Estimating infectious disease in UK asylum seekers and refugees: a systematic review of prevalence studies

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), HIV and hepatitis B in the UK asylum seeker and refugee population is currently uncertain. METHODS: Systematic review of published and unpublished studies. RESULTS: Five studies met the inclusion criteria. Three studies reported the prevalence of TB with rates ranging from 1.33 to 10.42 per 1000. The three studies reporting hepatitis B estimated rates from 57 to 118 per 1000. One study reported a prevalence rate for HIV of 38.19 per 1000. CONCLUSION: A small number of studies have been identified reporting prevalence rates for TB, hepatitis B and HIV that vary widely where comparisons are available. These differences may reflect true variation in risk between study populations, but are likely to be affected by sampling difficulties encountered when researching these population groups. Efforts are required to improve these difficulties which are currently limiting the validity of prevalence findings and generalizability to comparable asylum seeker and refugee populations.

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