In this study, the aim was to determine the prevalence of geriatric syndromes such as frailty, sarcopenia risk and malnutrition in older adults and to investigate the relationship between food insecurity, and frailty, risk of sarcopenia and malnutrition. The study was cross-sectional. It was conducted between February 2022 and June 2022 with 707 older adults. The data were collected through the face-to-face interview method with a questionnaire including the Descriptive Information Form, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Frail Scale, Sarcopenia Risk Screening Scale (SARC-F) and Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF). Numbers, percentages, mean, standard deviation, Pearson chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were used in data analysis. In the present sample, 30% of the participants experienced some degree of food insecurity. The prevalence of frailty, sarcopenia risk, and malnutrition in the participants was 15.3%, 19.5%, and 1.3%, respectively. We determined that food insecurity was not associated with pre-frailty/frailty and sarcopenia risk. After adjusment for potential counfounders moderate and severe food insecurity was associated with higher odds of malnutrition risk and malnutrition (AOR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.21-3.51, p:0.007). While food insecurity is not associated with pre-frailty/frailty and sarcopenia risk, moderate and severe food insecurity is a modifiable risk factor for malnutrition risk and malnutrition. Thus, economic and social policies to eliminate food insecurity should be implemented, and efforts to prevent food insecurity should be planned through inter-sectoral cooperation.

In this study, we aimed to determine the breast cancer screening behavior of women and to investigate the relationship between health beliefs and screening behaviors. The study was cross-sectional. It was conducted between April 2017 and June 2017 with 416 women aged ≥40. The Sociodemographic Information Form and the Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale were used to collect data. In the statistical analysis, the number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson chi-square test, and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis were used. The rates for participating women performing breast self-examination, having clinical breast examination, and undergoing mammography were 11.8%, 8.9%, and 11.3%, respectively. Perceived susceptibility, seriousness, self-efficacy, benefits, health motivation, and perceived barriers were found to have strong associations with screening behaviors (p < 0.05). In this study, we found that few women performed breast self-examination, had clinical breast examination and mammography. In the present study, women perceived barriers related to both performing breast self-examination and undergoing mammography.

Background: The present study was aimed at determining hypertensive patients’ adherence to pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment methods and factors affecting their adherence. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 418 patients aged 18 and over who met the inclusion criteria. Adherence to pharmacological and some non-pharmacological treatment methods is the dependent variable of the study. Data were collected using the personal information form, Morisky medication adherence scale. In the analysis, descriptive statistics, the chi square test, and logistic regression analysis were used. The significance level was accepted as p<0.05. Results: The rate of adherence to the pharmacological treatment was 78.2%. The rates of adherence to smoking cessation, diet and physical activity were 49.0%, 55.7% and 20.6% respectively. Age, employment status and perceived health status were associated with the adherence to smoking cessation; perceived income, resort to complementary alternative treatment methods and having regular controls (check-ups) were related to the adherence to the diet, and gender and perceived economic status were related to the adherence to physical activities (p<0.05). Conclusions: While approximately four out of five patients complied with the pharmacological treatment, rates of adherence to non-pharmacological treatment methods were low. Multidisciplinary intervention programs should be planned in order to regularly monitor patients at family health centers, to assess their adherence to treatment modalities and to promote adherence.

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the performance of six different screening tools with the GLIM criteria in identifying malnutrition risk among older adults with cardiovascular diseases. Methods: In this diagnostic accuracy study, data from 669 patients aged 65 and older, hospitalized at Bandırma Training and Research Hospital diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, were evaluated. The data were obtained using a questionnaire that included a Demographic Information Form, Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) Criteria, Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ), Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), Nutritional Risk Screening-2002 (NRS-2002), and Graz Malnutrition Screening (GMS) tool. GLIM criteria were used as gold standard and six screening tools were used as index tests. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to calculate the Area Under the Curve (AUC), and the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and Cohen's Kappa (κ) coefficient of the index tests were assessed. Results: The mean age of the patients was 75.5 ± 7.7 years, 55.2% were female. According to the GLIM criteria, the prevalence of malnutrition was calculated as 22.0%. The AUC calculated by ROC indicated that MST (AUC: 0.905) had excellent predictive value, while MUST (AUC: 0.874), SNAQ (AUC: 0.851), MNA-SF (AUC: 0.842), and GMS (AUC: 0.820) demonstrated good predictive value. Among the screening tools, GMS had the highest sensitivity (92.5%), whereas MNA-SF exhibited the highest specificity (91.6%). MNA-SF also demonstrated the highest agreement with the GLIM criteria (Cohen's κ: 66.8) and the highest accuracy (88.3%). Conclusion: This study found that the MNA-SF tool outperformed other comprehensive screening tools when evaluating malnutrition risk in light of the GLIM criteria.