Makale Arama

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between hematologic diseases and SARS-CoV-2
infection in patients who have been been diagnosed with a hemat ologic disease after COVID-19 infection.
Patients and Methods: The ones who had a previously history of COVID-19 infection among the patients
diagnosed with any malign or autoimmune hematologic disease were evaluated between April 1, 2020 – April
1, 2021, retrospectively. The Patients who had the COVID-19 infection and the patients who had not were
compared.
Results: Twenty-four (7.8%) patients of 305 newly diagnosed who had a previously history of COVID-19
infection were determined. The most common diagnosis was non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in both of the groups.
Although it was not statistically significant, frequency of NHL and aggressive NHL were most common in
the patients with history of COVID-19 (25.1% vs 23.1%; p=0.143 and 66.6% vs 56.9%, p=0.094). The basic
hematologic parameters were similar between the two groups. The median time between COVID-19 infection
and the hematologic diagnosis was 4.1 (0.6-11.8) month; the minimum duration was in the patient with
Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura and the maximum was the one with Multiple Myeloma. The median time
up until the diagnosis was longer in the malign group (4.5 vs 2.5 months; p=0.070).
Conclusions: As a result of the study, it has been emphasized that COVID-19 may have an etiological factor
for malign and hematologic diseases with autoimmune pathogenesi s.

Aim: To compare patients applied with tracheotomy because of prolonged intubation before the COVID-19
pandemic and during the pandemic.
Patients and Methods: A retrospective examination was made of the records of 179 patients with a tracheotomy
opened following prolonged intubation in the Intensive Care Unit of Karaman Training and Research Hospital
between September 2018 and August 2021. The patients were separated into two groups as group 1 (n:80)
of patients with tracheotomy in the 18-month period before the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2018 –
February 2020) and group 2 (n:99) of patients with tracheotomy during the COVID-19 pandemic (March
2020-August 2021). The two groups were compared in respect of demographic characteristics, duration of
intubation, early and late complications associated with tracheotomy, and patient outcomes (exitus, discharge
to home, transfer to palliative and other wards).
Results: Group 1 comprised 45% females and 55% males and group 2 comprised 51% females and 49%
males, with no statistically significant difference determined between the groups in respect of gender. A
statistically significant difference was determined between the groups in respect of age and the duration
of intubation (p<0.05). Tracheotomy-related complications were not determined to be significantly different
between the groups (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The patients in this study with a tracheotomy opened during the COVID-19 pandemic were
observed to be younger than patients with tracheotomy applied before the pandemic. In addition, the duration
of intubation was determined to be longer during the pandemic t han in the pre-pandemic period.

Aim: In this study, it was aimed whether biochemical parameters, vital signs and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio
(NLR) values could be used in determining the indication for intensive care hospitalization in COVID-19
patients.
Patients and Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted in the emergency department
of a university hospital. Patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test who applied to our hospital on 1-31 July
2020 were included in the study. Laboratory results, demographic findings and clinical results of the patients
were collected electronically. The patients were divided into 3 groups as discharged, admitted to the service
or intensive care unit. The incidence and severity of symptoms, comorbidities, laboratory values, and NLR
values were compared between the groups.
Results: A total of 489 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the included patients was 48.69
+ 17.25 years, of which 260 (53.16%) were female. While 248 (50.9%) of these patients were discharged,
207 (42.3%) were taken to the service and 33 (6.7%) to the intensive care units. Age, heart rate, urea,
creatinine, CRP, D-dimer and NLR values of the patients admitted to the intensive care unit were higher
than the other groups, while oxygen saturation was statistically significantly lower in this group. Concomitant
systemic diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus, Essential Hypertension, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease were more common in those hospitalized in the intensive care unit. In multivariable analysis, oxygen
saturation (OR:0.803) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (OR:1.09) were found to be independent predictors of
the indication for hospitalization in the intensive care unit.
Conclusion: As a result of our study, we think that especially low oxygen saturation and high neutrophillymphocyte
ratio can be used in determining the indication for intensive care hospitalization in patients who
apply to the emergency department due to COVID-19.

Aim: In this pre-and post- study, we aimed to compare changes in urological consultations and emergencies
between before and after the pandemic at the same time period o f 2019 and 2020 as two groups.
Patients and Methods: Patient files were retrospectively screened and numbers of consultations, surgeries
and admissions were evaluated. The two groups compared in terms of triage color codes, and final decisions.
Patients’ demographic data such as age and gender, triage color code, consultation order clinic, type of visit
(regular vs control), and operational data (type of surgery, prophylaxis status, place of OR etc) were recorded.
Results: A total of 89,674 patients presented to the emergency department in the 50-day period in 2019 and
53,745 patients in the same period of time in 2020. The number of patients presenting to the emergency
department decreased by 40.07% within the same period compared to the previous year. The percentage of
patients with the green triage code was decreased in 2020 by 30% compared to 2019, while the percentage
of yellow triage code was increased in 2020 by 28.9% compared to 2019. There was a dramatic fall in urology
visits in 2020 by 85.91%.
Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, and it seems likely to continue for some time, despite
all efforts including vaccination programs and novel drugs that will also become available in a short time. The
number of patients cosulted with urology outpatient clinic has decreased during the pandemic.

Aim: The prolonged process of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and related restrictions cause
physical inactivity, fear of COVID-19, and fatigue in individuals. During the pandemic, kinesiophobia may
raise fear of death and physical inactivity in patients. However, kinesiophobia and its relationship with
physical activity (PA), fear of COVID-19, and fatigue in individuals have not been known yet, which was
therefore aimed to investigate in the current study .
Patients and Methods: Adult individuals (n=166, 36.3±15.37 years) were included in the study.
Kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia), PA levels (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-
Short Form), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCS-19)), and fatigue (Numeric Rating Scale)
were evaluated remotely between 3 June 2021 and 30 June 2021 th rough an online platform.
Results: Of the individuals, 91 (54.8%) had a high level of kinesiophobia, 55 (33.1%) were inactive, 84
(50.6%) were minimally active, and 27 (16.3%) were very active. Kinesiophobia score was significantly
correlated with age, weight, body mass index, education level, and walking, total PA, FCS-19, and fatigue
scores (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Kinesiophobia and physical inactivity are prevalent in many individuals. Although individuals
have no disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, their kinesiophobia level increases as walking, physical
activities, and education levels decrease. Kinesiophobia also increases as age, weight, body mass
index, fear of COVID-19 and fatigue increase. Considering the negative effects of kinesiophobia and the
prolonged pandemic process, individuals should be urgently dire cted to P A counseling programs.

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical features and consultation process of the patients who
were consulted from the pediatric emergency department to the surgical departments during the pandemic
period, and to compare the findings with the data before the pa ndemic.
Patients and Methods: The research was conducted between 11.03.2020-11.03.2021 in the pediatric
emergency department of our hospital. The enrolled patients at 0-18 years of age were retrospectively
evaluated in terms of gender, age, diagnosis, consultation result, consultation response time. Our study was
compared with the prepandemic data between 01.01.2019 and 31.12 .2019.
Results: Of the patients; 42,4% were female and 57,6% were male. The mean age was 6,9±4,9 years. It
was determined that 27,3% of our patients were consulted to one of the surgical clinics with the diagnosis of
foreign body, 22,2% acute abdomen, 10.6% foreign body aspiration. It was found that 38,5% of the patients
were consulted to the pediatric surgery department, 33,9% to the otolaryngology department and 11,4% to the
thoracic surgery department. The mean consultation response time was 72,2±48,8 minutes. The distribution
of diagnoses, consultation response time, consulted surgical departments, consultation results by age groups,
and distribution of the consultation response times by surgical departments during the pandemic were found
to be statistically significant compared to the pre-pandemic pe riod (p<0,05).
Conclusion: In our study, it was found that the number of patients admitted to the pediatric emergency
department decreased during the pandemic period, the number of hospitalizations increased, the diagnoses
associated with trauma and close physical contact decreased, and the diagnosis of epididymorchitis increased.
In addition consultation response times were observed to be con siderably longer.

