Bibliometric profile of Tunisian medical publications indexed in medline from 2000 to 2003: party 2 social relevance

This work, which is part of the medical documentary wakefulness, tries to evaluate the social relevance of the Tunisian medical publications indexed in the Medline's database. This descriptive study covered the whole of the articles indexed in [Medline] between 2000 and 2003. We retained the medical papers whose author's address was a Tunisian health structure of either medical care or education with the first and / or the last author was a Tunisian doctor. The social relevance of the publications was measured by the agreement level of their content, studied through the [Major Essential Key Words], with the death causes and the morbidity global charge components, made by the World Health Organisation in its [report about the health in the world] in 2 003. A [Major Essential Key Word] is a word chosen among the word's list [MeSH Major Topic] proposed by the bibliographic notice of Medline's database to summarize the essential topic of the article. The 1 248 articles eligible to this study, have been indexed in [Medline] by [MeSH Major Topic] words using 3 471 indexation lines. Among the [Top 20] list of the [Major Essential Key Words] only 9 themes were concordant with the community health needs, including four in relation with the epidemiologic [pre transition] epidemiology [tuberculosis, pregnancy complications, lung diseases, anemia] and five in connection with the epidemiologic [post transition] epidemiology [diabetes mellitus, breast neoplasms, leukemia, cardiovascular diseases, multiple myeloma]. What emerges from this study is that medical research in Tunisia isn't concordant enough with the country epidemiologic priorities and public health national programs. The social relevance should be the principal selection criterion in the public financing of the research projects

[Audit of management of arterial hypertension inprimary health care in sousse]

A medical audit has been carried out on a representative sample of 456 hypertensive patients followed in the health care facilities of Sousse during 2002, to evaluate the quality of management of hypertension in primary health care. The study yielded the following. the patients selected for a first line follow-up did not represent more than 79% of the studied population. The minimal recommended balance was achieved in 8% of cases only. Adequate drug therapy was prescribed in 64% of cases. 59% of patients were considered compliant. Controls of blood pressure was achieved in 5,5% of patients. The quality of management of hypertension in primary health care was considered satis factory in 28,7% of patents with a significant difference between urban and rural areas [24,9% versus 40,5%]. These results indicate that increased attention should be paid by the national program of Struggle against the Chronic Diseases to the quality of management of hypertension in primary health care institutions

[Epidemiologic profile of gastric carcinoma: study of 140 cases]

The authors make a retrospective study of a series of 140 patients aged 59 years in average, followed up from 1995 to 2002 for adenocarcinoma of the stomach. Surgical resection was performed in 79 percent of the patients with total gastrectomy in 15.4%, partial gastrectomy in 50.6%. Resection was considered as curative in 66%. Lymph node metastases were present in 42, 9 percent of the patients. Margins of resection were involved in 24, 5% of the specimens. The mean survival rate was 26.5 months, 13 months and 5 months after curative resection, palliative resection and without resection

[Behaviours and needs for health of secondary-school-adolescents in Sousse [Tunisia]]

It was a descriptive study bearing on a probabilistic sample of one-degree cluster composed of 685 adolescents studying in six secondary state schools in Sousse, during 1998 - 1999 school year. The facts had been collected through an anonymous and self administrated questionnaire. 23.3% of youngsters had a negative image of themselves. Parent-adolescent communication was inexistent in 30.6% of cases. At school. 24.3% of youngsters had a bad relationship with their teachers. One adolescent on four felt rather alone. One on three was not satisfied by leisure means put at his disposal. Alimentary behavior was disturbed for one adolescent on three. The prevalence rates of smoking and alcoholism were respectively 14.8% and 9%. At least, one suicide attempt was observed in 7.7%. Among sexually active youngsters, 23.8% did not use a contraceptive mean. This study revealed that adolescent was threatened by a hostile environment which may worsen his identity crisis and exposed him to adopt many risky behaviors

[Tracking of cardiovascular risk factors among school children: a four-year study of a population in Susa, Tunisia]

In order to confirm the phenomenon of tracking of cardiovascular risk factors among school children, we undertook in 2003, a prospective survey of a population of 789 pupils aged 13 to 15 years who had participated in a first investigation on cardiovascular risk factors in 1999. We were able to follow and study 453 pupils [57.4% of the initial population]. Prevalences of hypertension and obesity were respectively 11.3% and 6.1% without significant difference between sexes. On the other hand, hypercholesterolemia was significantly more elevated among girls than boys [16.1% versus 9.3%, p=0.039]. Children classified initially as hypertensive, obese or having a hypercholesterolemia were identified 4 years later at a subsequent exam as hypertensive, obese or having a hypercholesterolemia in respectively 25%, 48.9% and 59%. The stability of cardiovascular risk factors among children imposes an early screening for a better management and a policy of cardiovascular health promotion since childhood based essentially on prevention of risk factors in order to reduce the cardiovascular disease burden in adulthood