Two Year Retrospective Analysis of Refugee Patients Followed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Purpose: Refugees face more serious health problems than local people. It is known that their mortality and morbidity are higher. We aimed to review refugee patients retrospectively which we followed up in the pediatric intensive care unit for 2 years. Materials and Methods: The files of refugee patients aged 1 month to 18 years, who were followed up and treated for 2 years in our unit with a bed capacity of 28, were reviewed retrospectively. Epidemiological data of refugees, admission time, PRISM scores, hospitalization diagnoses, resource requirements, and mortality at 14, 28 days, and after 28th day were recorded. Statistical analysis were made using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program. Results: During two-year period, 1460 patients were hospitalized in our unit. Refugees accounted for 293 of the total admissions.. The median age of refugees was 13 months (3-77 months). While the most common diagnosis was respiratory system diseases (44%), neurological diseases (19.5%) took second place. The need for mechanical ventilation was calculated as 29% (457) for all patients and 45% (135) for refugees (p=0.024). The mortality rate of refugees (13%) was significantly higher than the overall mortality rate of our unit (7.9%) (p=0.017). Conclusion: It has been shown that refugees have more health problems, resource needs and higher mortality than local people. Trainings to be given to refugees on preventive health services, increasing social support programs, and solving communication problems will significantly reduce intensive care unit admission rates, resource requirements, and mortality of these children.

Keywords

• mortality
• pediatric intensive care
• refugee