Maternal age, education level and migration: Socioeconomic determinants for smoking during pregnancy in a field study from Turkey

WOS: 000279909900003PubMed ID: 20534133Background: Smoking during pregnancy has been associated with socioeconomic determinants and it is recognized as the most important preventable risk factor for an unsuccessful pregnancy outcome. Turkey has national data on the prevalance of smoking during pregnancy; however there is no data on the characteristics of the high-risk population. This is a field study that aims to identify socioeconomic determinants for smoking during pregnancy as well as differentiating the daily and occasional smokers. Method: Cross sectional study was conducted among women with 0-5 year old children living in the area served by Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) in Burhaniye, Turkey. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by the researchers during January-March 2008 at the home of the participants with 83.7% response rate (n = 256). The relation of "smoking during pregnacy" and "daily smoking during pregnancy" with the independent variables was determined with chi(2) tests. Women's age, educational level, number of previous births, place of origin, migration, partner's educational level, poverty, perceived income, social class were evaluated. Statistical significance was achieved when the p value was less than 0.05. The variables in relation with the dependent variables in the chi(2) tests were included in the forward-stepwise logistic analysis. Results: Prevalance of smoking during pregnancy was 22.7%. The majority (74.1%) were daily smokers. Young mothers (< 20), low educated women and migrants were at increased risk for smoking during pregnancy. Low education and being a migrant were risk factors for daily consumption (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Systematic attention should be paid to socioeconomic determinants in smoking for pregnant women, especially in countries like Turkey with high rates of infant and mother mortality and substantial health inequalities. Young mothers (< 20), low educated women and migrants are important groups to focus on

The preliminary results of a residency satisfaction survey: "To love and not to love Pathology"

WOS: 00032390420002

Simplified Sympes Codec with Positive DC Offset

In this paper, further improvement is reported in the simplified version of the Sympes voice encoding algorithm. A drastic reduction in the computation time of the algorithm is achieved by introducing an offset in the amplitude of the normalized speech signals which enables trusted, secure and real time voice communication over computer networks and internet

Cardiovascular risk factor trends in the Eastern Mediterranean region: evidence from four countries is alarming

Fouad,Fouad:American University of Beirut Wasim,Maziak:Florida International University University of Liverpool,:Objectives Many Eastern Mediterranean countries are undergoing dramatic socioeconomic, demographic and life style changes and face noncommunicable disease (NCD) epidemics. We evaluated recent trends in major NCD risk factors in occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), Turkey, Syria and Tunisia. Methods We searched published and unpublished sources for systolic blood pressure (SBP), diabetes, smoking, body mass index (BMI), and cholesterol trends for both men and women aged 35–84 in each country from 1995 to 2009. Results Smoking prevalence was stable over time in Tunisia and Syria, but decreasing in Turkey (annual change -0.9 %) and OPT (annual change -0.7 %). Mean BMI (annual change of 0.1 % for Turkey, 0.2 % for OPT and Tunisia and 0.3 % in Syria) and diabetes (annual change of 0.3 % for Turkey, 0.4 % for OPT and Tunisia and 0.7 % in Syria) prevalence increased in each country. SBP levels increased slightly in Tunisia and Syria but decreased in OPT and Turkey. Conclusions Recent risk factor trends are worrying. Good quality data on the extent and determinants of NCDs are essential to respond the changing health needs of populations with burgeoning NCD epidemic