Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Volume 196, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 108-112

High prevalence rates of diabetes and hypertension among refugee psychiatric patients (Article)

Kinzie J.D.* , Riley C. , McFarland B. , Hayes M. , Boehnlein J. , Leung P. , Adams G.
  • a Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States, UHN-80, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239, United States
  • b Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States
  • c Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States
  • d Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States
  • e Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States
  • f Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States
  • g Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, United States

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that immigrants and traumatized individuals have elevated prevalence of medical disease. This study focuses on 459 Vietnamese, Cambodian, Somali, and Bosnian refugee psychiatric patients to determine the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes. The prevalence of hypertension was 42% and of diabetes was 15.5%. This was significantly higher than the US norms, especially in the groups younger than 65. Diabetes and hypertension were higher in the high-trauma versus low-trauma groups. However, in the subsample with body mass index (BMI) measurements subjected to logistic regression, only BMI was related to diabetes, and BMI and age were related to hypertension. Immigrant status, presence of psychiatric disorder, history of psychological trauma, and obesity probably all contributed to the high prevalence rate. With 2.5 million refugees in the country, there is a strong public health concern for cardiovascular disease in this group. © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Author Keywords

Hypertension Refugees diabetes trauma

Index Keywords

Blood Glucose depression logistic regression analysis blood pressure correlation analysis Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 Developing Countries human Life Change Events Refugees comorbidity middle aged Ethnic Groups diabetes mellitus controlled study obesity Marital Status hypertension Aged Depressive Disorder Mental Disorders Cross-Sectional Studies United States Humans ethnic difference Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated male female Aged, 80 and over Risk Factors prevalence Article major clinical study adult posttraumatic stress disorder Age Factors Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic disease association Body Mass Index Reference Values
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-39149126683&doi=10.1097%2fNMD.0b013e318162aa51&partnerID=40&md5=4265184c29bae11c78d7739bcabdd006
DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e318162aa51
ISSN: 00223018
Cited by: 65
Original Language: English