The demand for smoking cessation services has risen in Turkey, as smokers planning to quit reached 35% in 2012. Communication technologies are used globally to support quitters, yet their integration to health services is rare. This study aims to evaluate the effect of support messages through WhatsApp application added to the usual care of a university hospital cessation unit, as compared to usual care alone, on abstinence rates at first month. A randomized controlled intervention study was conducted with 132 patients applying to Ege University Hospital’s Department of Public Health Smoking Cessation Clinic, between March and July 2017. Intervention content was prepared and 60 WhatsApp messages about having a plan of action and preventing relapse were developed through expert panels. These messages lasted for 3 months and follow-ups continued for 6 months. The primary outcome was abstinence rate at 1st month post target quit day. As secondary outcomes; the continuous abstinence rates at 3rd and 6th months, number of follow-ups, change in weight and continuity of medication were evaluated. Intention-to-treat analysis was used. Abstinence rate at 1st month was 65.9% in the intervention group and 40.9% in the control group (p = 0.007); 50.0 and 30.7% at 3rd month and 40.9 and 22.7% at 6th month, consecutively (both p < 0.05). Being in the intervention group increased abstinence rate by 3.50 (OR, 95% CI = 1.30–9.44) times in the 1st month. When controlled for all other factors in the multivariate logistic regression, the intervention was the only variable significantly associated with abstinence. For secondary outcomes, the intervention increased abstinence rate by 2.50 (OR, 95% CI = 1.08–6.40) times in the 3rd and 2.31 (OR, 95% CI = 1.03–5.16) times in the 6th month. In the intervention group, the number of follow-ups and face-to-face follow-ups were higher at 1st and 3rd months and continuity of medication was longer at 3rd month. WhatsApp support embedded in cessation service delivery increases the abstinence rate and has favorable effects on follow-up. This trial is retrospectively registered online at ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT03714971 .

Smoking during pregnancy has been associated with socioeconomic determinants and it is recognized as the most important preventable risk factor for an unsuccessful pregnancy outcome. Turkey has national data on the prevalance of smoking during pregnancy; however there is no data on the characteristics of the high-risk population. This is a field study that aims to identify socioeconomic determinants for smoking during pregnancy as well as differentiating the daily and occasional smokers.

Use of mobile phones has rapidly risen among adolescents despite a lack of scientific certainty on their health risks. Risk perception is an important determinant of behavior, and studies on adolescents’ risk perceptions of mobile phones or base stations are very scarce. This study aims to evaluate high school students’ risk perceptions on mobile phones and base stations, their trust to authorities, their opinions regarding incivility while using mobile phones and to assess associated factors.

Background: Smoking inequalities in Turkey were previously demonstrated in an early stage of the smoking epidemic model. This paper aimed to assess the trends for socioeconomic inequalities in smoking in Turkey over the years in the context of the smoking epidemic model using data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) Turkey 2008–2012-2016.Methods: Cross-sectional data were analyzed to calculate the association of smoking with, wealth, education, occupation and place of residence using age-standardized prevalence rates, odds ratios, relative index of inequality (RII) and slope index of inequality (SII). The analysis was performed separately for age groups (younger: 20–39 years/older: 40 and above years) and sex.Results: Younger women with higher wealth and older women with higher wealth and education smoked more. For both age groups, smoking was increased for working class and urban women. Relative wealth inequalities in smoking narrowed and then showed a reversal for younger women (RII₂₀₀₈ = 3.37; 95% CI:1.64–3.40; RII₂₀₁₂ = 2.19; 95% CI:1.48–3.24; RII₂₀₁₆ = 0.80; 95% CI:0.58–1.10, p-for trend < 0.0001). Relative educational inequalities in smoking for older women also showed a narrowing (RII₂₀₀₈ = 21.45; 95% CI:11.74–39.19; RII₂₀₁₂ = 15.25; 95% CI:9.10–25.55; and RII₂₀₁₆ = 5.48; 95% CI:3.86–7.78, p-for trend < 0.0001). For older women, a similar narrowing was observed for wealth (RII₂₀₀₈ = 3.94; 95% CI:2.38–6.53; RII₂₀₁₂ = 2.79; 95% CI:1.80–4.32; and RII₂₀₁₆ = 1.34; 95% CI:0.94–1.91, p-for trend = 0.0001). The only significant trend for absolute inequalities was for younger women by wealth. This trend showed a narrowing and then a reversal (SII₂₀₀₈ = 0.14; 95% CI:0.09–1.20; SII₂₀₁₂ = 0.12; 95% CI:0.06–0.18; and SII₂₀₁₆ = -0.05; 95% CI:-0.12–0.02, p-for trend = 0.0001). Unlike women, smoking in men showed inverse associations for wealth and education, although not statistically confirmed for all years. Smoking was increased in working classes and unemployed men in 2012 and 2016. Inequalities did not show a trend in relative and absolute terms for men.Conclusions: For smoking inequalities in Turkey, a transition to the next stage was observed, although the previously defined Southern European pattern also existed. Low socioeconomic women deserve special attention as well as stressors at work and drivers of smoking at urban settings.

We aimed to investigate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based parameters in differentiating between progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) and lung cancer. This retrospective study included 60 male patients (mean age, 67.0±9.0 years) with a history of more than 10 years working in underground coal mines who underwent 1.5 T MRI of thorax due to a lung nodule/mass suspicious for lung cancer on computed tomography. Thirty patients had PMF, and the remaining ones had lung cancer diagnosed histopathologically. The sequences were as follows: coronal single-shot turbo spin echo (SSH-TSE), axial T1- and T2-weighted spin-echo (SE), balanced turbo field echo, T1-weighted high-resolution isotropic volume excitation, free-breathing and respiratory triggered diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). The patients’ demographics, lesion sizes, and MRI-derived parameters were compared between the patients with PMF and lung cancer. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of DWI and respiratory triggered DWI, signal intensities on T1-weighted SE, T2-weighted SE, and SSH-TSE imaging were found to be significantly different between the groups (p < 0.001, for all comparisons). Median ADC values of free-breathing DWI in patients with PMF and cancer were 1.25 (0.93–2.60) and 0.76 (0.53–1.00) (× 10−3 mm2/s), respectively. Most PMF lesions were predominantly iso- or hypointense on T1-weighted SE, T2-weighted SE, and SSH-TSE, while most malignant ones predominantly showed high signal intensity on these sequences. MRI study including SE imaging, specially T1-weighted SE imaging and ADC values of DWI can help to distinguish PMF from lung cancer.