BMC Public Health 2009, 9:214 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/214 4. Numbers of chronic conditions – Respondents were asked to indicate for 28 chronic conditions (e.g. severe headache, diabetes) whether or not they had had this con- dition in the last 12 months. As done elsewhere, this var- iable was dichotomised into '0 or 1' and '>1' chronic condition [15]. B) Health care Utilisation Utilisation of Health Care Services was assessed by record- ing the following self reported data: (i) frequency of con- tact with a general practitioner, outpatient medical specialist, nurse or area medical officer in the previous two months; (ii) hospital admissions or contact with mental health service in previous 12 months; (iii) use and type of prescribed and over-the-counter medication in the previous 14 days. Analysis of Results SPSS v.15 was used for analysis. A comparison was made between asylum seekers and refugees using two-tailed Pearson chi-square and Student's t-tests to examine differ- ences in socio-demographic variables and other risk fac- tors. Differences in health outcomes and the use of health care services between the two groups were examined by calculating the odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence inter- vals and P values using univariable analyses. We examined a number of potential confounding factors including socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age, marital status) as well as period of residence in Ireland and highest level of education completed. These variables were explored in univariable analysis with general health, PTSD and depression/anxiety as the health outcomes. To identify factors that were independently associated with health outcomes and with use of health care services; multivariable logistic regression analyses was performed by the inclusion of explanatory variables that were signif- icant (P < 0.05) on univariable analysis. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) were calculated using a backwards conditional multivariable logistic regression models to control for the presence of other variables (removal probability limit of P > 0.10). Results Characteristics of study population For three months (Feb 2007 to April 2007) a total of 66 asylum seekers were invited to participate in this study, of these 60 asylum seekers agreed to be interviewed (response rate of 91%). A total of 33 refugees living in the community were invited to participate, and 28 were inter- viewed (response rate of 85%). The respondents were from 30 different countries. Table 1 compares the characteristics of refugees and asy- lum seekers. Refugees had a significantly higher level of educational attainment (χ2= 8.68, df = 2, P = 0.01), a lower level of post migration stressors (χ2= 19.74, df = 1, P < 0.01), and had spent more time in Ireland when com- pared to asylum seekers. The most common post migra- tion stressors among asylum seekers were 'dissatisfaction regarding the length of the asylum procedure', 'uncer- tainty about residence status' and language difficulties. There was also a borderline significant difference between refugees and asylum seekers for levels of pre migration stressors (χ2= 3.96, df = 1, P = 0.05). Univariable associations between residence status and general health, PTSD symptoms and anxiety/depression In this analysis (Table 2), the association between resi- dence status (refugees vs. asylum seekers) and poor gen- eral health failed to reach statistical significance (P > 0.05). However, asylum seekers had a significantly higher risk of PTSD and depression/anxiety symptoms (OR 6.3, 95% CI: 2.2–17.9; OR 5.8, 95% CI: 2.2–15.4 respec- tively). Respondents with a high level of post migration stressors had a higher risk of poor general health status (OR 2.4, 95%CI: 1.0–5.8), PTSD (OR 18.6, 95% CI: 5.9–57.8) and depression/anxiety symptoms (OR 7.5 95% CI: 2.9– 19.5). Pre migration stressors had no significant associa- tion with general health, but they had a significant posi- tive association with the occurrence of PTSD symptoms (OR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.1–6.8) and depression/anxiety symp- toms (OR 3.6, 95% CI: 1.3–9.6). Respondents suffering from more than one chronic con- dition had an increased risk of PTSD (OR 5.3, 95% CI: 2.1–13.2) and depression/anxiety symptoms (OR 4.4, 95% CI 1.8–11.0), but no significant association was found with self reported poor general health. Gender, length of time in Ireland and education level (Pri- mary or less compared to secondary or above) were also explored in univariable analysis but had no significant effect on the outcomes for PTSD or depression/anxiety (data not shown). Multivariable associations between residence status and symptoms of PTSD and anxiety/depression All variables that were significantly associated with PTSD and depression/anxiety from univariable analysis were included in multivariable logistic regression (Table 3). General health status was not explored in regression anal- ysis as no significant association was found upon univar- iable analysis. After adjusting for chronic conditions and pre and post migration stressors (Table 3), residence status was no longer significantly associated with symptoms of PTSD (OR 2.5, 95% CI: 0.6–10.0). After removal of residence Page 4 of 10 (page number not for citation purposes)