Table 1 Summary of findings

Outpatient care (unspecific)

5 [17,18,19,20,21]

+

▪ Higher probability of utilization especially among migrant children and adolescents.

Outpatient care (general practitioner or paediatrician)

5 [22,23,24,25,26]

O

▪ No striking differences, but lower probability of utilization among migrant children and adolescents.

▪ Higher utilization among 1st generation migrants.

Outpatient care (specialists)

14 [22, 23, 25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36]

–

▪ Lower frequency and probability of utilization especially among 1st generation migrants.

▪ Inequality varies with the type of specialist.

Inpatient care

10 [17, 18, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30, 37,38,39]

O

▪ Inconsistent results, differences in terms of type of disease.

Emergency care

3 [26, 40, 41]

O

▪ Inconsistent results: Higher probability of utilization among migrant adults, but no difference among children and adolescents.

Rehabilitation

4 [26, 42,43,44]

–

▪ Results tend to lower usage among migrants.

▪ Two multivariate analyses indicate lower probability of utilization among people with migrant background.

Therapists and counselling services

8 [22, 26, 28, 45,46,47,48,49]

–

▪ Lower probability of utilization among 1st generation migrants (physical therapy) and migrant children of lower age groups (physical and occupational therapy).

▪ In terms of (psychosocial) counselling slightly higher frequency of uptake among natives, but no differences in the probability for cancer survivors.

Medication and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

13 [24, 26, 50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59]

–

▪ Lower frequency and probability of utilization among people with migrant background, especially for CAM and in case of self-medication (e.g. over-the-counter drugs).

▪ Unclear pattern in terms of prescribed drugs, but trend to higher use among migrants.

Early detection (cancer)

7 [17, 26, 60,61,62,63,64]

–

▪ Lower frequency and probability of participation especially among migrant women and migrants of the 1st generation or with two-sided background (any cancer sites).

Early detection (children)

5 [25, 65,66,67,68]

–

▪ Consistently lower frequency and probability of participation in the preventive health care program for children with migrant background.

Vaccination

13 [41, 61, 66, 67, 69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77]

O

▪ Inequality varies with the type of vaccination.

▪ In some cases, lower frequency and probability of utilization notably among 1st generation migrants, in other cases, lower uptake among natives.

General health check-up

2 [26, 61]

–

▪ Lower frequency of utilization among migrants, but small number of studies.

Oral health check-up

7 [24, 26, 27, 58, 61, 78, 79]

–

▪ Lower frequency and probability of utilization in all age groups of migrants.