Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov 24;23(1):2336.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-17202-5.

Ukrainian migrants' and war refugees' admissions to hospital: evidence from the Polish Nationwide General Hospital Morbidity Study, 2014-2022

Katarzyna Lewtak  1   2 , Anna Poznańska  3 , Krzysztof Kanecki  4 , Piotr Tyszko  4   5 , Paweł Goryński  3 , Krzysztof Jankowski  4   6 , Aneta Nitsch-Osuch  4
Affiliations

Ukrainian migrants' and war refugees' admissions to hospital: evidence from the Polish Nationwide General Hospital Morbidity Study, 2014-2022

Katarzyna Lewtak et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Considering the rapid influx of Ukrainian migrants and war refugees into Poland, the knowledge of their health condition is becoming increasingly important for health system policy and planning. The aim of the study was to assess war-related changes in the frequency and structure of hospitalizations among Ukrainian migrants and refugees in Poland.

Methods: The study is based on the analysis of hospital admission records of Ukrainian patients, which were collected in the Nationwide General Hospital Morbidity Study from 01.01.2014 to 31.12.2022.

Results: In the study period, 13,024 Ukrainians were hospitalized in Poland, 51.7% of whom had been admitted to hospital after February 24, 2022. After the war broke out, the average daily hospital admissions augmented from 2.1 to 21.6 person/day. A noticeable increase in the share of women (from 50% to 62%) and children (from 14% to 51%) was also observed. The average age of patients fell from 33.6 ± 0.2 years to 24.6 ± 0.3 years. The most frequently reported hospital events among the migrants until 23.02.2022 were injuries (S00-T98) - 26.1%, pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O99) - 18.4%, and factors influencing health status and contact with health services (Z00-Z99) - 8.4%. After the war started, the incidence of health problems among migrants and war refugees changed, with pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O99) being the most common - 14.9%, followed by abnormal clinical and lab findings (R00-R99) - 11.9%, and infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99) - 11.0%.

Conclusions: Our findings may support health policy planning and delivering adequate healthcare in refugee-hosting countries.

Keywords: Hospital admissions; Hospital morbidity; Migrant health; Poland; Refugee health; Ukraine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Age distribution of the hospitalized Ukrainian citizens by period of hospital admission and age groups (in box plots)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Operational Data Portal: Ukraine Refugee Situation. 2023. https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine#_ga=2.127885445.926802334.1.... Accessed 23 May 2023.
    1. Statista: Number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland 2022–2023. 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1293564/ukrainian-refugees-in-poland/. Accessed 23 May 2023.
    1. Office for Foreigners: Obywatele Ukrainy w Polsce – raport. 2021. https://www.gov.pl/web/udsc/obywatele-ukrainy-w-polsce--raport. Accessed 23 May 2023.
    1. Lebano A, Hamed S, Bradby H, Gil-Salmerón A, Durá-Ferrandis E, Garcés-Ferrer J, et al. Migrants' and refugees' health status and healthcare in Europe: a scoping literature review. BMC Public Health. 2020 doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-08749-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Spiegel PB, Kovtoniuk P, Lewtak K. The war in Ukraine 1 year on: the need to strategise for the long-term health of Ukrainians. Lancet. 2023 doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00383-5. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources