Diagnostic Clues For Spondylitis In Acute Brucellosis

Objectives: To determine the diagnostic factors for brucellar spondylitis. Methods: This retrospective study included 227 consecutive brucellosis patients admitted to the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology clinics of Adiyaman State Hospital and Adiyaman 82nd Year State Hospital, Adiyaman, Turkey between January 2010 and December 2012. Acute brucellosis was diagnosed by standard tube agglutination test, and/or growth of Brucella spp. in appropriately prepared culture media (Bactec). Brucellar spondylitis was diagnosed and followed-up with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Among the 227 brucellosis patients included, 88 (38.8%) were male, and 139 (61.2%) were female. Brucellar spondylitis was detected in 54 patients (23.7%). Brucellar spondylitis patients had higher mean age, higher fever, and higher blood culture positivity rate when compared with brucellosis patients (p=0.001, p=0.001, and p=0.001). Logistical regression analysis determined that male gender (OR: 3.006), older age (OR: 1.025), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (OR: 1.067), high fever at the time of admission (OR: 2.550), and positive blood cultures for Brucella spp. (OR: 4.003) values were independently associated with brucellar spondylitis. However, high C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (OR: 0.971) were not found as a risk factor for brucellar spondylitis. Conclusions: The results of this study shows that the risk of developing brucellar spondylitis is high in patients with acute brucellosis, who are at advanced age, who have high fever, that have Brucella spp. growth in their blood culture that has a high ESR value, and who are male.Wo

Quality of life and related factors among chronic hepatitis B-infected patients: a multi-center study, Turkey.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in Turkey and to study related factors. METHODS: This multicenter study was carried out between January 01 and April 15, 2015 in Turkey in 57 centers. Adults were enrolled and studied in three groups. Group 1: Inactive HBsAg carriers, Group 2: CHB patients receiving antiviral therapy, Group 3: CHB patients who were neither receiving antiviral therapy nor were inactive HBsAg carriers. Study data was collected by face-to-face interviews using a standardized questionnaire, Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Hepatitis B Quality of Life (HBQOL). Values equivalent to p < 0.05 in analyses were accepted as statistically significant. RESULTS: Four thousand two hundred fifty-seven patients with CHB were included in the study. Two thousand five hundred fifty-nine (60.1 %) of the patients were males. Groups 1, 2 and 3, consisted of 1529 (35.9 %), 1721 (40.4 %) and 1007 (23.7 %) patients, respectively. The highest value of HRQOL was found in inactive HBsAg carriers. We found that total HBQOL score increased when antiviral treatment was used. However, HRQOL of CHB patients varied according to their socio-demographic properties. Regarding total HBQOL score, a higher significant level of HRQOL was determined in inactive HBV patients when matched controls with the associated factors were provided. CONCLUSIONS: The HRQOL score of CHB patients was higher than expected and it can be worsen when the disease becomes active. Use of an antiviral therapy can contribute to increasing HRQOL of patients