ArticlePloS one2017
Diagnoses, infections and injuries in Northern Syrian children during the civil war: A cross-sectional study.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Community Nutrition-Specific Interventions on Improving Malnutrition of Children under 5 Years of Age in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Ethical Challenges Encountered by Humanitarian Aid Workers in Temporary Displacement Camps in the Context of Covid-19.Public health ethics · 2026Article
- The health outcomes of shelter and settlements interventions in humanitarian crises: a systematic review.Conflict and health · 2026Review
- Post-crisis health reality and wellbeing of children within Syria: a scoping review of research from 2012 to 2024.Conflict and health · 2025Review
- Predictors of antibiogram performance and antibiotic resistance patterns in the northern Syrian region: A cross-sectional investigation.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024Article
- Assessment of Paediatric Forensic Cases Under the Age of 18 Who Presented to the Emergency Clinic: The Case of Kilis, a Border City with Syria.Maternal and child health journal · 2023Article
- Impact of the Syrian conflict and forced displacement on respiratory health: an analysis of primary data from a humanitarian organisation.BMJ open respiratory research · 2023Article
- Childhood pneumonia in humanitarian emergencies in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic scoping review.Journal of global health · 2022Article
- Conflict-related health research in Syria, 2011-2019: a scoping review for The Lancet - AUB Commission on Syria.Conflict and health · 2021Article
- Understanding the health needs of internally displaced persons: A scoping review.Journal of migration and health · 2021Article
- Twitter Conversations and English News Media Reports on Poliomyelitis in Five Different Countries, January 2014 to April 2015.The Permanente journal · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe civil war in Syria including the deliberate targeting of healthcare services resulted in a complex humanitarian emergency, seriously affecting children's health. The objectives of this study are to document diagnoses and disease categories in Northern Syrian children after four years of conflict, and to document infectious diseases and injuries in this vulnerable population.
methodsIn a prospective cross-sectional observational sample study conducted in May 2015, healthcare workers registered demographics, comorbidities, and diagnoses (categorised according to the International Classification of Diseases version 10) in children visited at home and in internally displaced persons camps in four Syrian governorates.
resultsOf 1080 filled-out records, 1002 were included. Children originated from Aleppo (41%), Idleb (36%), Hamah (15%) and Lattakia (8%). Median age was 6 years (0-15; IQR 3-11), 61% were boys, 40% were younger than 5 years old. Children suffered from respiratory (29%), neurological (19%), digestive (17%), eye (5%) and skin (5%) diseases. Clinical malnutrition was seen in 4%, accidental injury in 3%, intentional injury in 1%, and mental disorders in 2%. Overall, 64% had features of infectious diseases (OR 0.635; CI 0.605-0.665). Most common comorbidities were chronic respiratory diseases (14, malnutrition (5%), acute flaccid paralysis (5%), and epilepsy (4%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the risk for children to have communicable diseases was higher in Aleppo than in Idleb (OR 1.7; CI 1.2-2.3), Hamah (OR 4.9; CI 3.3-7.5), or Lattakia (OR 5.5; CI 3.3-9.3). Children in Aleppo and Lattakia were more at risk to be injured than in Idleb (OR 5.6; CI 2.1-14.3), or in Hamah (OR 5.9; CI 1.4-25.6), but more often from intentional violence in Lattakia. Mental problems were more prominent in Hamah.
conclusionsFour years far in the conflict, 64% of the studied children in four Northern Syrian governorates suffer from infections, mostly from respiratory, neurological and digestive origin, while 4% was injured or victim of intentional aggression. Substandard living conditions and the lack of paediatric healthcare put Syrian children at risk for serious infections, epidemics and morbidity, and ask for urgent international humanitarian relief efforts.
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