Prevalence of childhood obesity and related parental factors across socioeconomic strata in Ankara, Turkey

Background: Among low- and middle-income nations, the highest prevalence of child overweight and associated metabolic disorders has been found in Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries. Obesity has been on the rise in Turkey and past research has shown regional variations among adults. However, the prevalence of childhood obesity in different socioeconomic groups in the largest metropolitan areas in the country has not been reported.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of child obesity with a population-representative, SES-stratified random sample with objective measures of body mass index (BMI) in the capital city of Turkey.

Methods: Weight status was measured by the WHO growth curve and analyzed by socioeconomic status (SES), sex, and parental factors in a population-representative sample of 2066 parent-child dyads. Chi-square and logistic regression were conducted.

Results: Rates of overweight and obesity were 21.2% and 14.6% (35.8% combined) but significantly higher in high (24.5% and 18.9%) vs. low SES (20.1% and 13.8%) (P = 0.02). Boys were at higher risk for obesity than girls, especially in high vs. low SES (Odds Ratio [OR] = 3.0 [95% CI: 1.4–6.5] vs. 1.7 [95% CI: 1.2–2.5]). Having both parents being overweight or obese increased the risk for obesity, particularly in medium and high SES (OR = 5.8 [95% CI: 2.3–14.1]) and 6.3 (95% CI: 1.5–26.2).

Conclusions: Higher maternal education was a risk factor in low-to-medium but not high SES. In Ankara, child overweight and obesity appears to be 1.5 times more prevalent than national estimates. Higher SES may signify greater exposure to an obesogenic environment and greater obesity risk

Evaluation of Occupational Health Teaching Sessions for Final Year Medical Students

OBJECTIVES: The study was conducted with the aim of evaluating applied occupational health teaching for final-year medical students at Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine. METHODS: The study included all sixth grade medical students (n=293) during one academic year. Pre- and post-training tests were used to assess the magnitude of change in knowledge and attitude of students on occupational health, whereas the opinion of students on several aspects of the quality of teaching sessions were assessed by using post-training questionnaires. RESULTS: Post-training tests revealed that the level of knowledge on all aspects of occupational health increased among medical students. An evaluation of the teaching sessions showed favorable results for the overall quality of the sessions: 81.3% of the students stated that the sessions were well organized, 81.7% remarked the workplace/factory visit was a valuable experience, and 91.0% stated feeling more competent on occupational health issues. CONCLUSION: There was a greater increase in students' knowledge on technical precautions than their knowledge on issues related to medical practice in the workplace. Visiting a workplace was found to contribute to the overall aim of knowledge and attitude change on occupational health issues. The scope of undergraduate medical education should be extended by improving occupational health education with respect to educational content, duration, and methods.

Success story of smoke-free Turkey

Tobacco smoking has been high in Turkey, being one in three [31.2%] adults smoking. Smoking prevalence showed considerable increase during the years of 1983-1999, mainly due to introduction of multinational tobacco companies into the country. Following this increase in tobacco use, major health problems such as lung cancer, heart and lung diseases increased in the country. Tobacco control activities started during 1990's, in collaboration with civil society and government initiatives. The first law on tobacco control in 1996 introduced restriction of smoking in many places, particularly at health and educational establishments and government offices, but not at hospitality industry. After more than 10 years implementation of this law, the understanding of smoke free concept was quite well adopted by the community. Then, in 2008 the law was amended to cover hospitality venues and commercial taxis. This change in the law made Turkey one of the first three counties as complete smoke free country. Positive consequences of the implementation of the law was observed as improvement of indoor air quality at restaurants, bars and tea-coffee houses, complaints of the workers at the hospitality venues and also decrease in admissions to emergency health services due to heart and respiratory conditions

Knowledge, behaviors and health hazard perception among Turkish narghile [waterpipe]-smokers related to narghile smoking

Characteristics of narghile-smokers in Turkey have been under-investigated. In this study it was aimed to examine the knowledge, smoking patterns, and the perceptions of narghile-[Waterpipe] smokers in Turkey. In this descriptive survey, the data was collected through a structured questionnaire. The questions focused on smoking patterns of narghile smokers who were the clients [n=460] of narghile cafes. The perceptions of participants were identified using a 10 point visual scale. In all, 76.7% was male and 9.6% was younger than 18 years, and the mean duration of narghile smoking was 27.1 months. Peer influence [38.4%], and curiosity [18.4%] were the two most common reasons for starting narghile smoking. Aromatic narghile tobacco was preferred [86.3%] mostly, and 50.1% of them did not believe the addictive pattern of narghile smoking. One third of narghile smokers rated the negative health consequences of narghile smoking between 8.1 and 10 point on the visual scale versus 74.9% for cigarette. Interventions are needed to inform people in Turkey about the health hazards of narghile [Waterpipe] smoking