THE RELATION OF PET OWNERSHIP, PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS, REGULAR PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND SMOKING IN WHITE-COLLAR WORKERS OF A SPECIAL COMPANY IN BESIKTAS REGION OF ISTANBUL

WOS: 000312928700009Objective: Psychological stress, which deteriorates mental and physical health of individuals at their working environment, is an important problem for public health and health at work. Recent studies have indicated that living with animals might be beneficial for individuals with physical, mental and social health problems, and it could even increase the quality of life in these people. In this present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between pet ownership, psychological stress level, regular exercising, and smoking among white collar workers. Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, 212 out of 230 white collar workers (92%), who worked for a business company in Besiktas district of Istanbul, were enrolled. 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) were applied to define psychological stress levels and mental health conditions of the workers. Data obtained from GHQ-12 was evaluated by using Goldberg type grading method (0-0-1-1). Sociodemographic characteristics of participants, and information about the relationship between pet ownership, and smoking, regular exercising were obtained by a questionnaire form made up of close- and open-ended questions. Data were evaluated by percentage distribution, Chi square test and Mann Whitney U test. Results: Of the participants, 51 were female, 161 were male, and the mean of age was 30.65 +/- 3.56 years. Among the participants, 82 had pets and 130 individuals had no pet. Rate of pet owners was 98.7% in our study group with total score of GHQ-12 = 4 expressed that they had no pets. GHQ-12 scores among pet owners were statistically significantly lower than the ones without pets (p<0.001). Smoking rate was statistically significantly higher among participants without pets than the rate in pet owners (p<0.001). Pet owner participants were exercising significantly more regularly than the ones without pets (p<0.001). Conclusion: As far as the reported changes in behavior and attitudes of participants, pet ownership had favorable effects in healthy life behaviors like nutrition, regular exercising, and non-smoking. According to the results of General Health Questionnaire among workers, psychological stress level was higher among participants without pets. We believe that having a pet can be supportive for improving physical and mental health conditions of individuals, who are working under stressful conditions

The suitability of using death certificates as a data source for cancer mortality assessement in Turkey

Aim To compare the quality of the 2008 cancer mortality data of the Istanbul Directorate of Cemeteries (IDC) with the 2008 data of International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), and discuss the suitability of using this databank for estimations of cancer mortality in the future. Methods We used 2008 and 2010 death records of the IDC and compared it to TUIK and IARC data. Results According to the WHO statistics, in Turkey in 2008 there were 67 255 estimated cancer deaths. As the population of Turkey was 71 517 100, the cancer mortality rate was 9.4 per 10 000. According to the IDC statistics, the cancer mortality rate in Istanbul in 2008 was 5.97 per 10 000. Conclusion IDC estimates were higher than WHO probably because WHO bases its estimates on a sample group and because of the restrictions of IDC data collection method. Death certificates could be a reliable and accurate data source for mortality statistics if the problems of data collection are solved

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P &lt; 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

AN ASSISTED THERAPY CONCEPT FOR IMPROVING OF MENTAL HEALTH: ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY

Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is a complementary intervention method using the advantages of human and animal interact on in order to support quality of life in patients with chronic disease and to help in the treatment of the diseases which have negatively impact on mental health. In recent years, studies have shown that AAT has important benefits for protection and development of physical, mental and social health state of individual in public health area. The aim of this review is to survey benefits and application ranges of AAT in treatment of mental disorders and also to present some information about the results of these investigations. Nowadays, AAT most widely used in the treatment of some psychiatric disturbances including pervasive developmental disorders, dementia and Alzheimer disease, loneliness, stress, depression, anxiety, drug usage caused by psychiatric diseases, aphasia and schizophrenia. If an AAT has been performed by expert team according to suggested guidelines, it has been shown to ease some difficulties encountered during treatment of psychiatric diseases and so therapy session times could be diminished. Thus, AAT has provided considering improvements on mental health of individuals. To date, there has not been any study performed in this field in Turkey. It is quite important to evaluate the benefits of this therapy accurately and to select various methods consistent with public health. As a summary, we believe that AAT should be considered as a adjunctive therapy method for improving quality of life during treatment of some mental diseases

Compulsive Behaviors in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Objective: Several impulse control disorders (ICDs) may develop in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed to identify the frequency and phenomenology of ICDs in our PD population

EPILEPSY MANAGEMENT AT WORK ENVIRONMENT: ASPECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

Objective: There is a need to manage epilepsy, which is a common neurological disease, in terms of occupational health and safety at work environment. Numerous individuals with epilepsy is a part of the working population. Main problems are disease perception of patients, employers and coworkers, the severity and control of seizures, social acceptance by community, negative beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that affect negatively quality of life of both patients and their relatives at work environment for managing epilepsy. In order to cope with these difficulties in the management of epilepsy, every country needs to develop, implement and renew periodically their own epilepsy guides according to the socio-cultural structure. Various guidelines which are used for managing epilepsy and followed by occupational health and safety organizations are available in most of the countries. There are recommendations, which are including sample case presentations, to protect physical, mental and social health of employees with a disability such as epilepsy at work environment in these guidelines. These recommendations consist of valuable informations in terms of coping with problems that especially workers with epilepsy may encounter when they do job work. In this study, it was aimed to present knowledge on perception of epilepsy, epidemiology and epilepsy management through international epilepsy guides, publications, and case presentations in the work environment. In conclusion, we consider that developing and renewing periodically of epilepsy guidelines and training with case presentations may be beneficial in order to be successful in the management of epilepsy at work environment accordingly socio-cultural organizational structure in Turkey

THE RELATION OF PET OWNERSHIP, PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS, REGULAR PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND SMOKING IN WHITE-COLLAR WORKERS OF A SPECIAL COMPANY IN BESIKTAS REGION OF ISTANBUL

Objective: Psychological stress, which deteriorates mental and physical health of individuals at their working environment, is an important problem for public health and health at work. Recent studies have indicated that living with animals might be beneficial for individuals with physical, mental and social health problems, and it could even increase the quality of life in these people. In this present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between pet ownership, psychological stress level, regular exercising, and smoking among white collar workers

The effect of maternal anemia on anthropometric measurements of newborns

Objectives: To evaluate the relation between maternal prenatal hemoglobin concentration and neonatal anthropometric measurements