Immigrant population has been growing up in Spain in the last decades. The immigration process constitutes a vulnerability factor for the development of psychological issues. Moreover, ethnicity determines a great variability in the symptomatic expression of psychiatric diseases. The objective of this study was to investigate the demographical characteristics and clinical profiles of immigrant patients that visit the emergency services of general hospitals.

An epidemiological study was conducted to evaluate profiles and demographical characteristics of immigrant population attended at the emergency services of the “Hospital 12 de Octubre” Madrid, during 2007. The data were acquired through a protocol developed for this study and applied to all foreign patients attended.

2976 patients were attended during 2007. Immigrant patients were 10% of the sample. There mean age was 29.46 years. 42.1% were men and 57.9% were women. The nationalities of the sample were as follow: 47.8% were Latin American, 23.7% Eastern Europeans, 16.1% were Maghribian and 4.7% were Africans. 48.2% were attended because of suicide attempt (the 59% of Latin Americans and the 54.5% of Eastern Europeans) and 14.3% had psychosis (the 42.9% of Africans and the 36.2% of Maghribians). 30% were diagnosed of a current Substance Use Disorder (the 16.9% of Eastern Europeans).

We found several clinical and demographical differences within the ethnic groups studied. Latin Americans and Eastern Europeans consult for suicide attempt, whereas Maghribians and Africans are attended for psychosis. Psychiatrists should consider cultural and ethnic factors when interviewing foreign population.