We used the previously validated Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need (SOSAS) that utilizes cross-sectional design with random cluster sampling to assess prevalence of surgical disease among participants aged 0 to 18 years in Nyarugusu refugee camp, Tanzania. We used descriptive and multivariable analyses including an average marginal effects model.
A total of 1,658 participants were included in the study. The mean age of our sample was 8.3 ± 5.8 years. A total of 841 participants (50.7%) were male and 817 participants (49.3%) were female. A total of 513 (n = 30.9%) reported a history or presence of a problem that may be surgical in nature, and 280 (54.6%) of them reported the problem was ongoing or untreated. Overall, 16.9% had an ongoing problem that may be amenable to surgery. We found that increasing age and recent illness were associated with having a surgical problem on both our multivariable analyses.
To our knowledge, this is the first and largest study of prevalence of surgical conditions among refugee children in sub-Saharan Africa. We found that over 16% (one-in-six) of refugee children have a problem that may be amenable to surgery. Our results provide a benchmark upon which other studies in conflict or post-conflict zones with refugee or forced migrant populations may be compared.
我们使用了先前经过验证的外科医生海外手术需求评估(SOSAS),该评估利用随机整群抽样的横断面设计来评估Nyarugusu难民营0至18岁参与者的手术疾病患病率。坦桑尼亚。我们使用了描述性和多变量分析,包括平均边际效应模型。
共有1,658名参与者被纳入研究。我们样本的平均年龄为8.3±5.8岁。共有841名参与者(50.7%)为男性,817名参与者(49.3%)为女性。共有513人(n=30.9%)报告了可能是手术性质的问题的历史或存在。其中280人(54.6%)报告问题持续存在或未经治疗.总的来说,16.9%的人有持续的问题,可能适合手术。我们发现,在我们的多变量分析中,年龄的增加和最近的疾病与手术问题有关。
据我们所知,这是对撒哈拉以南非洲地区难民儿童外科疾病患病率的首次也是最大规模的研究.我们发现,超过16%(六分之一)的难民儿童有可能接受手术的问题。我们的结果提供了一个基准,可以比较冲突或冲突后地区有难民或被迫移民人口的其他研究。