Comparison of Preoperative and Postoperative Sexual Dysfunction in Male Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation.

AIM: To compare preoperative and postoperative sexual dysfunction in male patients diagnosed with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was conducted in a single group with a pretest?posttest design. The sample included 32 male patients with LDH admitted to the neurosurgery outpatient clinic of a state hospital between August 1, 2019 and November 1, 2020 and who were about to undergo operation. The data were collected using a questionnaire form developed by the researchers, the Golombok?Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS), and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Descriptive statistical methods, Mann?Whitney U test, Wilcoxon test, and Spearman correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. Significance was evaluated at the level of p < 0.05. RESULTS: Before LDH surgery, male patients had problems with sub-dimensions of sexual function, such as frequency, communication, avoidance, touching, impotence, and premature ejaculation. A significant improvement was achieved after the operation in the communication sub-dimension and pain levels. The mean preoperative and postoperative VAS scores of the patients were 8.18 ± 1.20 and 1.28 ± 1.08, respectively. CONCLUSION: Lumbar disc surgery has a positive effect on sexual function and reduces pain levels. Since there is a strong relationship between LDH and sexual dysfunction, taking sexual history from patients should be part of routine medical history, and psychiatric care and consultation should be offered if necessary.

Exploring anxiety levels in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic: Turkey sample.

As in the whole world, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic poses many threats to healthcare workers in our country too, which leads to anxiety in healthcare workers. This study was conducted to explore the anxiety levels of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is a cross-sectional study. The population consisted of health care workers employed in hospitals in seven regions in Turkey. All volunteer healthcare workers were included in the study, and 356 healthcare workers responded to the questionnaire. The data were collected using the State Anxiety Inventory and a questionnaire created by the researchers using an online questionnaire between 10 May 2020 and 15 May 2020. In the evaluation of the data, mean, standard deviation, percentages, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis were used. 33% of healthcare workers did not have anxiety, 50% had mild, and 17% had severe anxiety. The anxiety scores of those who were nurses (p < 0.001), who were working in the emergency room (p < 0.001), who were involved in treatment for COVID-19 patients (p = 0.040), who left their homes to prevent transmission to their families and relatives during the pandemic (p = 0.038), and whose working hours had changed (p = 0.036) were found to be significantly higher. It was observed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the fear of death and disease transmission, uncertainty, loneliness, anger, and hopelessness, and anxiety levels in healthcare workers. The main factors that significantly affected the anxiety levels of healthcare workers were male gender, weekly working hours, the presence of chronic diseases, and feelings of anger and uncertainty. In conclusion, during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers experienced some negative emotions, their anxiety levels increased, and they were psychologically affected. Planning psychosocial interventions for healthcare workers in the high-risk group will make significant contributions to the health system.