Factors influencing hypertension and diabetes mellitus control among Syrian refugees in Zaatari refugee camp.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Syrian refugees in Zaatari Refugee Camp are in dire need of investigations of the control status of different chronic diseases. The current study aims to evaluate hypertension (HTN) and diabetes (DM) control among Syrian refugees in the Zaatari Refugee Camp. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Patients' files were collected from the Zaatari camp database. Participants who had an HbA1c of less than 7 were considered to have controlled DM and a cut-off point of 130/80 was used for HTN. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 418 patients (276 females) were included in the study. None of the patients-controlled blood pressure and only 25 controlled DM. Univariate analysis showed an association of smoking status with HbA1c and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (p-value=0.007 and <0.001 respectively), while taking insulin and Triglyceride (TyG) index had an association with HbA1c alone (p-value<0.001). Significant in the MANCOVA analysis were smoking status, taking insulin, and TyG index (p-value<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that refugees in Zaatari Refugee Camp have uncontrollable DM and HTN. More focus should be highlighted on controlling these diseases in order to prevent future complications.