Pre-travel medical consultation patterns among older adults before, during, and after Taiwan's COVID-19 border quarantine period: A repeated cross-sectional study at a medical center.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
Purpose
Older adults encounter increased health risks during international travel due to higher burden of comorbidities. The COVID-19 pandemic further imposed additional challenges on pre-travel risk assessment and preventive care. This study aimed to characterize elderly travelers attending a travel medicine clinic and to examine age-related differences in travel patterns and pre-travel healthcare needs across the COVID-19 pandemic era.
Methods
A retrospective observational study of individuals attending a travel medicine clinic in northern Taiwan was conducted between 2015 and 2024. A total of 50,661 travelers were included and categorized into two age groups: <60 years (n = 45,968) and ≥60 years (n = 4693). De-identified data on demographics, travel destinations, travel purposes, prescribed vaccines and prophylactic medications were obtained from administrative visit records and the National Taiwan University Hospital Integrated Medical Database(NTUH-iMD).
Results
Travelers younger than 60 years accounted for most of the clinic attendees (86.0-95.4% annually). Elderly travelers most frequently visited Africa (20.3%) and Central and South America (17.5%), whereas younger travelers predominantly traveled to the United States of America (USA) (40.3%) and Southeast Asia (9.0%). Group package tours (42.3%) and visiting friends and relatives (20.0%) were common among elderly travelers, while education (49.6%) and business travel (19.8%) predominated in the younger group. Yellow fever immunization was most prevalent among elderly travelers (25.7%), whereas hepatitis A vaccination predominated in the younger cohort (15.0%).
Conclusion
Substantial age-related differences were observed in travel destinations, purposes, and preventive interventions. These findings underscore the importance of age-specific pre-travel consultations.