Morbidity burden and predictors of hospitalization among unaccompanied migrants and persons prone to statelessness in Ghana

A proportion of global migration involves individuals migrating without parental or legal guardianship and those who face varied barriers to citizenship. Yet empirical evidence on their morbidity burdens and hospitalization particularly in Ghana and similar context remains scarce. This limits capacity for informed policy, planning, and response strategies aligned with global health targets. This study examined the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and predictors of hospitalization among these vulnerable groups. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from March 2024 to May 2024 among 481 purposively selected unaccompanied migrants and persons prone to statelessness in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area and the Awutu Senya East Municipal Area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, and percentages) and complementary log-log regression in Stata 14.2. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. The analyses revealed a higher prevalence of communicable diseases (23.3%) than NCDs (8.1%). Malaria (90%), flu/cold (30%), typhoid (27%), diabetes (33%) and asthma (21%) emerged as common health conditions with limited and condition-specific subgroup differences. Overall, 8.7% of respondents reported ever being hospitalized. Across models, frequent illness (Model 1: OR = 4.097, 95% CI: 2.056-8.163; Model 2: OR = 3.724, 95% CI: 1.830-7.576; Model 3: OR = 4.224, 95% CI: 2.002-8.913; all p < 0.001) and diagnosis with an NCD (Model 1: OR = 3.336, 95% CI: 1.611-6.906; Model 2: OR = 3.600, 95% CI: 1.737-7.460; Model 3: OR = 3.873, 95% CI: 1.861-8.058; all p ≤ 0.001) were consistently associated with higher odds of hospitalization. These findings offer contextually bounded insights highlighting that health vulnerability among these populations is manifested less through differential disease prevalence but more through recurrent illness and NCD diagnosis necessitating hospitalization. This underscores the need for early detection, continuous care, and effective outpatient NCD management.