication/Presentation Date
2-1-2013
Abstract
Immigrants returning home to visit friends and relatives (VFR travelers) are at higher risk of travel-associated illness than other international travelers. We evaluated 3,707 VFR and 17,507 non-VFR travelers seen for pre-travel consultation in Global TravEpiNet during 2009-2011; all were traveling to resource-poor destinations. VFR travelers more commonly visited urban destinations than non-VFR travelers (42% versus 30%, P < 0.0001); 54% of VFR travelers were female, and 18% of VFR travelers were under 6 years old. VFR travelers sought health advice closer to their departure than non-VFR travelers (median days before departure was 17 versus 26, P < 0.0001). In multivariable analysis, being a VFR traveler was an independent predictor of declining a recommended vaccine. Missed opportunities for vaccination could be addressed by improving the timing of pre-travel health care and increasing the acceptance of vaccines. Making pre-travel health care available in primary care settings may be one step to this goal.
Volume
88
Issue
2
First Page
376
Last Page
380
ISSN
1476-1645
Published In/Presented At
LaRocque, R. C., Deshpande, B. R., Rao, S. R., Brunette, G. W., Sotir, M. J., Jentes, E. S., Ryan, E. T., & The Global TravEpiNet Consortium (2013). Pre-travel health care of immigrants returning home to visit friends and relatives. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 88(2), 376–380. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.2012.12-0460
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
23149585
Department(s)
Department of Medicine
Document Type
Article