Clinical and neuropsychological characteristics of immigrant patients with chronic disease

Objectives:We aim to highlight complex psychosocial and neuropsychological needs of immigrant compared to Italian patients with chronic disease. Background and Aims:Recently new pathways have been set up for the care management of patients with chronic disease, living lower health and psycho-social well-being also due to cognitive and emotional deficits associated with the condition of chronicity. Particularly at risk are chronic patients with different cultural belongings now stable in Italy, who, in addition, face aspects of vulnerability related to the challenge of integration: linguistic and cultural barriers, socio-juridical difficulties and lower socio-economic status. Thus, this research purpose is to build a new approach for simultaneous and multidimensional evaluation of the neuropsychological and clinical conditions of immigrant patients with chronic disease living in Italy. Materials and Methods:Sixty-four patients with chronic disease conditions (44% Italians; 56% Immigrants) recruited from the Italian healthcare system underwent a battery of psychosocial and neuropsychological tests investigating linguistic abilities, health status, perceived social support and discrimination, socio-economic status, illness comorbidity and, global cognitive functioning. Results and Conclusions:Findings highlighted that our sample of immigrant chronic patients was younger, with lower scores for scales evaluating basic linguistic abilities, mental health and engagement in social activities, multidimensional social support perceived (specifically by family) and higher for emotional issues, when compared to Italian patients. In addition, neuropsychological tests underlined cognitive vulnerabilities in abstract non-verbal reasoning for immigrant patients. Our approach could be included by the Italian healthcare system as screening tool to assess socio-psychological fragility of immigrant chronic patients and provide ad hoc clinical interventions.