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. 2023 May 18;30(3):taad002.
doi: 10.1093/jtm/taad002.

Healthcare seeking during travel: an analysis by the GeoSentinel surveillance network of travel medicine providers

Watcharapong Piyaphanee  1 , Rhett J Stoney  2 , Hilmir Asgeirsson  3 , Grace D Appiah  2 , Marta Díaz-Menéndez  4 , Elizabeth D Barnett  5 , Philippe Gautret  6 , Michael Libman  7 , Patricia Schlagenhauf  8 , Karin Leder  9 , Katherine Plewes  10 , Martin P Grobusch  11 , Ralph Huits  12 , Kunjana Mavunda  13 , Davidson H Hamer  14 , Lin H Chen  15
Affiliations

Healthcare seeking during travel: an analysis by the GeoSentinel surveillance network of travel medicine providers

Watcharapong Piyaphanee et al. J Travel Med. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: International travellers may seek care abroad to address health problems that arise during their trip or plan healthcare outside their country of residence as medical tourists.

Methods: Data were collected on travellers evaluated at GeoSentinel Network sites who reported healthcare during travel. Both unplanned and planned healthcare were analysed, including the reason and nature of healthcare sought, characteristics of the treatment provided and outcomes. Travellers that presented for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis were described elsewhere and were excluded from detailed analysis.

Results: From May 2017 through June 2020, after excluding travellers obtaining rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (n= 415), 1093 travellers reported care for a medical or dental issue that was an unanticipated part of the travellers' planned itinerary (unplanned healthcare). Travellers who sought unplanned healthcare abroad had frequent diagnoses of acute diarrhoea, dengue, falciparum malaria and unspecified viral syndrome, and obtained care in 131 countries. Thirty-four (3%) reported subsequent deterioration and 230 (21%) reported no change in condition; a third (n = 405; 37%) had a pre-travel health encounter. Forty-one travellers had sufficient data on planned healthcare abroad for analysis. The most common destinations were the US, France, Dominican Republic, Belgium and Mexico. The top reasons for their planned healthcare abroad were unavailability of procedure at home (n = 9; 19%), expertise abroad (n = 9; 19%), lower cost (n = 8; 17%) and convenience (n = 7; 15%); a third (n = 13; 32%) reported cosmetic or surgical procedures. Early and late complications occurred in 14 (33%) and 4 (10%) travellers, respectively. Four travellers (10%) had a pre-travel health encounter.

Conclusions: International travellers encounter health problems during travel that often could be prevented by pre-travel consultation. Travellers obtaining planned healthcare abroad can experience negative health consequences associated with treatments abroad, for which pre-travel consultations could provide advice and potentially help to prevent complications.

Keywords: Medical tourism; illness; international; outcome; procedure; travellers; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest/Disclosure

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

This study, in part, was presented at 69th Annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 15–19 November 2020 and at the 17th Congress of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM17), 19–22 May 2021. The abstract was also presented at the International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID) 2022, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 17–20, 2022.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Travellers with healthcare abroad seen at GeoSentinel Network sites 1 May 2017–30 June 2020.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Destinations where travellers reported unplanned healthcare (n = 131)*. *This map reflects absolute numbers of travellers presented to the GeoSentinel Network only and should not be interpreted as true risk levels or distribution of travellers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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