[Need for nursing care among infants of Turkish and non-Turkish origin. An analysis of registry data of the medical service of the statutory health insurance in Westphalia-Lippe, Germany, 2004-2008].
OBJECTIVE
Infants of mothers with an immigrant background experience poorer health outcomes than infants in Germany as a whole. The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences exist in diagnoses leading to long-term nursing care among infants of Turkish vs. non-Turkish background.


METHODS
We analysed records of the medical service of the statutory health insurance of the region Westphalia-Lippe, 2004-2008. We used a name algorithm to identify cases with Turkish migrant background.


RESULTS
There were 1 107 applications for long-term nursing care, 141 of which concerned infants of Turkish origin. "Inborn malformations, deformities and chromosomal abnormities" was more often the reason for application among non-Turkish infants, "Certain conditions which have their origin in the perinatal period" were twice as common among Turkish as compared to non-Turkish infants.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results do not support the -assumption that mothers of Turkish origin more often apply for long-term nursing care due to malformations of their infant than other mothers.
Universität Bielefeld, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften, AG Epidemiologie & International Public Health. jacob.spallek@uni-bielefeld.de
J
J
Spallek
A
A
Reeske
A
A
Grosser
W
W
Schwabe
M
M
Rieger
U
U
Krahn
O
O
Razum
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult