Post traumatic stress disorder screening in syrian refugees

Backraund: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the most frequently studied and probably the most commonly seen psychiatric disorder after traumatic events and disasters. Today, being a refugee have become an increasing problem throughout the world and wars are in the first rank among the causes force refugees to leave their country. It has been shown that post traumatic stress disorder is one of the most commonly seen psychiatric disorders in the studies of refugees experienced war. Aim: With this study, it has been aimed to determine the frequency of PTSD among the Syrian refugees who have taken refuge in Turkey and live in a tent city which is on the borders of the city where our university is, evaluate the course of the disease and investigate the association with the various sociodemographic variables. Method: The study includes 352 randomised Syrian refugee who live in the tent city which is in the province of Gaziantep in Turkey. In the light of the DSM-IV-TR criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD, 45-60 minute-long clinical psychiatric interviews were made with all of the refugees in the study. During the interviews, Sociodemographic Information Form and Stressful Life Events Screening Questionnaire (SLES) were applied to the participants. With the implementation of the clinical interview and scales, participants were assesed for the PTSD current or during their being refugee. Results: Frequency of PTSD among Syrian refugees included in the study was found to be 30.7%. There was a significant association between PTSD and sociodemographic data such as female gender, being single, divorced or widowed, low level of education, having a family history of psychiatric illness, having additional medical disorder, not smoking and number of trauma exposure. It was determined that men had been exposed to a greater number of traumatic events than women. Via using variables such as female gender, being not literate, having a family history of psychiatric illness and 3 or more traumatic life events, binary logistic regression model was generated and probability of being diagnosed with TSSB was detected to be %72.7. Discussion: Consistent with the literature, incidence of PTSD was found to be %30.7 among the refugees experienced war trauma. It appears that development of PTSD may be associated with some of the sociodemographic data and the number of experienced trauma. Since PTSD is a chronic and disabling psychiatric disorder, early diagnosis and intervention are important in refugees. In this respect, there is a need for the further studies. Key words: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Refugees, Syria, War.