Turkish Primary Care Patients’ Overviews and Attitudes About Traditional and Complementary Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aim:Primary care physicians need to be aware of the types of traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) used by patients to be able to guide patients away from harmful approaches and to aim them toward useful or at least seeming benign approaches. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of the usage of TCM methods in Turkey and the level of knowledge and attitudes of applicants about these methods.Methods:The universe of this cross-sectional study consisted of individuals aged 18 and over who applied to the Family Health Centers and agreed to participate in the study in 12 provinces in different regions of Turkey between July and December 2016. The questionnaires were applied to the volunteer participants by the researchers using face-to-face interview techniques. The questionnaire had 25 questions.Results:80.6% of the participants benefited from TCM, and 86.4% stated they believed in the effectiveness of TCM. Women, university graduates of college who had private insurance used TCM (respectively; p=0.031; p=0.004; p=0.000), and women (83.3%) found TCM more useful than men (p=0.005). The most frequent reason for using TCM was “heard that it was useful”.Conclusion:The results of our study indicated that a large portion of Turkish primary care patients use TCM and recommend it to their relatives. Therefore, health policies and academic knowledge should be developed in this sense

Epidemiology of pemphigus in Turkey: One-year prospective study of 220 cases

Pemphigus is a group of rare and life-threatening autoimmune blistering diseases of the skin and mucous membranes. Although they occur worldwide, their incidence shows wide geographical variation, and prospective data on the epidemiology of pemphigus are very limited. Objective of this work is to evaluate the incidence and epidemiological and clinical features of patients with pemphigus in Turkey. All patients newly diagnosed with pemphigus between June 2013 and June 2014 were prospectively enrolled in 33 dermatology departments in 20 different provinces from all seven regions of Turkey. Disease parameters including demography and clinical findings were recorded. A total of 220 patients were diagnosed with pemphigus during the 1-year period, with an annual incidence of 4.7 per million people in Turkey. Patients were predominantly women, with a male to female ratio of 1:1.41. The mean age at onset was 48.9 years. Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) was the commonest clinical subtype (n=192; 87.3%), followed by pemphigus foliaceus (n=21; 9.6%). The most common clinical subtype of PV was the mucocutaneous type (n=83; 43.2%). The mean Pemphigus Disease Area Index was 28.14±22.21 (mean ± Standard Deviation).  The incidence rate of pemphigus in Turkey is similar to the countries of South-East Europe, higher than those reported for the Central and Northern European countries and lower than the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and Iran. Pemphigus is more frequent in middle-aged people and is more common in women. The most frequent subtype was PV, with a 9-fold higher incidence than pemphigus foliaceus.   </p

Sequential Measurements of Pentraxin 3 Serum Levels in Patients with Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia: A Nested Case-Control Study

Purpose. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamics of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) compared with procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with suspicion of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Materials and Methods. We designed a nested case-control study. This study was performed in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care academic university and teaching hospital. Ninety-one adults who were mechanically ventilated for >48 hours were enrolled in the study. VAP diagnosis was established among 28 patients following the 2005 ATS/IDSA guidelines. Results. The median PTX3 plasma level was 2.66 ng/mL in VAP adults compared to 0.25 ng/mL in non-VAP adults (p < 0.05). Procalcitonin and CRP levels did not significantly differ. Pentraxin 3, with a 2.56 ng/mL breakpoint, had 85% sensitivity, 86% specificity, 75% positive predictive value, and 92.9% negative predictive value for VAP diagnosis (AUC = 0.78). Conclusions. With the suspicion of VAP, a pentraxin 3 plasma breakpoint of 2.56 ng/mL could contribute to the decision of whether to start antibiotics