Post-traumatic stress disorder in a sample of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

INTRODUCTION

Lebanon is the main hosting country for the Syrian crisis, with more than one million Syrian refugees. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and identify its possible predictors, in a sample of Syrian refugees living in camps in Lebanon.

METHOD

We conducted a household survey on Syrian refugees between 18 and 65years old in 6 camps of the Central Bekaa region, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) as a diagnostic tool.

RESULTS

Among the 452 respondents, we found a lifetime prevalence of PTSD of 35.4%, and a point prevalence of 27.2%. The lifetime prevalence of SUD was 1.99% and the point prevalence 0.66%. Multivariate logistic regression could not identify any predictor of current PTSD among a list of demographic variables, but identified the Syrian hometown as a significant predictor of lifetime PTSD (p=.013), with refugees from Aleppo having significantly more PTSD than those coming from Homs (adjusted OR 2.14, 95% CI [1.28, 3.56], p=.004).

DISCUSSION

PTSD was a real mental health issue in our sample of adult Syrian refugees in Central Bekaa camps, unlike SUD.