The prevalence and risk factors of dementia in the elderly population in a low socio-economic region of Izmir, Turkey

The aim of this Study is to determine the prevalence of and risk factors of dementia in the elderly with a low socio-economical status. The study is a cross-sectional and analytic study. Two hundred and four persons aged 65 years and above were selected by using the cluster sampling method. The presence of dementia was determined by Standardized Mini Mental State Examination (SMMSE). Twenty-three and 18 cut-off points were accepted as the existence of dementia in educated and uneducated older individuals, respectively. Chi-square test. Student's t-test. and logistic regression analysis were used for data analysis. The mean age of older Subjects was 70.8 +/- 6.45 (S.D.): 71.5 +/- 5.9 in males and 70.3 +/- 6.8 in females (p = 0.19). Ninety-one percent of older people had never attended school, 54.6% were living below the poverty level. and 97% of the residences were in squatter settlements. Dementia was determined in 46 older subjects (22.9%). Dementia was found significantly higher in females, in elderly subjects aged 80 years and above. in older subjects who were in a bad or very bad self-health status and in those who had it chronic disease. did not have any occupation, had a lower monthly income, and with a depressive score eight and above (p < 0.05). In our study, the prevalence of dementia in older people was higher. in agreement with many reported studies. We assumed that this was due to the fact that the ratio of the uneducated, poor, and advanced aged subjects in this study was considerably higher. The different prevalence rates in studies demonstrate that the adoption of SMMSE for the study population, the validity-reliability analyses of tests and the standardization of diagnostic criteria are necessary. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Perinatal outcomes and risk factors of Turkish adolescent mothers

Study Objective: Adolescent pregnancy is considered a high risk for both the mother and infant. The aim of this study was to determine obstetric and neonatal outcomes and risk factors in adolescent pregnant women and to compare perinatal outcomes among the teen age groups and between adolescent and adult women

Prevalence of benign, precancerous and malignant skin tumors in the elderly population in Mugla

We sought to investigate the prevalence of skin tumors in Mugla, which has a Mediterranean climate and a high population of elderly people. This was a cross-sectional study conducted on patients, 65 years old and older, who consulted at our dermatology outpatient clinics between January 2014 and January 2015. Diagnoses of the patients were obtained and retrospectively evaluated from the electronic medical records of the hospital. Of 2297 geriatric patients, 50.8% were females and 49.2% were males. Of these patients, 12% had actinic keratosis, 5.4% had seborrheic keratosis, 2.1% had basal cell carcinoma, 0.8% had squamous cell carcinoma, and 0.1% had malignant melanoma. In patients [Med-Science 2018; 7(1.000): 69-72

Elder abuse and neglect in two different socioeconomic districts in Izmir, Turkey

Objective: To determine and compare the prevalence and risk factors of elder abuse in elderly population in two different districts in Izmir, Turkey

Home accidents in the community-dwelling elderly in Izmir, Turkey: how do prevalence and risk factors differ between high and low socioeconomic districts?

Objective: To determine and compare the prevalence of and risk factors for home accidents in the elderly in two different districts. Method: This cross-sectional study involves 497 older participants ages 65 and older. Sociodemographic characteristics of the elderly and characteristics of the houses in two different regions are evaluated. Data are analyzed by chisquare and t test. Results: The prevalence of home accidents was 39.3% in the low socioeconomic region and 13.1% in the high socioeconomic region within the past 6 months (p =.000). The most common type of home accident was fall (61.8%), followed by cut or piercing (22.0%). Home accidents are associated with being female and increasing age in the higher socioeconomic region, whereas being female, being unmarried, and living in a squatter house are associated with home accidents in the low socioeconomic region. Discussion: The prevalence of home accidents in the elderly population who live in low socioeconomic region was higher

Smoking Prevalence Among High School Students in zmir and Influences of Social Learning on Smoking Behaviour

To determine the smoking prevalence among students and the effects of social learning on smoking behaviour. A cross-sectional study was performed among students in Inonu High School and Balcova Trade High School in Izmir. The minimum sample size was 410 students with 15% of a possible smoking prevalence and 3% of deviation at 95% confidence interval. A cluster sampling selection (571) was performed in Inonu while all students (273) in Balcova included in the study. The participation rates were 91.4% and 93.8%, respectively. Data were obtained by the self-administered questionnaire. The prevalence of current smokers was 14.6% among students in Inonu and 18.6% in Balcova. The most important factor of smoking initiation was stress. The other smokers in the home, friends' smoking, having knowledges about smoking habits of teachers and popular stars and alcohol consumption were significantly associated with increasing rate of smoking prevalence(p=0.000). The smoking prevalence of the students showed a positive association with age and mother's occupation(p=0.005, p=0.008). It was also determined according to logistic regression analysis that all factors except age increased significantly smoking prevalence. The smoking prevalence was high among students in Izmir. It was observed that the social learning factors had an important influence on smoking. It is needed to decreasing smoking prevalence among high school students that antismoking education should be reevaluated, that antismoking campaign should be administered in schools and community, that parents, teachers and school managers should be integrated into preventive programmes and prevention efforts must start early stage

Prevalence of skin diseases of the pediatric population in the Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey

Skin diseases are quite common in childhood and affected by geographic, cultural, and socio-economic conditions. There is no reported study about the prevalence of skin diseases of the pediatric population in the Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. We sought to investigate the skin diseases of the pediatric population in this region. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 3957 patients, age range 0-17 years, in the Dermatology Outpatient Clinic. The patients were classified according to the age groups: infancy (0-2 years), preschool period (3-5 years), school period (6-11 years), and adolescent period (12-17 years). Skin diseases were evaluated under 17 disease subgroups. Of 3957 pediatric patients (2109 female and 1848 male), 695 (17.56%) were in infancy, 465 (11.75%) were in preschool period, 823 (20.8%) were in school period, and 1974 (49.89%) were in adolescent period. Eczematous diseases (30.12%) were the most common skin disease group, followed by acne (26.35%), infectious diseases (19.03%), pigmentation disorders (4.06%), other-unclassified diseases (3.58%), xerosis cutis (2.8%), urticaria (2.68%), hair diseases (2.72%), papulosquamous diseases (1.74%), photodermatoses (1.41%), melanocytic lesions (1.28%), sweat gland diseases (1.23%), tumors-cysts (1.03%), vascular malformations (0.68%), nail diseases (0.58%), genodermatoses (0.48%), and vasculitis (0.15%), respectively. The high prevalence of eczematous and infectious dermatoses were attributed to the crowded family structure, low socio-economic status, play and cleaning materials, and poor hygiene. The relatively low prevalence of atopic dermatitis in our study has been associated with increased breastfeeding in infancy and feeding with natural products in the region. [Med-Science 2018; 7(3.000): 664-7

Push and Pull Factors of Why Medical Students Want to Leave Türkiye: A Countrywide Multicenter Study

Phenomenon: Physician immigration from other countries is increasing as developed countries continue to be desirable destinations for physicians; however, the determinants of Turkish physicians’ migration decisions are still unclear. Despite its wide coverage in the media and among physicians in Türkiye, and being the subject of much debate, there is insufficient data to justify this attention. With this study, we aimed to investigate the tendency of senior medical students in Türkiye to pursue their professional careers abroad and its related factors. Approach: This cross-sectional study involved 9881 senior medical students from 39 different medical schools in Türkiye in 2022. Besides participants’ migration decision, we evaluated the push and pull factors related to working, social environment and lifestyle in Türkiye and abroad, medical school education inadequacy, and personal insufficiencies, as well as the socioeconomic variables that may affect the decision to migrate abroad. The analyses were carried out with a participation rate of at least 50%. Findings: Of the medical students, 70.7% had emigration intentions. Approximately 60% of those want to stay abroad permanently, and 61.5% of them took initiatives such as learning a foreign language abroad (54.5%) and taking relevant exams (18.9%). Those who wanted to work in the field of Research & Development were 1.37 (95% CI: 1.22–1.54) times more likely to emigrate. The push factor that was related to emigration intention was the “working conditions in the country” (OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.56–2.28) whereas the “social environment/lifestyle abroad” was the mere pull factor for the tendency of emigration (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.45–2.06). In addition, the quality problem in medical schools also had a significant impact on students’ decisions (OR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.83–2.65). Insights: Although the percentage of those who want to emigrate “definitely” was at the same level as in the other developing countries, the tendency to migrate “permanently” was higher in Türkiye. Improving working conditions in the country and increasing the quality of medical faculties seem vital in preventing the migration of physicians