Refugees in Sweden run a 3-times greater risk of schizophrenia: research

Refugees in Sweden are three times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychoses than non-migrants, researchers said on Wednesday.

For every 10,000 people, refugees make up twelve new cases every year, compared to eight for non-refugee migrants and four for the rest of the population, a study by researchers at Stockholm's Karolinska Institutet and University College London found.

"The dramatically increased risk among refugees shows that life events are a significant risk factor for schizophrenia and other psychoses," said Anna-Clara Hollander, a researcher at Karolinska Institutet.

"This illustrates the impact that traumatic experiences can have on serious mental health conditions," Hollander added.

Recent migrants were not included in the study, which studied 1.3 million people through Swedish national registry data until December 2011. The researchers said there was "nothing to suggest" that more recently displaced people would be any less vulnerable to psychoses.

The study found that refugees were 66 percent more likely to be diagnosed with such disorders than other migrants from the same regions. That means refugees need specialist care in their host countries, the authors said.

"This knowledge should be applied to improve mental health care, for example, when planning screening processes for migrants and refugees, or checking on people's mental health following adverse life events," said Christina Dalman, a professor at Karolinska Institutet.

Swedish authorities received some 160,000 asylum applications during 2015, the highest figure since records began, according to the Migration Agency. Endit