Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40612553›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2025

Hypertension in Syrian refugees: prevalence, awareness, and access to care in Denmark and Lebanon.

Tala Al-Rousan, Wadih Naja, Christian Morberg Wejse, Dahlia Kaki, Michaelangelo Aoun, Saskia Lange, Laith Alshawabkeh, Rima Alhamad, Nadine Kadri, Andreas Halgreen Eiset

Abstract read
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Article in Frontiers in public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Tala Al-RousanHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.
Wadih NajaDepartment of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Balamand, Beirut, Lebanon.
Christian Morberg WejseGloHAU, Center for Global Health, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Dahlia KakiUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Michaelangelo AounDepartment of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Balamand, Beirut, Lebanon.
Saskia LangeCharité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Laith AlshawabkehDivision of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.
Rima AlhamadUniversity of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Nadine KadriWestern University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, United States.
Andreas Halgreen EisetGloHAU, Center for Global Health, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.

Funding

Hypertension Self-management in Refugees Living in San DiegoK23HL148530 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI AL-ROUSAN, TALA · 2020 to 2024
$882k
NHLBI NIH HHS K23 HL148530
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Hypertension significantly contributes to global morbidity and mortality rates. Refugees are often exposed to significant risk factors that increase their chances of developing hypertension; however, the prevalence of hypertension among resettled refugees remains understudied. This study estimates and compares the prevalence of hypertension, levels of awareness, and access to care between two groups of Syrian refugees residing in humanitarian settings in Lebanon and Denmark. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data collected from refugee camps in Lebanon and asylum centers in Denmark. Cluster-randomized sampling was conducted between January 2016 and December 2019. We present the estimates of hypertension prevalence, psychosocial stress, and lifestyle factors by strata, along with prevalence differences adjusted for confounding using propensity score weighting. Multiple imputation was employed to address missing data, and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals were reported. Results: Of the 712 participants, 113 were from Denmark and 599 from Lebanon. Among them, 68% were women, and the median (IQR) age was 34 years (19). The self-reported prevalence of hypertension was 20% in Lebanon and 11% in Denmark. The prevalence of measured stage 2 hypertension was 23% in Lebanon and 24% in Denmark. The confounder-adjusted and multiple-imputed prevalence of hypertension was 5.0 (95% CI: -4.7; 16.1) percentage points higher in Denmark than in Lebanon. Among those with a known diagnosis of hypertension, only 1.6% in Lebanon and none in Denmark were currently taking medications for hypertension. The median (IQR) number of days since last seen by a medical professional was 8 days (48) in Lebanon and 8 days (21) in Denmark. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 27.0 (SD = 6.15) in Lebanon and 26.2 in Denmark (SD = 6.53). In Denmark, 50.5% reported smoking, and 23.6% reported drinking alcohol, while in Lebanon, the figures were 27.4 and 0.5%, respectively. Conclusion: Hypertension prevalence was found to be high among refugees, even in high-income countries (HICs) such as Denmark. Lack of access to medications in relation to self-reported prevalence was observed in both Lebanon and Denmark. Further investigation into psychosocial stress in humanitarian settings as a contributing factor to hypertension disparities in this population is crucial.

Indexed as

Health Services AccessibilityHypertensionRefugeesAdultCross-Sectional StudiesDenmarkFemaleHumansLebanonMaleMiddle AgedPrevalenceRisk FactorsSyriaglobal healthhealthcare accesshypertensionprevalencerefugees

Identifiers

PMID40612553
PMCPMC12222061

What Socratic holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.