Health status and health needs of older refugees from Syria in Lebanon

Table 2 Non-communicable diseases reported by older refugees from Syria

Non-communicable disease	Syrians (n = 167)		Palestinians (n = 43)		p-value ^*
Non-communicable disease	Point estimate	95% CI	Point estimate	95% CI	p-value ^*
Hypertension	53%	46–61%	86%	72–94%	<0.001
Diabetes mellitus	38%	55–69%	81%	66–91%	<0.001
Heart disease^a	28%	22–36%	40%	26–55%	0.148
High cholesterol	22%	16–29%	42%	28–58%	0.007
Arthritis, injury, or back pain	31%	24–38%	7%	2–20%	0.002
Eye disease (not eyeglasses)^b	16%	11–22%	28%	16–44%	0.061
Chronic pain	15%	10–21%	9%	3–23%	0.337
Lung disease^c	11%	7–17%	44%	30–60%	<0.001
Digestive tract disease^d	9%	5–14%	23%	13–39%	0.010
Neurologic disease^e	5%	2–9%	12%	5–26%	0.097
Renal disease^f	6%	3–11%	7%	2–20%	0.810

^*Chi-squared test, statistical significance if p-value of <0.05.
^aHeart disease includes coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, heart failure, and arrhythmia.
^bEye disease includes retinal cataracts, glaucoma, retinal disease, and eye injuries but not eyeglasses.
^cLung disease includes asthma, COPD, chronic cough, and interstitial lung disease.
^dDigestive tract disease includes diseases of the esophagus, stomach, bowel, rectum, liver, gallbladder and pancreas.
^eNeurologic disease includes stroke, epilepsy, headache, and vertigo.
^fRenal disease includes renal failure, nephrolithiasis, or other disease of the urinary tract.

ISSN: 1752-1505