Pulmonary Physician Consultancy in Emergency Services in Turkiye (PuPCEST) - a cross-sectional multicenter study.

Pulmonology is one of the branches that frequently receive consultation requests from the emergency department. Pulmonology consultation (PC) is requested from almost all clinical branches due to the diagnosis and treatment of any respiratory condition, preoperative evaluation, or postoperative pulmonary problems. The aim of our study was to describe the profile of the pulmonology consultations received from emergency departments in Turkiye. A total of 32 centers from Turkiye (the PuPCEST Study Group) were included to the study. The demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological data of the consulted cases were examined. The final result of the consultation and the justification of the consultation by the consulting pulmonologist were recorded. We identified 1712 patients, 64% of which applied to the emergency department by themselves and 41.4% were women. Eighty-five percent of the patients had a previously diagnosed disease. Dyspnea was the reason for consultation in 34.7% of the cases. The leading radiological finding was consolidation (13%). Exacerbation of preexisting lung disease was present in 39% of patients. The most commonly established diagnoses by pulmonologists were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (19%) and pneumonia (12%). While 35% of the patients were discharged, 35% were interned into the chest diseases ward. The majority of patients were hospitalized and treated conservatively. It may be suggested that most of the applications would be evaluated in the pulmonology outpatient clinic which may result in a decrease in emergency department visits/consultations. Thus, improvements in the reorganization of the pulmonology outpatient clinics and follow-up visits may positively contribute emergency admission rates.

The effects of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications on physical and pulmonary functions: A case-control study.

AIMS: This study was planned to determine the effects of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and its complications on physical and pulmonary functions. Methods: A total of 110 individuals aged 40-65 years were included in the study, 58 with type 2 DM (study group) and 52 without DM (control group). Physical activity level, functional capacity, pulmonary function, and comorbidity levels were compared between the groups. Results: The mean age of the individuals was 52.42 ± 5.88 years. Six-minute walk test distance was 507.2 ± 51.70 m in the study group and 532.23 ± 50.32 m in the control group (p < 0.05, Cohen's d = 0.49). The pulmonary function test results of the study and control groups were determined as forced vital capacity (FVC) (%): 99.17 ± 14.13 and 104.65 ± 16.01 (p > 0.05), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (%): 96.78 ± 14.43 and 99.73 ± 15.80 (p > 0.05), and FEV1/FVC ratio: 81.97 ± 4.62 and 80.16 ± 5.27 (p > 0.05), respectively. The Charlson Comorbidity Index scores of the study and control groups were 1.83 ± 0.82 and 0.12 ± 0.32 (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Type 2 DM was associated with lower functional capacity and higher rates of comorbid diseases. Therefore, potential causes of these parameters should be considered in the rehabilitation of type 2 diabetic patients.

A study on the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Clinical Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive disease negatively affecting health-related quality of life. The related scales in Turkish are limited in number and generalizability. OBJECTIVE: To perform validity and reliability studies of the Turkish version of the Clinical Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Questionnaire (CCQ). METHODS: This study was conducted at the Department of Chest Diseases, with 100 volunteer COPD patients with a mean age of 67.72 ± 9.78 years. After obtaining the necessary permission, translation procedures were applied for Turkish cultural adaptation. Finally, a single Turkish translation was created, and this questionnaire was evaluated by linguists. Incomprehensible items were corrected in a pilot study. Baseline and test-retest measurements after two weeks were performed. Internal consistency analysis was made for validity, and correlations were calculated with the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnea Scale and Respiratory Function Tests (RFTs). RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha value was found to be 0.90 for the first obtained data and 0.91 for the second obtained data. There was similarity at the rate of 0.97 between the first and second measurements in terms of total scores of the CCQ. The questionnaire significantly correlated with the SF-36, mMRC and RFTs (-0.85 ⩽r⩽ 0.69, p< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: As a result of this study, the Turkish version of CCQ was determined to be reliable and valid. The CCQ is an easy-to-use questionnaire in terms of application-calculation and can be safely used for the clinical assessment and monitoring of patients.