Abstract
BackgroundTravellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR) define a specific population of travellers exposed to higher risks for health and safety than tourists. The aim of this study was to assess differentials in pre-travel health care in VFR travellers compared to other travellers.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was performed including attendees of the Travel Medicine Clinic of the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain, between January 2007 and December 2017.ResultsOver the 10-year period, 47,022 subjects presented to the travel clinic for pre-travel health care, 13.7% of whom were VFR travellers. These showed higher rates of vaccination against yellow fever and meningococcus, but lower rates for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza, rabies, cholera, polio, typhoid IM vaccine and tetanus vaccine boosters. Regarding malaria prevention measures, results highlighted that VFR travellers, when compared with tourists, were more likely to be prescribed with chemoprophylaxis, particularly with mefloquine, than with atovaquone/proguanil.ConclusionsFindings from this large-scale study indicated differences in vaccination rates and completion, as well as in chemoprophylaxis for malaria, between VFR and non-VFR travellers, fostering specific interventions for promoting adherence to pre-travel health advice among migrant travellers.
Highlights
Travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR) define a specific population of travellers exposed to higher risks for health and safety than tourists
Study population Over the 10-year period, 47,022 subjects attended to the Travel Medicine Clinic of the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge for pre-travel health care, constituting the cohort included in this study
Interesting, instead, is the finding that the odds of acquiring yellow fever vaccination were twice greater in the VFR population than among non-VFR travellers, partially in accordance with the results reported by Tan et al [10] but displaying a lack of concordance if compared to published research conducted to assess travel characteristics about the adherence to yellow fever vaccination [21]
Summary
Travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR) define a specific population of travellers exposed to higher risks for health and safety than tourists. Drivers for not consulting health professional before travelling were the underestimation of risks, including a scares knowledge of the disease and the perception that the measures undertaken would be sufficient, the belief of being experienced travellers, as well as financial limitations of the migrant population [5]. In this susceptible traveller population, assessing previous exposure and immunisation and vaccination status is complicated by several cultural and socioeconomic barriers [6,7,8]
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