Health issues in female Moldovan migrants in a north-eastern Italian region

Abstract

Abstract Background Migration from Eastern Europe to Italy is still massively expanding, with a subsequent increase of migrants in the job market who are traditionally employed in low specialized and high strain jobs. In this context Health Literacy is a known factor contributing to immigrant health disparities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the health status of a population of migrant Moldovan women and their access to health care services in northern Italy by age class and health literacy level. Methods We administered an ad-hoc questionnaire to adult Moldovan women to assess their lifestyles, employment status, reported health status, access to Health Services and Health Literacy. Moreover, the study compared our data with a sample of Italian women of the same age range living in North-Eastern region interviewed in 2015. Analysis employs descriptive statistics. Results The sample included 170 Moldovan women (age 46.5 ±12.3). Prevalence of active smokers was found double in women with a low Health Literacy. Health Literacy status also determined the different access to Public Health Services, with women with higher literacy using more programmed health services and screening programs, and women with lower literacy conversely using more emergency health services. Overall reported health status was found worse in our sample than in Italian women and reported disease prevalence among age ranges was different than Italian ones with an increased probability for allergies, lumbar diseases and depression. Conclusions Some diseases have a higher prevalence in Moldovan than in Italian women. Health literacy is associated with lifestyles and use of health care services also in migrants, as previously demonstrated for native population. Key messages Tailored prevention programs and intervention should be designed in Moldovan women to address high prevalence diseases in this population. Strategy to improve health literacy should involve immigrants. Some diseases resulted well-spread over the whole sample and not influenced by age or employment; the difficulties migrants have to overcome might influence their health status.