title: Pre-travel health care of immigrants returning home to visit friends and relatives.
abstract: Immigrants returning home to visit friends and relatives (VFR travelers) are at higher risk of travel-associated illness than other international travelers. We evaluated 3,707 VFR and 17,507 non-VFR travelers seen for pre-travel consultation in Global TravEpiNet during 2009-2011; all were traveling to resource-poor destinations. VFR travelers more commonly visited urban destinations than non-VFR travelers (42% versus 30%, P < 0.0001); 54% of VFR travelers were female, and 18% of VFR travelers were under 6 years old. VFR travelers sought health advice closer to their departure than non-VFR travelers (median days before departure was 17 versus 26, P < 0.0001). In multivariable analysis, being a VFR traveler was an independent predictor of declining a recommended vaccine. Missed opportunities for vaccination could be addressed by improving the timing of pre-travel health care and increasing the acceptance of vaccines. Making pre-travel health care available in primary care settings may be one step to this goal.
authors.forename: Regina C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: LaRocque
authors.forename: Bhushan R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.forename: Sowmya R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Brunette
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sotir
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Jentes
authors.forename: Edward T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.lastname: The Global TravEpiNet Consortium
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011634:Public Health; D014195:Travel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult