Prevalence of refraction errors and color blindness in heavy vehicle drivers / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM:To investigate the frequency of eye disorders in heavy vehicle drivers.METHODS:A cross-sectional type study was conducted between November 2004 and September 2006 in 200 drivers and 200 non-driver persons.A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed,including visual acuity and dilated examination of the posterior segment.We used the auto refractometer for determining refractive errors.RESULTS:According to eye examination results,the prevalence of the refractive errors was 21.5% and 31.3% in study and control groups respectively (P<0.05).The most common type of refraction errors in the study group was myopic astigmatism (8.3%) while in the control group simple myopia(12.8%).Prevalence of dyschromatopsia in the drivers,control group and total group was 2.2%,2 8% and 2.6% respectively.CONCLUSION:A considerably high number of drivers are in lack of optimal visual acuity.Refraction errors in drivers may impair the traffic security.

Prevalence of hypertension among high school students in a middle Anatolian province of Turkey.

Hypertension may lead to irreversible damages in vital organs, such as heart, brain, and kidney, and may cause death in children if treatments are not given despite early diagnosis. This cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted during 1 January-31 March 2004 to investigate the prevalence of hypertension among high school students. The study cohort included 1,041 students of six high schools, who were selected from among 14,789 students of 26 high schools in Sivas province of Turkey, using the cluster-sampling method. A questionnaire was used for collecting information from students on age, gender, smoking, and whether they or their families have any diseases. Blood pressure, height, and weight of the participitants were determined by the research group. Students whose repeated systolic or diastolic blood pressures were higher than the 95th percentile were considered to be hypertensive patients. Hypertension was prevalent among 4.4% (n=45) of the students. There was a significant correlation between prevalence of hypertension and body mass index. No significant correlation was found between prevalence of hypertension and other variables, such as smoking, age, gender, and family history of diabetes. The results suggest that hypertension is an important public-health problem among high school students. The results also showed that the body mass index was an important parameter in hypertension in such a study group. Researchers should consider overweight a causative risk factor for development of hypertension in early-onset groups.

Seroprevalence of Brucella in an elderly population in mid-Anatolia, Turkey.

Brucellosis is a widespread infectious disease in the mid-Anatolia regions of Turkey. This study investigated the prevalence of Brucella infection in elderly people of this region. In total, 750 elderly subjects were chosen by a simple random-sampling method. Blood samples were evaluated by the Brucella Wright agglutination test. Brucella seropositivity was detected in 24 (3.2%) of the 750 subjects. Although there was no statistical correlation between Brucella seropositivity and sex or educational level (p > 0.05), seropositivity was statistically significant with subjects exposed to risk factors (p < 0.001). It is concluded that Brucella infection is still an important public-health problem in the cities of mid-Anatolia.