S-sectional study was conducted. The number of students participating in the study was 845, including 47.6% females and 52.4% males. Data collection was done by surveys filled in under supervision. Anthropometric measurements were performed by the researchers. Predictions of the Extended International Obesity Task Force were used for body mass index. Parents' body mass indexes were calculated by self-report and classified according to cut-off points for adults in the world health community. A systematic review of the local literature published between 2004 and 2013 was drafted. Results: In girls and boys, the frequency of overweight was 26.9% and 25.7%, respectively, while the frequency of obesity was 12.4% and 9.5%. A logistic regression analysis was performed to reveal significant risk factors for overweight/obesity. Weekly exercise status [odds ratio = 3.0, 95% confidence interval CI (1.2–7.8)] and school transfer % CI = (1.1–7.2) were important independent risk factors for obesity. The local literature showed a 4.3-fold increase in the prevalence of obesity within 10 years. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in adolescents requires the implementation of effective programs to fight this epidemic. Health education targeting peers and their parents, peer education, screening of risk groups, and controlling the sale of unhealthy foods can be some interventions....
Purpose: Untreated early childhood caries (ECC) adversely affect children’s quality of life. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of ECC on growth, development, and quality of life. Design and Methods: A total of 95 children were divided into three groups: general anesthesia (GA) (n = 31), dental clinic (DC) (n = 31), and control (n = 33). ECOHIS was applied to the parents in the GA and DC groups during a pre-treatment period and also applied in the post-treatment in the first and sixth months. Height, weight, and BMI measurements of the children in the study groups were taken and recorded at the pre-treatment stage and in the post-treatment in the first and sixth months. However, for the control group, these measurements were made just at the baseline and in the sixth month. Results: Upon the treatment of ECC, the total ECOHIS score significantly decreased (p < 0.001) in both groups in the following first month, whereas the scores of the children in the GA group reached a similar level to the DC group at the end of the sixth month. Following treatment, the weight and height of the children with ECC who initially had significantly lower BMI percentiles than the control group (p = 0.008) were observed to increase and, thus, they reached a similar BMI percentile value to the control group in the sixth month. Conclusions: The results of our study revealed that development and growth deficiencies in the children with ECC could be reversed rapidly by dental treatments and, thus, their quality of life would increase. The importance of treating ECC was revealed since treating ECC had positive effects both on the children’s growth and development and on the quality of life of the children and their parents.
2 August 2023 in Teaching and Learning in Medicine
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.
28 March 2023 in Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine
Introduction and objective: Animal bites are among the most critical in public health problems. Dogs are the leading cause of bite injuries. The study aimed to investigate the epidemiology and clinical features of dog bite cases admitted to an emergency department, as well as their temporal...
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever continues to be an important public health problem by expanding its borders. To evaluate the temporal trend, seasonality, and relationship with the climatic factors of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever. Study data included cases treated in two different tertiary healthcare institutions between 2012 and 2021. The demographic characteristics of the cases and the dates of admission to the hospital were determined, and they were matched with the average of the measurements (temperature, cumulative precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed) of two different meteorology stations in the study area. By calculating the crude incidence rates, the trend in years was investigated. Estimates were created by removing the incidence rates, seasonality, and trend components using the additive decomposition technique. The temporal relationship between incidence rates and climatic factors was evaluated with the help of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Bound Test. Toda Yamamoto test was used for causality verification. The mean age of the cases (n = 974) included in the study was 47.6 ± 17.7 years, and the majority (57.3%) were in the group above 45 years of age. 56.6% of the cases were male and there was a male predominance in all age groups. Incidence rates ranged from 5.5 to 23.1/100,000 over the ten-year period and there was a significant upward trend (R2 = 0.691, p = 0.003). Cases of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever that started in March, peaked in July and ended in October, showed a clear seasonality. A cointegration relationship was observed between case incidence rates and air temperature, cumulative precipitation, and relative humidity (p < 0.05 for all). Climatic factors can only indirectly affect the occurrence of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever cases. However, climatic conditions that become progressively more favorable for vector ticks lead to the spread of the disease. The control measures to be taken should be prepared by considering the changing climatic conditions and prioritizing the risk groups. There is a need for information and awareness-raising studies about climate change and the growing dangers associated with it, also outside of endemic regions.