ABSTRACT

Wars are disasters leading to irreversible consequences that affect great numbers of people. Injuries and deaths are considered to be direct effects of wars and these effects are felt more in places near war zones. Immigration is the inevitable result of war and especially women and children are the worst victims of war. Our study was conducted in order to reveal the reasons for intensive care unit admission and epidemiological characteristics of Syrian refugees under 18 years old who presented to Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Health Practice and Research Hospital.

In this descriptive study, records of Syrian patients under 18 years of age, who were admitted to the emergency department at Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Medical Practice and Research Hospital between 01.07.2012 and 01.05.2016, were analyzed. Demographic characteristics and and clinical data of the patients were retrospectively reviewed.

A total of 1038 patients with the mean age of 10.3±5.2 years were included in the study. Seven hundred-ten (68.4%) of the patients were male and 328 (31.6%) were female. When the distribution of patient admissions according to the years was examined, it is found that the maximum rate was 31.7% in 2015. 552 of the patients (53.2%) were treated on outpatient basis and the rest were hospitalized. The average length of hospital stay was 7 days (1-163 days). The most common admitting diagnosis according to the International Classification of Diseases-10 2016 was Y24, firearm injury and other unspecified conditions (n=568, 54.7%).

Admitting diagnosis of firearm injuries among Syrian nationals was the strongest evidence for referral from conflict areas. Since the conflict in Syria is still ongoing, it is thought that more objective results can be obtained with different studies including non-Syrian patient groups in other tertiary hospitals near the border region.

Keywords: Syria, refugee, child, ICD-10, emergency department