Aim: The aim of this study is to examine whether the timing of surgery in our elderly patients with a
diagnosis of hip fracture changed before and after the pandemic, and whether this situation caused an
increase in mortality .
Patients and Methods: The patients who were operated with the diagnosis of hip fracture between March
2019 and March 2020 in our hospital database were accepted as in the pre-pandemic period, and the
patients who were operated with the diagnosis of hip fracture between April 2020 and April 2021 were
considered as in pandemic period. Both groups were statistically compared in terms of age, gender,
waiting time for surgery , length of hospital stay and one year mortality .
Results: When the factors af fecting mortality were examined, the time elapsed until surgery significantly
increased mortality. While the mean waiting time for surgery was 27.6±19.4 hours in all patients, it was
25.7±19.1 hours in Group 1 and 29.6±19.6 hours in Group 2 and there was a significant difference between
the two groups (p=0.043). The cut-off value of the waiting time for surgery, which caused mortality, was
determined as “23.35” hours. While no significant increase in mortality was found in Group 1 (p=0.340),
the increased delay for surgery in Group 2 affected mortality significantly (p=0.027).
Conclusion: In this study, it was found that the increase in the delay of admission for surgery over 23.35
hours in the elderly population after hip fractures was directly associated with one year of mortality
and also we think that the waiting time for surgery in the pandemic conditions is one of the factors that
negatively af fect mortality in these patients.

Aim: Diabetes, which has turned into a pandemic in the twenty-first century, concerns all branches of medicine. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of diabetes unawareness by checking HbA1c in patients hospitalized in clinics other than internal medicine and evaluate the factors associated with them.

Patients and Methods: The study included 630 patients hospitalized outside internal medicine services at or over the age of 18 whose anthropometric measurements could be made. The sociodemographic properties and comorbidities of the patients were recorded. Their anthropometric measurements, fasting blood glucose and HbA1c measurements were made. Those without a known diabetes diagnosis but with an HbA1c value of ≥6.5% were grouped as diabetes unaware. The differences among known diabetes, diabetes unaware and no diabetes  groups  were examined.

Results: The study was conducted between 01.03.2017 and 31.12.2017. The mean age of the patients was 58.04±18.56, while 54.6% (n=344) were male. The number of the patients with known diabetes was 190 (30.2%), 396 (62.9%) did not have diabetes, and unknown diabetes was detected in 44 (7%). Among the 234 patients with diabetes, 18.8% (n:44) had diabetes unawareness. The rate of those under the age of 45 in the diabetes unaware group (11.4%) was higher than that in the known diabetes group (3.7%) (p<0.01). Again, the rate of the male sex was also higher among the same individuals (68% vs 47.9%, p:0.15). The rate of overweight in the diabetes unaware group (56.8%) was higher than those in the known diabetes (37.9%) and no diabetes (39.1%) groups (respectively, p:0.36, p<0.01). There was no significant difference among the three groups in terms of educational levels. The rate of comorbidity presence was higher in the known diabetics (89.5%) than the diabetes unaware group (75%) (p:0.01). All patients with diabetes were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. The male sex, age<45 years, being overweight and absence of a comorbidity were associated with diabetes unawareness.

Conclusion: Undiagnosed diabetes was detected in 7% of the patients. Among all diabetic patients, 18.8% had diabetes unawareness. Conducting diabetes screening with HbA1c in inpatients and paying special attention to those under 45, males, overweight patients and those without comorbidities may help detect unknown diabetes.

