Table 3.
Medication use for hypertension and diabetes
| Hypertension | Diabetes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syrian Refugee |
Host Community |
Syrian Refugee |
Host Community |
||||
| % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | ||||
| Medication Prescription | (n = 282) | (n = 236) | (n = 136) | (n = 144) | |||
| Ever prescribed medication for condition | 97.2 (94.4–98.6) | 99.2 (96.6–99.8) | 98.5 (94.2–99.6) | 97.2 (92.9–98.9) | |||
| P-valuea | 0.072 | 0.453 | |||||
| Country where prescribed† | (n = 274) | (n = 134) | |||||
| Syria | 40.1 (33.0-47.7) | --- | 33.6 (26.4–41.7) | --- | |||
| Lebanon | 59.9 (52.3–67.0) | --- | 66.4 (58.3–73.6) | --- | |||
| Currently taking medicationb | 79.4 (74.4–83.6) | 95.8 (91.9–97.8) | 89.7 (83.0-93.9) | 95.1 (90.4–97.6) | |||
| P-valuea | < 0.001 | 0.080 | |||||
| Interrupted Medication Adherence | (n = 259) | (n = 233) | (n = 133) | (n = 140) | |||
| Stopped medication for > 2 weeks in past year | 30.5 (24.8–36.9) | 9.0 (6.0-13.3) | 26.3 (19.5–34.6) | 11.4 (7.2–17.7) | |||
| P-valuea | < 0.001 | 0.002 | |||||
| Stopped medication for > 2 weeks in past year without physician instruction to do so | 27.8 (22.3–34.1) | 8.6 (5.7–12.8) | 25.0 (18.4–33.0) | 8.5 (4.9–14.3) | |||
| P-valuea | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | |||||
| Where medication was stoppedc | (n = 72) | (n = 34) | |||||
| Syria | 11.1 (5.0–23.0) | --- | 11.8 (4.6–27.0) | --- | |||
| Lebanon | 88.9 (77.0–95.0) | --- | 88.2 (73.0-95.4) | --- | |||
| Reason for stopping medicationd | (n = 72) | (n = 20) | (n = 34) | (n = 12) | |||
| Household could not afford | 77.8 (68.2–85.1) | 75.0 (51.3–89.5) | 76.5 (57.8–88.5) | 91.7 (57.8–98.9) | |||
| Symptoms improved/felt better | 6.9 (3.1–15.0) | 10.0 (2.4–33.1) | 8.8 (3.1–22.7) | 8.3 (1.1–42.2) | |||
| Did not know where to get it | 5.6 (2.1–13.9) | 5.0 (0.7–29.1) | 0.0 -- | 0.0 -- | |||
| Did not like available meds | 1.4 (0.2–9.4) | 10.0 (2.4–33.1) | 0.0 -- | 0.0 -- | |||
| Not available | 2.8 (0.7–9.9) | 0.0 -- | 5.9 (1.4–21.4) | 0.0 -- | |||
| Other | 5.6 (2.1–13.9) | 0.0 -- | 8.8 (2.9–24.2) | 0.0 -- | |||
| P-valuea | 0.348 | 0.559 | |||||
a Group comparison using Pearson’s chi-square for proportions. Statistical significance indicated in bold (P < 0.05) and bold italics (P < 0.001).
b As percent of household index cases diagnosed with hypertension/diabetes
c As percent of refugee index cases who stopped taking medication for > 2 weeks in past year without physician instruction
d As percent of all household index cases who stopped taking medication for > 2 weeks in past year