Depression in postnatal women is an important public health problem in the less developed eastern part of Turkey.

Exposures to multiple chemical, physical, and biological agents in agricultural work environments can result in confounding that may obscure or distort risks observed in epidemiologic studies. The Agricultural Health Study ( AHS ) is a large epidemiology study being conducted to investigate health risks among pesticide applicators and their families. During enrollment in the AHS, questionnaires were administered to over 52,000 licensed pesticide applicators from North Carolina and Iowa, who were mostly farmers. Questions about the frequency of various farming tasks were used to estimate the prevalence of exposure to solvents ( 25% ), metals ( 68% ), grain dusts ( 65% ), diesel exhaust fumes ( 93% ), and other hazards, including exposure to pesticides. Most of the farmers in the AHS reported performing routine maintenance tasks at least once a month, such as painting ( 63% ), welding ( 64% ), and repair of pesticide equipment ( 58% ). The majority of farmers ( 74% in North Carolina; 59% in Iowa ) reported holding nonfarm jobs, of which the most frequent were construction and transportation. The majority of the farmers enrolled in the AHS ( 55% ) also reported that they mixed or applied pesticides on 10 or more days per year. The associations between the use of pesticides and the frequency with which the farmers in the AHS reported performing various types of specific farming activities were assessed to evaluate potential confounding. Confounding risk ratios calculated for these activities suggest that the magnitude of bias due to confounding is likely to be minimal.

This study was designed to evaluate the questionnaire-based prevalence and possible risk factors of occupational asthma among hairdressers in Turkey. We investigated occupational history and respiratory, ocular, dermal, and nasal symptoms using a standardized questionnaire, evaluated worksite pulmonary function tests, and performed allergen skin testing. We then determined asthma risk factors using age- and gender-adjusted logistic regression models. The prevalence of occupational asthma in hairdressers was 14.6%. The odds ratio for hairdressers in a high work intensity group was 3.6 (95% confidence interval, 1.2 to 10.9) with a significant dose-response trend (chi 2 trend = 4.875; P = 0.027). The odds ratio for occupational asthma among workers with atopy was 4.5 (95% confidence interval, 1.2 to 17.2). We also observed an excess risk of occupational asthma with allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis. Occupational asthma did not differ among subgroups of hairdressers. We observed an important risk of occupational asthma among hairdressers. The most prominent risk factors were work intensity and atopy.

The following articles refer to this text: 2002;28(4):0; 2006;32(4):253-332

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Background We evaluated (a) opinion of Syrian and Turkish healthcare workers (HCWs), and perceptions and attitudes of Syrian refugee mothers, pregnant women, fathers and grandmothers on age-appropriate breastfeeding, (b) the effect of cultural characteristics, migration and pandemics on Syrian’s infant nutrition, and (c) the suggestions of HCWs and Syrian family members to improve breastfeeding practices in the Syrian refugee society in a qualitative study. Methods The qualitative study consisting of structured focus group discussions (FGDs) was held in four provinces in Turkey where Syrian refugees live intensely in September and October 2020. Seven different types of online FGDs were held with Turkish HCWs working in maternity hospitals, Syrian HCWs working in Refugee Health Centers (RHCs), Syrian pregnant women, mothers, fathers, and grandmothers. In total, we carried out 46 FGDs with 335 individuals. Thematic analysis of the transcripts in a deductive-inductive fashion was carried out with MAXQDA 11. Results Most Syrian HCWs did not get any training on breastfeeding counseling. The short duration of breastfeeding in Syrian refugees was seen to be related to the cultural characteristics, and migration. Some cultural characteristics can be summarized as “believing that breastfeeding harms mother’s health”, “adolescent marriages”, “wanting to have as many children as possible”, “giving anise to infants and not breastfeeding at night”, “prelacteal feeding”, “believing that milk is not enough”, “over controlling mother–child interaction by grandmothers, which limits the interaction”, “short pregnancy intervals”, and “not using modern family planning techniques”. We found out that migration increased the tendency for adolescent pregnancies, deepened the poverty, and decreased family social support. We did not observe any change in breastfeeding practices during pandemics. Conclusions Breastfeeding counseling programs should be designed in consideration of cultural characteristics of Syrian HCWs and family members. Continuing health education programs for family members with socially appropriate interventions to prevent adolescent marriages are important.

BackgroundCholera remains an important public health concern in developing countries including Kenya where 11,769 cases and 274 deaths were reported in 2009 according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This ecological study investigates the impact of various climatic, environmental, and demographic variables on the spatial distribution of cholera cases in Kenya.MethodsDistrict-level data was gathered from Kenya’s Division of Disease Surveillance and Response, the Meteorological Department, and the National Bureau of Statistics. The data included the entire population of Kenya from 1999 to 2009.ResultsMultivariate analyses showed that districts had an increased risk of cholera outbreaks when a greater proportion of the population lived more than five kilometers from a health facility (RR: 1.025 per 1% increase; 95% CI: 1.010, 1.039), bordered a body of water (RR: 5.5; 95% CI: 2.472, 12.404), experienced increased rainfall from October to December (RR: 1.003 per 1 mm increase; 95% CI: 1.001, 1.005), and experienced decreased rainfall from April to June (RR: 0.996 per 1 mm increase; 95% CI: 0.992, 0.999). There was no detectable association between cholera and population density, poverty, availability of piped water, waste disposal methods, rainfall from January to March, or rainfall from July to September.ConclusionBordering a large body of water, lack of health facilities nearby, and changes in rainfall were significantly associated with an increased risk of cholera in Kenya.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2049-9957-3-37) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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