Children at risk: A nation-wide, cross-sectional study examining post-traumatic stress symptoms in refugee minors from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan resettled in Sweden between 2014 and 2018.

BACKGROUND

The objective of the present study was to assess nation-wide, representative prevalence estimates for symptom-defined posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within populations of refugee minors from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq resettled in Sweden.

METHODS

A nation-wide, cross-sectional, questionnaire study with a stratified sample of refugee minors, aged 16-18 years, from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, resettled in Sweden between 2014 and 2018 ( = 5071) was conducted. The response rate was 22.3%, leaving  = 1129 refugee minors (boys 53.1% / girls 46.9%) in the final sample. Symptom-defined prevalences of PTSD were measured using CRIES-8 with ≥17 as cut-off. Data were analyzed using frequency distributions, and strata-specific PTSD prevalences with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs), were estimated. The association between migratory status on arrival (unaccompanied vs. accompanied) and PTSD was estimated using crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) utilizing logistic regression analyses with 95% CIs.

RESULTS

Overall, the weighted PTSD prevalence was 42% (95% CI 38.9-45.1), with minors from Afghanistan presenting the highest prevalence (56.9, 95% CI 51.5-62.2), compared to minors from Iraq (36.8, 95% CI 28.9-45.4) and Syria (33.4, 95% CI 29.4-37.6). Unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan had higher odds of PTSD compared to accompanied minors from Afghanistan (OR = 1.92, 95% CI 1.08-3.40). Gender differences were non-significant.

CONCLUSIONS

High prevalences of symptom-defined PTSD among refugee minors in general and in unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan in particular, were revealed. Findings calls for continued efforts to support this especially vulnerable group.