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. 2019 Oct 21;12(1):668.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-019-4715-0.

Cardiovascular diseases risk factors among recently arrived Eritrean refugees in Switzerland

Afona Chernet  1   2 , Nicole Probst-Hensch  3   4 , Véronique Sydow  3   4 , Daniel H Paris  3   4 , Andreas Neumayr  3   4 , Niklaus D Labhardt  3   4   5
Affiliations

Cardiovascular diseases risk factors among recently arrived Eritrean refugees in Switzerland

Afona Chernet et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Objective: For the past 10 years, refugees from Eritrea represented the majority of asylum seekers in Switzerland. However, data on their health status remains limited. In this cross-sectional survey followed by a 1-year cohort study, we screened newly arrived Eritrean refugees for cardiovascular risk factors at arrival and 1-year post registration.

Results: Among 107 participants (88.8% male; median age 25, 9 (9%) had a body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2, one (1%) had elevated blood pressure, one (1%) had diabetes, 19% smoked and two (2%) had a low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol ≥ 4.1 mmol/l. Among the 48 participants (5 females, 43 males) followed, there were no significant changes in cardiovascular risk profile 1 year post-arrival.

Keywords: CVD risk factors; Eritrea; Migration; Refugees; Switzerland.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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