The role of adolescents' mental health and well-being in predicting their smoking status.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine the relationship between adolescent's mental health, well-being and their tobacco use. METHODS: The study employed a relational survey model. The sample consisted of 691 adolescents aged between 12 and 15. This study deployed "Decisional Balance Scale" to predict and define the adolescents' tobacco use, and the "Me and My Feelings Scale" to evaluate mental health and well-being. Multiple linear regression analysis was used during data analysis. RESULT: The results revealed that the emotional difficulties dimension of Me and My Feelings Scale had a statistically significant effect on the Decisional Balance Scale. However, the behavioral difficulties dimension did not have a statistically significant impact on the Decisional Balance Scale. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents' mental health affects their tobacco use at the level of 2.3 %. A significant relationship was noted across the adolescents' mental health and their perceptions towards smoking.

Carotid Intima Media Thickness and Its Association With Total Bilirubin Levels in Patients With Coronary Artery Ectasia.

Atherosclerosis plays an important role in the etiopathogenesis of coronary artery ectasia (CAE). The relationship between total bilirubin (TBil) and carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) in patients with CAE has not been fully investigated. Hence, we evaluated the relationship between TBil levels and cIMT in 142 consecutive eligible patients with CAE, newly diagnosed coronary artery disease (CAD), and normal coronary arteries. There were no significant differences in TBil (P = .772) and cIMT (P = .791) between the CAE and CAD groups. Bilirubin levels were significantly lower in both CAE and CAD groups compared to the controls (P < .01). The cIMT was significantly higher in both CAE and CAD groups compared to control participants (P < .01). A negative correlation between cIMT and TBil was found in all the groups (P < .01, r = .354). We show for the first time that patients with CAE and CAD have lower TBil and greater cIMT compared to controls with normal coronary angiograms.