Open Access

Background More than 10 million Syrians have left their homes and sought refuge in neighboring countries, including Europe, since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, and immigration continues to this day. This cross-sectional study included Syrian refugees residing in and around Hannover, Germany. We investigated whether general socioeconomic factors (e.g. age, sex, housing, asylum duration) were predictive factors for the quality of life (QOL) of Syrian refugees in Germany. Methods The QOL of Syrian refugees was assessed using the WHOQOL-BREF tool, a questionnaire assessing the QOL in four domains: Physical health, psychological, social relationships and environment. A total of 114 Syrian refugees, aged between 18 and 45 years, who obtained one of the following statuses, asylum, refugee protection or subsidiary protection, were included. The QOL domain and total scores of Syrian refugees in Germany were compared with a Western norm and Sub-Saharan population. Data were analyzed with the Spearman Rho correlation coefficient, Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U test and multivariate linear regression. Results More than 65% of the participants (62.3% male, 37.7% female) were between 18 and 29 years old, and 45% had lived in Germany for less than four years. The lowest QOL score was reported in the social relationship’s domain (60.5%), while the psychological score was lowest in participants aged 40–45 years (P = 0.011). The age was significantly negatively associated with physical health (P = 0.010), psychological (P <  0.001) and the total QOL (P = 0.005). Asylum duration was associated with the environment domain (P = 0.040), the short-time refugees were less satisfied than the longtime refugees, and with aspects of the psychological domain in Enjoying life and Concentration ability (P <  0.001 and P = 0.033, respectively), yet was not associated with total QOL or total domain scores. There were significant associations between housing and the psychological domain (P = 0.032) and housing and the social relationship domain (P <  0.001). The refugees who living in camps registered a lower score in psychological than residents of apartments and houses, and the single refugees had a higher score than those married and divorced (P = 0.032 and P = 0.035, respectively). Conclusions The Syrian refugees participating in this study showed a low QOL score in the assessment of all domains compared to the normal population, especially regarding social relations and psychological; it was associated with socioeconomic factors, such as housing, asylum duration and marital status. This calls for urgent societal and political efforts to strengthen the social living conditions of Syrian refugees in Germany.

Background/Objective: Dietary fiber recommendations vary in effectiveness due to individual gut microbiome composition. Prevotella and Bacteroidesgenera are microbial markers linked to dietary habits and fiber utilization. In this proof-of-concept study, we aim to investigate the effect of optimal versus suboptimal dietary fiber supplementation in Prevotella-dominant (P-type) or Bacteroides-dominant (B-type) individuals on glucose homeostasis, hunger, and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production. Methods: This single-blinded, randomized cross-over study included healthy individuals (aged 30-65, BMI 20-30 kg/m2, HOMA-IR<2). Participants were stratified based on the relative abundance of Prevotella (P-Type,≥10%) or Bacteroides (B-Type,≥10%) via fecal 16S rRNA sequencing. Corn-bran arabinoxylan (AX) was determined as the optimal fiber for P-type, and long-chain Inulin (INU) as the optimal fiber for B-type individuals. Participants consumed 15g/day of INU, AX, and an isocaloric placebo (maltodextrin) for one week with a 2-week washout. After each phase, we conducted a postprandial meal test and measured fasting and postprandial breath hydrogen, glucose, insulin, cholesterol, plasma SCFA concentration, and visual analog scales (VAS) for hunger and satiety. Preliminary analyses were conducted by calculating the area under the curve (AUC) for VAS for hunger and satiety and breath hydrogen, with subsequent testing for treatment effects between P-type and B-type groups using mixed ANOVA and pairwise t-tests adjusted for Bonferroni multiple testing correction. Results: The study included 22 normoglycemic (median HOMA-IR 1.2) participants (median age 52y, median BMI 22.5 kg/m²). P-type individuals (n=11) had a median of 20% Prevotella, and B-type individuals (n=11) had a median of 11% Bacteroides abundance. P- and B-types did not show significant differences in age, sex, BMI, or glucose metabolism at baseline. Preliminary findings indicate no significant treatment effects on VAS hunger and satiety or breath hydrogen AUCs between P- and B-type groups (adjusted p value>0.05). Further analyses are ongoing. Discussion: The successful stratification of participants based on Prevotella and Bacteroides dominance shows promise for personalized fiber recommendations. Although initial analyses have not revealed significant effects, the impact of this approach on primary outcomes, including specific SCFAs and glucose responses in healthy individuals, remains to be determined.