TY - JOUR
T1 - Untreated Surgical Problems Among East African Refugees
T2 - A Cluster Randomized, Cross-Sectional Study
AU - Enumah, Zachary Obinna
AU - Manyama, Frank
AU - Yenokyan, Gayane
AU - Ngude, Hilary
AU - Rafiq, Mohamed Yunus
AU - Juma, Omar
AU - Stevens, Kent
AU - Sakran, Joseph V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Société Internationale de Chirurgie.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Objective: The goal of this study was to estimate the prevalence of surgical conditions among refugees in East Africa. Background: Surgery is a foundational aspect to high functioning health care systems. In the wake of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, previous research has focused on defining the burden of surgical conditions in low- and middle-income countries. Despite numbering over 80 million people globally, forced migrant populations have often been neglected from this body of research. Methods: We administered a validated survey using random cluster sampling to determine surgical need among refugees in western Tanzania. Primary outcome was history or presence of a surgical problem. Analysis included descriptive and multivariable logistic regression including an average marginal effects model. Results: We analyzed data from 3,574 refugee participants in East Africa. A total of 1,654 participants (46.3%) reported a history or presence of at least one problem that may be surgical in nature. Of those 1,654 participants who did report a problem 1,022 participants (61.8%) reported the problem was still ongoing. Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with having a surgical problem (increasing age, occupation, illness within past year). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first and largest population-based survey in estimating the prevalence of surgical disease among refugees in sub-Saharan Africa. Our results imply that more than one-in-four refugees has an ongoing surgical problem, suggesting over double the burden of surgical need in refugee populations compared to non-refugee settings.
AB - Objective: The goal of this study was to estimate the prevalence of surgical conditions among refugees in East Africa. Background: Surgery is a foundational aspect to high functioning health care systems. In the wake of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, previous research has focused on defining the burden of surgical conditions in low- and middle-income countries. Despite numbering over 80 million people globally, forced migrant populations have often been neglected from this body of research. Methods: We administered a validated survey using random cluster sampling to determine surgical need among refugees in western Tanzania. Primary outcome was history or presence of a surgical problem. Analysis included descriptive and multivariable logistic regression including an average marginal effects model. Results: We analyzed data from 3,574 refugee participants in East Africa. A total of 1,654 participants (46.3%) reported a history or presence of at least one problem that may be surgical in nature. Of those 1,654 participants who did report a problem 1,022 participants (61.8%) reported the problem was still ongoing. Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with having a surgical problem (increasing age, occupation, illness within past year). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first and largest population-based survey in estimating the prevalence of surgical disease among refugees in sub-Saharan Africa. Our results imply that more than one-in-four refugees has an ongoing surgical problem, suggesting over double the burden of surgical need in refugee populations compared to non-refugee settings.
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U2 - 10.1007/s00268-022-06505-0
DO - 10.1007/s00268-022-06505-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 35253076
AN - SCOPUS:85125670061
SN - 0364-2313
VL - 46
SP - 1278
EP - 1287
JO - World journal of surgery
JF - World journal of surgery
IS - 6
ER -