Identifying Drug-Therapy Problems among Syrian Refugees in Zaatari Refugee Camp

Alaa M Hammad; Walid Al-Qerem; Fawaz Alasmari; Jonathan Ling; Raghda Qarqaz; Hakam Alaqabani

doi:10.3390/ijerph19127199

Identifying Drug-Therapy Problems among Syrian Refugees in Zaatari Refugee Camp

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jun 12;19(12):7199. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19127199.

Authors

Alaa M Hammad¹, Walid Al-Qerem¹, Fawaz Alasmari², Jonathan Ling³, Raghda Qarqaz¹, Hakam Alaqabani¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman 11733, Jordan.
² Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia.
³ Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing, University of Sunderland, Chester Road, Sunderland SR1 3SD, UK.

Abstract

Background: Due to a lack of proper pharmaceutical care, Syrian refugees in the Zaatari refugee camp are more likely to have drug-related issues, such as prescription errors and adverse drug occurrences. Aim: The current study aims to identify drug-therapy problems among Syrian refugees in the Zaatari refugee camp. Method: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Patients' files were collected from the Zaatari camp database. Patients who were 18 years or older and were previously diagnosed with a chronic disease were included. A classification of drug therapy problems (DTPs) was adapted. Results: The data of 1530 adult patients (896 females) were collected. The mean age of the sample was 53.7 years and the mean Body mass Index (BMI) was 27.20. The mean of all taken medications was 4.01 (±2.33) medications, with a maximum number of 13. A total of 3572 DTPs was identified, with a mean of 2.33 (±1.26) DTPs per patient. Based on the above-mentioned classification, 70.32% of the DTPs were related to indication, 26.65% were related to effectiveness, and 3.03% were related to safety. Conclusion: This study found that refugees in the Zaatari refugee camp have numerous DTPs among their medications. Greater focus should be placed on their medical care, in order to prevent any future complications due to DTPs.

Keywords: DTPs; Syrian refugees; Zaatari refugee camp; drug-therapy problems; effectiveness; safety.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Middle Aged
Refugee Camps
Refugees*
Retrospective Studies
Syria

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, grant number 26/12/2019–2020, and by the Researchers supporting project number (RSP2022R235), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.