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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2017; 07(03): 110-114
DOI: 10.4103/ajm.AJM_17_17
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

An overview of the health status of Syrian refugee children in a tertiary hospital in Turkey

Ibrahim Hakan Bucak
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Adiyaman University, Adiyaman, Turkey
,
Habip Almis
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Adiyaman University, Adiyaman, Turkey
,
Samet Benli
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Adiyaman University, Adiyaman, Turkey
,
Mehmet Turgut
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Adiyaman University, Adiyaman, Turkey
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship This study was granted by the Adiyaman University Medical Faculty Biomedical Research Ethical Committee (No. 2016/3‑2).
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Abstract

Objective: Migration is a problem affecting all family members, but particularly children. Child refugees are the highest risk group for the health systems of receiving countries. We investigated the health of 104 Syrian child refugees presenting to a tertiary hospital in Turkey. Settings and Design: A retrospective study was conducted in the pediatric clinic. Materials and Methods: The medical files of Syrian refugee children (0–18 years) presenting to Adiyaman University Hospital, Pediatric Clinic between 01 and 30 November 2015, were investigated. Demographic data, body measurements, and laboratory results obtained from patients' medical records were evaluated. Results: Mean age of patients was 53.5 ± 49.6 (2–198) months; 63 were male and 41 were female. Seventy-two patients (69.2%) were under 5 years of age. Weight in 20 patients (19.2%), height in 33 (31.7%), head circumference in 2 (1.9%), and body mass index in 7 (6.7%) were below the third percentile. All patients with body weight below the third percentile had chronic malnutrition. Anemia was present in 35 (50%) of the 70 patients for whom complete blood count data were available. Conclusion: Health workers involved with Syrian refugee children must consider the two preventable conditions; malnutrition and anemia.

Keywords

Anemia - children - refugee - short stature - undernutrition


Publication History

Article published online:
09 August 2021

© 2017. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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