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Italy has recently become a country of net immigration, posing new challenges for health care, particularly psychiatry. Previous studies on migration and mental health have focused predominantly on individual psychopathologies or individual immigrant populations. The aim of this work is to determine the demand by foreign citizens for intervention at Padova-based psychiatric services and to assess any differences in presentation of psychopathological symptoms in the various immigrant groups, with a view to developing adequate organisational and clinical responses. We reviewed 3,385 psychiatric consultations with Italian and immigrant patients, conducted between 2003 and 2004. Eleven per cent of these consultations were for immigrants, who were younger than their Italian counterparts. The most common geographical area of origin was Eastern Europe. North African immigrants were mainly male, while Eastern Europeans and Americans were chiefly female. Eastern European immigrants had a similar psychopathological pattern to Italians; North and Sub-Saharan African and Asian patients presented more psychotic symptoms. The results of this study may contribute to planning treatment and prevention of psychotic disorders and to improving management of somatoform disorders by strengthening access to psychiatric treatment in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]