Risk factors for urinary incontinence in Turkish women. A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between conventional risk factors and urinary leakage among a random sample of adult Turkish women. METHODS: Six hundred and fifty patients (mean age 33.2 +/- 10.6 years; range 17-65 years) attending 6 Primary Health Care Centers in the Eastern Marmara Region, Turkey were randomly enrolled in this study, between September 2005 and December 2005. After signing their informed consent, all patients filled in a questionnaire consisting of questions inquiring any kind of urinary leakage, related symptomatology and personal medical history. RESULTS: One hundred and six women (16.4%) with urinary incontinence (UI) were reported. The most frequent type of incontinence was mixed UI (n=65, 61.3%). The prevalence of stress UI among all incontinent women was 20.8% (n=22) and urge UI 17.9% (n=19). The prevalence was associated with age, body mass index and parity. Number of pregnancies was positively correlated with prevalence of incontinence (r=0.30, p<0.001). Women who had >2 deliveries had a higher risk of UI (odds ratio = 4.04, 95% confidence interval, 2.37 to 6.89, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of this study supported previous reports revealing that age, body mass index, type of deliveries and number of pregnancies/deliveries are risk factors of UI, and showed that age, body mass index and number of pregnancies should be regarded as independent risk factors.

Parents' knowledge and behaviour concerning sunning their babies; a cross-sectional, descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: For centuries, sunlight has been used for therapeutic purposes. Parents still sun their infants to treat neonatal jaundice, nappy rash or mostly to supply vitamin D for bone development as a consequence of health beliefs. In this study we aimed to assess knowledge and behaviour of parents about benefits of sunlight and sun protection. METHODS: In this study, parents attending to governmental primary healthcare units for their children's routine vaccinations, upon their informed consent, were consecutively enrolled during one month. Data were collected by a semi-structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean age of 118 enrolled parents and their babies were 27.9 +/- 6.5 years and 8.3 +/- 5.8 months, respectively. Most of the participants were mothers (93.2%), housewives (81.4%) with an educational level of > or =6 years (71.2%). Sunlight was considered beneficial for bone development (86.4%), diaper rash (5.9%) and neonatal jaundice (12.7%). In case of neonatal jaundice 72.0% of the participants reported that they would consult a physician. Most of the participants (82.2%) were sunning their babies outdoors. Nearly half (49.7%) of them got this information from medical staff. Fifty two percent of the parents were sunning their babies before 10-11 a.m. and/or after 3 p.m. Only 13.6% of parents reported using sunscreen for their babies, and the majority of them were using sun protecting factor > or = 15. One forth of the sunscreen users was using sunscreen according to their physicians' advice. CONCLUSION: Most of the participants were aware of the benefits of sunlight; especially for bone development. However they were displaying inappropriate behaviour while sunning their babies for health reasons. More education should be given to parents about the danger of sunlight at primary health care units while advising to sun their babies, if any.

Intentional sun exposure in infancy in Sakarya, Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent of intentional sun exposure in infancy, and the prevalence of maternal belief that potentially increases the children's harm risk from ultraviolet radiation. The major determinants of mothers' beliefs and behaviors regarding sunning were also assessed. METHODS: Three hundred and ninety six Caucasian women mothering 0-12 month old infants, attending to Sakarya State Hospital Healthy Infant outpatient clinic in November 2003, filled in the questionnaire after giving their informed consent. Each mother was asked 11 structured questions regarding maternal education, beliefs regarding benefits or harms of sun exposure, use of sunlight for therapeutic purposes, use of sun protection, and source of knowledge. RESULTS: The mean age of the mothers was 27.37 +/- 5.36 years and the children was 5.71 +/- 3.53 months. Two hundred and thirty-five mothers (64.1%) believed that sunlight is harmful, but 296 (79.7%) named one benefit of intentional baby sunning. Sun causes cutaneous diseases was the most frequently (n=83/126) mentioned harm and sun strengthens bones and teeth was the number one (n=250/296) benefit according to the mothers. The leading source of knowledge for the beneficial effects of the sun was health care professionals (physician, midwife, nurse) 45.7% (130/284). There was no significant correlation between mothers' sunning behavior and age, education level, being advised so by a health care professional or believing that the sun was harmful. CONCLUSION: As these results display being the leading source of knowledge and initiative of healthy/risky behaviors, primary health care physicians/workers have to be informed regarding the vitamin D supplementation and risks of sun exposure.

Tanning youth: knowledge, behaviors and attitudes toward sun protection of high school students in Sakarya, Turkey.

The aim of this study was to assess, by means of an in-school questionnaire, the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of high-school students in Sakarya, Turkey concerning sun protection and skin cancer. The knowledge and behavior scores of girls were higher than those of boys, whereas boys had better attitude scores.