The crisis conflicts in Syria have forced a lot of people to relocate and live in mainland Greece, where they are hosted in refugee camps. In the present study, our aim was to assess child morbidity and overall disease burden in two camps in northern Greece during a six-month winter period. A primary health care office was founded in each camp. Refugees of all ages with health problems were examined daily by specialty doctors. Cases were classified into two categories: Infectious or non-infectious. In total, 2631 patients were examined during this period (out of the 3760 refugees hosted). Of these patients, 9.8% were infants, 12.7% were toddlers, and 13.4% were children. Most of the visits for children aged less than 12 years old were due to infectious diseases (80.8%). The most common sites of communicable diseases among children were the respiratory tract (66.8%), the skin (23.2%), and the urinary (3.2%) and gastrointestinal tracts (6.2%). Non-communicable diseases were mostly due to gastrointestinal (20.2%), respiratory (18.2%), surgical (13.1%), and allergic (10.3%) disorders. Infants, toddlers, and children suffered more frequently from respiratory infections, while in adolescents and adults, non-infectious diseases were more common. Toddlers and children were more likely to fall ill in comparison to infants. Conclusions: During the winter period, infectious diseases, especially of the respiratory tract, are the main reason for care seeking among refugees in Greek camps, with toddlers suffering more than other age groups. The overall mortality and referral percentage were low, indicating that adequate primary care is provided in this newly established refugee hosting model.

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Background:Enthesitis-Related Arthritis (ERA) is a subtype of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) subtype with an estimated prevalence ranging from 8% to 37.4%. The improvement of the disease course and outcome has been related with the introduction of biologic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs (bDMARDs) and the uninterrupted monitoring following the transition of young patients to adult rheumatology settings.Objectives:To capture the contemporary ERA profile in Northern Greek patients by analyzing the characteristics and treatment outcome in the era of bDMARDs.Methods:This retrospective cohort study included patients who had been monitored on a 3-month schedule for ≥12 months, from 2000 to 2017. The periodic metric assessment included the disease status and burden by applying contemporary tools in respect to activity, clinical remission (CR) and damage (cJADAS, JSpADA, Wallace criteria for CR and JADI, respectively).Results:Forty-three patients, mainly male (60%) with a mean age at disease onset of 10.75 (SD:2.75) years were enrolled. The predominant joints were the hip, ankle and sacroiliac (56%, 49% and 46%, respectively). Median lag time from diagnosis to bDMARDs initiation was 8.5 months. Patients with sacroiliitis were more likely to receive bDMARDs (hazard ratio [HR]:3.26, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.35, 7.88). Thirty six patients (84%) achieved clinical remission (CR) on medication (CRONM), within a median time of 11 months and correlated with compliance (HR:3.62, 95%CI: 1.34, 9.76). Twenty patients (47%) experienced a flare following CR, mainly as a single episode (75%). The median flare-free survival following remission on and off medication (CROFFM) was 42 and 34 months, respectively. At the last evaluation, both median baseline cJADAS (8), and JSpADA (2) dropped to 0, while 13 patients (30%) were in CROFFM, 17 (40%) in CRONM, and 13 (30%) had persistent disease activity. The median percentage of CR per patient was 54% and no patient had JADI >0.Conclusion:Early administration of bDMARDs and compliance to monitoring and treatment improved the long-term outcome in ERA. Axial involvement emerged as a negative prognostic factor with an increased need for bDMARDs and diminished rates of CR.Disclosure of Interests:Dimitrios Deligeorgakis: None declared, Maria Trachana: None declared, Polyxeni Pratsidou-Gertsi: None declared, Despoina Dimopoulou: None declared, Anna Bettina Haidich: None declared, Alexandros Garyfallos Grant/research support from: MSD, Aenorasis SA, Speakers bureau: MSD, Novartis, gsk