Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi Arabia

Background: Few studies in Saudi Arabia have comprehensively assessed chronic conditions among migrant workers, although they make up one-third of the population. We aimed to assess the prevalence of chronic conditions (i.e., asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, eczema, heart dis...

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Main Authors: Juliann Saquib, Anwar Umar, Idris Sula, Abdulrahman Almazrou, Yousuf Hafez Abdul Halim, Muhammad Candragupta Jihwaprani, Ahmed Assef Mousa, Ahmed Emad Ali, Momen Hassan Darwish, Mohammed Najmi Alhaimi, Ayman Alshoaibi, Ayman Mohammed Yakout, Mohammed Abdallah Shawat, Nazmus Saquib
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213398424003865
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author Juliann Saquib
Anwar Umar
Idris Sula
Abdulrahman Almazrou
Yousuf Hafez Abdul Halim
Muhammad Candragupta Jihwaprani
Ahmed Assef Mousa
Ahmed Emad Ali
Momen Hassan Darwish
Mohammed Najmi Alhaimi
Ayman Alshoaibi
Ayman Mohammed Yakout
Mohammed Abdallah Shawat
Nazmus Saquib
author_facet Juliann Saquib
Anwar Umar
Idris Sula
Abdulrahman Almazrou
Yousuf Hafez Abdul Halim
Muhammad Candragupta Jihwaprani
Ahmed Assef Mousa
Ahmed Emad Ali
Momen Hassan Darwish
Mohammed Najmi Alhaimi
Ayman Alshoaibi
Ayman Mohammed Yakout
Mohammed Abdallah Shawat
Nazmus Saquib
author_sort Juliann Saquib
collection DOAJ
description Background: Few studies in Saudi Arabia have comprehensively assessed chronic conditions among migrant workers, although they make up one-third of the population. We aimed to assess the prevalence of chronic conditions (i.e., asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, eczema, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and peptic ulcers) and evaluate the associations between the chronic conditions and other factors (i.e., age, sex, occupation, nationality, and lifestyle) in a sample of migrant workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 2123 migrant workers who represented seven occupation groups was conducted in Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Chronic conditions were self-reported or assessed with physical/biological measurements or validated screening questionnaires. Covariates were assessed with standard questions. A multinomial logistic regression identified the significantly associated factors. Results: The mean age of the participants was 35 ± 9 years; 85.3 % were men, and 65 % were from the Indian subcontinent. We found the following chronic condition prevalence estimates: hypertension = 28.4 %, obesity = 17 %, diabetes = 7.1 %, eczema = 5.7 %, peptic ulcer = 4.0 %, asthma = 2.1 %, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease = 0.9 %, and heart disease = 0.8 %. Nearly a third (31.3 %) of participants had one chronic condition, and 16 % had ≥2 chronic conditions. The factors significantly associated with having ≥2 chronic conditions were female gender (odds ratio [OR] 2.9, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.62–5.19), a university education (OR 2.4, 95 % CI 1.28–4.42), being a past smoker (OR 4.2, 95 % CI 2.26–7.83), and inactivity (OR 2.4, 95 % CI 1.46–3.84). Conclusion: A significant portion of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are afflicted with chronic conditions.
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spelling doaj-art-75407c03a12b4a7e9dfe9ca07eaf637a2025-08-20T02:50:55ZengElsevierClinical Epidemiology and Global Health2213-39842025-01-013110188910.1016/j.cegh.2024.101889Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi ArabiaJuliann Saquib0Anwar Umar1Idris Sula2Abdulrahman Almazrou3Yousuf Hafez Abdul Halim4Muhammad Candragupta Jihwaprani5Ahmed Assef Mousa6Ahmed Emad Ali7Momen Hassan Darwish8Mohammed Najmi Alhaimi9Ayman Alshoaibi10Ayman Mohammed Yakout11Mohammed Abdallah Shawat12Nazmus Saquib13College of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Bukaryiah, Saudi Arabia; Corresponding author.Background: Few studies in Saudi Arabia have comprehensively assessed chronic conditions among migrant workers, although they make up one-third of the population. We aimed to assess the prevalence of chronic conditions (i.e., asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, eczema, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and peptic ulcers) and evaluate the associations between the chronic conditions and other factors (i.e., age, sex, occupation, nationality, and lifestyle) in a sample of migrant workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 2123 migrant workers who represented seven occupation groups was conducted in Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Chronic conditions were self-reported or assessed with physical/biological measurements or validated screening questionnaires. Covariates were assessed with standard questions. A multinomial logistic regression identified the significantly associated factors. Results: The mean age of the participants was 35 ± 9 years; 85.3 % were men, and 65 % were from the Indian subcontinent. We found the following chronic condition prevalence estimates: hypertension = 28.4 %, obesity = 17 %, diabetes = 7.1 %, eczema = 5.7 %, peptic ulcer = 4.0 %, asthma = 2.1 %, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease = 0.9 %, and heart disease = 0.8 %. Nearly a third (31.3 %) of participants had one chronic condition, and 16 % had ≥2 chronic conditions. The factors significantly associated with having ≥2 chronic conditions were female gender (odds ratio [OR] 2.9, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.62–5.19), a university education (OR 2.4, 95 % CI 1.28–4.42), being a past smoker (OR 4.2, 95 % CI 2.26–7.83), and inactivity (OR 2.4, 95 % CI 1.46–3.84). Conclusion: A significant portion of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are afflicted with chronic conditions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213398424003865Migrant workersChronic diseasesEpidemiologyHypertensionDiabetes
spellingShingle Juliann Saquib
Anwar Umar
Idris Sula
Abdulrahman Almazrou
Yousuf Hafez Abdul Halim
Muhammad Candragupta Jihwaprani
Ahmed Assef Mousa
Ahmed Emad Ali
Momen Hassan Darwish
Mohammed Najmi Alhaimi
Ayman Alshoaibi
Ayman Mohammed Yakout
Mohammed Abdallah Shawat
Nazmus Saquib
Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health
Migrant workers
Chronic diseases
Epidemiology
Hypertension
Diabetes
title Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
title_full Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
title_short Chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
title_sort chronic disease burden and its associated risk factors among migrant workers in saudi arabia
topic Migrant workers
Chronic diseases
Epidemiology
Hypertension
Diabetes
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213398424003865
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