Main Health Problems and Frequency of Depression and Anxiety Among Temporary Displaced Citizens to the Western Ukraine

Pavlo Kolesnyk

Keywords: temporary displaced citizens, war, health, depression, anxiety

Background:
The Russian invasion into Ukraine escalates taking more and more casualties every day. Uzhhorod which is in the Western part of Ukraine due to its remoteness from the hostilities or due to its geographical closeness to NATO member states remains the safest place in Ukraine so far though alarms became a routine of Ukrainians everyday life. Huge wave of temporary displaced citizens (TDC) migration victims of the war is observed in Western Ukraine during last 5 months. Uzhhorod population has increased from 100 000 to 150 000. Thanks to the international financial assistance we obtained a unique opportunity to launch the International Family Medicine Clinic in Uzhgorod during the war to provide primary medical help based on family medicine to TDC and to conduct practical education for senior students and residents. From the beginning of the war we have organized a temporary Medical Volunteer Center for refugees and displaced citizens, which we regard as a predecessor of International Family Medicine Clinic and which proved to be a good start up of medical care for this vulnerable group of the population.

Research questions:
What are the main health problems among TDC and how often are they connected with depression and anxiety?

Method:
Descriptive statistical analysis was made using the ICPC-2 based data of 1000 TDC collected during last 5 months. Results of PHQ-9 and GAG-7 survey were analyzed.

Results:
Non-controlled arterial hypertension is often observed among TDC: they don’t get their medications regularly. Prevalence of hypothyroidism required high doses of levothyroxine. Among the most spread diseases were: respiratory, cardiovascular, orthopedic, neurological, endocrinological and skin pathology. Moderate frequency of depression, panic attacks and anxiety among TDC showed high resiliency for the war trauma of the major population.

Conclusions:
Frequency of non-communicable diseases, depression and anxiety has been evaluated among Ukrainian war migrants to Uzhgorod.

Points for discussion:
We foresee that our medical research may be resulted in the joint international research project of the correlation between a psychological state of temporary migrated citizens and frequency of non-communicable diseases in the state of war.

Is there any similar data collected by our European colleagues from the countries suffered from the war conflicts.

What effective short-term group psychotherapy can be prescribed to the victims of war to cope with PTSD?