Evaluation of school teachers' sociodemographic characteristics and quality of life according to their cigarette smoking status: a cross-sectional study from the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.

INTRODUCTION: Smoking related health disorders are particularly common after long-term cigarette use and accordingly cumulative side effects of smoking usually do not appear in younger individuals. Therefore, for evaluating the contemporary effects of smoking in healthy individuals quality of life has become a fundamental criterion. In this study our aims are evaluating factors affecting school teachers' smoking status and comparing quality of life them according to their cigarette smoking status. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study, conducted between March 1 and June 30, 2015, included all government school teachers in Hopa. A sociodemographic data form and World Health Organisation Quality of Life-bref (WHOQL-bref) questionnaire were used. Statistical analysis was performed via SPSS 20. To evaluate the reliability of the WHOQOL-bref questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha co-efficiency was calculated for each domain separately. RESULT: Statistical analysis was performed on 327 participants' data. The mean age of the teachers was 34.2 ± 8.73 and 50.2% of them were female. Most of the teachers were never smokers (67.8%) and current smokers' made up 20.1% of the population. Mean Fagerström score of current smokers was 4.1±1.96. Multinominal logistic regression analysis showed that there was a positive association between male gender and current smoking (OR= 2.25; 95% CI: 1.17-4.32; p< 0.05). Perception of quality of life and perception of health status scores were lower in the current smoker group as compared to never smokers (p< 0.05). However, other quality of life domains were not significantly different among smoking groups. Also, none of the quality of life domains differed significantly according to current smokers' nicotine dependence level. CONCLUSIONS: This study reflected a decrease in current smoking prevalence among school teachers compared to previous years. Also, the perception of quality of life and perception of health status scores were lower in the current smoker group as compared to never smokers.

The role of nailfold capillaroscopy in interstitial lung diseases - can it differentiate idiopathic cases from collagen tissue disease associated interstitial lung diseases?

INTRODUCTION: Nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC) is a non-invasive diagnostic test that is mostly used for early diagnosis of collagen tissue diseases (CTDs). We aimed to evaluate whether NFC findings could be a clue for discriminating idiopathic interstitial lung diseases (ILD) from CTD associated ILDs (CTD-ILD). Additionally it was aimed to determine whether NFC could be helpful in discriminating usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern from non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) pattern. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We grouped patients into three main groups: 15 CTD-ILD, 18 idiopathic ILD, and 17 patients in the control group. The CTD-ILD group was split into two subgroups: 8 patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SJS)-associated ILD and 7 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated ILD. The idiopathic-ILD group consisted of 10 idiopathic NSIP and 8 IPF patients. The control group consisted of 10 SJS and 7 RA patients without lung disease. None of the patients were on acute exacerbation at the time of examination, and none had Reynaud's phenomenon. RESULTS: Mean capillary density was significantly reduced only in the CTD-ILD group as compared to the control group (p= 0.006). In subgroup analysis, it was determined that RA-ILD, IPF, and SJS-ILD subgroups had more severe capillaroscopic abnormalities. Mean capillary density in patients with the UIP pattern was reduced compared to patients with the NSIP pattern and those in the control group; p values were 0.008 and < 0.001, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study is to be the first describing and comparing the nailfold capillaroscopic findings of patients with NSIP and UIP patterns. NFC findings can be helpful in discriminating UIP patterns from NSIP patterns. But to show its role in differentiating idiopathic disease, more studies with more patients are needed.