Ethical Dilemmas in Hospice and Palliative Care Units for Advanced Cancer Patients

Ethical dilemmas that face heathcare team members referring patients to hospice programs include the ability of clinicians to predict accurately a patient bad prognosis. They affect day-to-day patient management in palliative care programs including healthcare team members concern over the use of morphine because possible respiratory depression in the patient, the question of providing enteral or parenteral nutritional support to patients who refuse to eat and the question of providing parenteral fluids to patients who are unable to take fluids during the terminal phrases of illness. A final ethical dilemma concerns the methodology for quality of life research in palliative care. Understanding and resolving these ethical dilemmas is an important factor determining the quality of the caring for the patient. The ethical dilemmas that are discussed in the article likely to occur in this period can be prevented through his/her participation in the decisions concerning his or her treatment. [Archives Medical Review Journal 2013; 22(1.000): 65-79

Risk factors for endometrial cancer in Turkish women: Results from a hospital-based case-control study

Purpose of the research: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between risk factors and endometrial cancer in Turkish women

Risk Factors for ovarian cancer: Results from a hospital-based case-control study.

Objective: Incidence of ovarian cancer varies greatly from one population to another, depending on the prevalent risk factors mostly influenced by menstrual-reproductive events and life style habits. It is hardly possible to present proper and updated data concerning Turkey due to the insufficiency of the statistical records. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between risk factors and ovarian cancer in Turkish women. Material and Methods: In a hospital-based case-control study in a university hospital in Istanbul, 217 patients with histologically confirmed ovarian cancer were compared with 1050 controls, who were admitted to the different departments of the same hospital. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire including questions about characteristics (age, education, marital status, body mass index, chronic diseases, smoking and alcohol), menstrual and reproductive history, and family history of cancer in all participants. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (Cl) were obtained from multivariate logistic regression analysis, fitted by the method of maximum likelihood. Results: Risk factors for ovarian cancer were found to be the age (p=0.002), body mass index (BMI) (OR=1.96, 955/0 CI: 1.41-2.72) and history of diabetes or hypertension (OR=2.13, 95% Cl: 1.40-3.23), (OR=2.85, 95% Cl: 1.64-4.98). However, when compared with controls, it was found that the OR of non-smokers and the patients with a negative family ovarian cancer history; were 0.29 and 0.33. Conclusion: This study indicates that age, BMI and history of diabetes or hypertension and lower parity were strong risk factors for ovarian cancer

Quality of life and sexual functioning in gynecological cancer patients: Results from quantitative and qualitative data

Aims: The purpose of the present study was to determine the quality of life levels of patients with gynecologic cancer and to find out the problems that affect their quality of life and sexual functioning

Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer: Results from a Hospital-Based Case-Control Study

The aim of this study was to investigate risk factors for cervical cancer in Turkish women. In a hospital-based case-control study in Istanbul, 209 patients with histologically confirmed cervical cancer were compared with 1050 controls, who were admitted to the different departments of the same hospital. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (Cl) were obtained from multivariate logistic regression analysis, fitted by the method of maximum likelihood