Online first
Review article
Published online: 2024-11-21
The Impact of War and Conflict on People Living with Diabetes: A Scoping Review
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Abstract
Objective: There is substantial literature detailing the interaction between war and conflict on overall human health. However, there is limited understanding of the impact of war and conflict on people living with diabetes. This scoping review describes the impact of short- and long-term effects of exposure to war and conflict settings on people living with diabetes. Materials and methods: The scoping review was conducted between May and August of 2023, using articles published in the PubMed Central and Google Scholar databases. Articles published from 1950 to 2023 with the following key terms “diabetes”, “type 1 diabetes”, “type 2 diabetes”, “war”, “armed conflict”, “organized violence”, and “refugees” were reviewed. Results: A total of 151,347 articles were reviewed. After applying review criteria, 21 applicable articles were included in this scoping review. Three themes emerged from this review: 1) People living with diabetes in conflict zones are subject to elevated blood glucose and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) levels, which can lead to severe long-term complications. 2) The stress of war and conflict negatively impacts diabetes self-management and quality of life. 3) Healthcare access, including services and medication, is severely disrupted for people living with diabetes in these tumultuous environments. Conclusions: The findings underscore the profound and direct impacts of war and conflict on people living with diabetes, highlighting the disparities in care and the urgent need for further research to identify factors that exacerbate these challenges and strategies to mitigate them.
Keywords: type 1 diabetestype 2 diabeteswarconflictrefugees
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