This study was retrospectively registered at the Protocol Registration and Results System (Clinicaltrials.gov PRS)  with the registration number NCT04694326.

Aim: This study evaluated the antibacterial effect of gaseous ozone on multi-drug resistant (MDR)
pathogens with regard to time dependency. Controlling infections with MDR bacteria became a big
challenge for health care professionals. Therefore, the major corcern should be altered to alternative
therapies.
Materials and Methods: The study was performed in Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Medical
Faculty Hospital, Department of Medical Microbiology Laboratory between 21 March to 15 April 2021. Ten
MDR bacteria were evaluated in vitro using in the Petri dishes at seven bacterial concentrations (102-
108 bacteria/dish). The ozone showed its efficacy on these MDR bacteria under the following conditions
applied: 40 μg/ml at 10, 20 and 40 minutes and control (no gas was used). After 24 hours incubation of
plates, the average colony counts for each exposure time of ozone were figured out and transformed to
Log10.
Results: Taking acccount the mean bacterial reduction (log10), the bactericidal effect of ozone was
determined on only methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, VIM-1 producing Klebsiella pneumoniae
and Carbapenem resistant-Acinetobacter baumannii in 10 minutes exposure. The optimum effect was
generally observed within 20 minutes on tested isolates. However, the MDR-Pseudomonas aeruginosa
showed a relatively lower response to ozone. All bacteria was inactivated over the level at 99% at the end
of the 40 min exposure to ozone.
Conclusions: The gaseous ozone showed satisfactory bactericidal activity on MDR pathogens and its
effect depens on exposure time and type of bacteria. Taken into account, the need for new approaches
for the control of microbial infections in the pandemic world, the optimization of ozone therapy should be
undertaken high priority and more in vivo studies are needed to support in depth understanding of the
ozone ef fect on the inactivation of MDR bacteria.

STUDY AIM: In this study, it was aimed to identify the accurate and inaccurate conceptions among the society on COVID-19 disease, which is considered as a public health problem and has a high risk of transmission. 

METHODS: The research was performed online at https://docs.google.com/forms in May 2020. The questionnaire form was composed of 40 queries, which were on sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19. Following the study, the answers obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed by inserting related data to the software of SPSS. 

RESULTS: Of 580 participants involved in the study, 363 (62.6%) were female. The median age of the participants was 34.0 (18.0-77.0). Of the individuals who completed the questionnaire, 342 (59.0%) were married and 438 (75.5%) were university graduated and / or postgraduated. Of the individuals included in the study, 497 (85.6%) stated that they watched television / news channels to be informed about COVID-19. Most of the questions related to COVID-19 were answered accurately by the participants. The percentage of the premise, which was answered most accurately, was 577 (99.5%), whereas the lowest percentage of the accurately answered premise was 137 (23.6%). It was found that there was a statistically significant difference among the genders in terms of the percentage of accurate responses to the conceptions (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: It was determined that the vast majority of the participants utilized from at least one news resource on COVID-19. Participants typically have accurate knowledge about COVID-19. Educational programs can be planned to enhance the awareness of the society about the conceptions, which were answered mostly inaccurately.

Objective: To determine the effect of COVID-19 infection on anxiety level in pregnant women.

Material and Methods: In this study, a questionnaire and Beck anxiety scale were applied to pregnant women who referred to outpatient clinic for routine pregnancy control in June 2020 to determine their concerns that may be related to COVID-19. Pregnant women admitted with obstetric emergencies and obstetric risk were not included in the study.

Results: 177 pregnant women were included in the study and the pregnant women were divided into four groups according to their score on Beck anxiety scale. Anxiety level of pregnant women was 44.6%. The possibility of not being with his family at the time of birth and the fear of death due to COVID-19 were statistically significantly associated with higher anxiety levels.

Conclusions: In this process, it is important to provide psychosocial support in addition to the follow-up of pregnant women by a multidisciplinary team consisting of perinatology, newborn and intensive care specialists.