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Objectives To investigate the influence of sociodemographic characteristics and menopause perception on self-reported menopause-related symptoms among Turkish women and analyze their knowledge and attitudes towards menopause and hormone therapy. Methods This was a population-based, cross-sectional, descriptive study. A total of 1007 women were recruited while attending primary-care health clinics. Women who agreed to participate in the study gave written informed consent. Each woman completed a questionnaire and had an interview to investigate her current health problems. Results Various different problems were reported by 86% of the women, mainly hot flushes. The women who perceived menopause as a pathological period had more complaints. The level of education influenced a more positive perception of the menopause. Only 12% of women were taking a hormonal treatment. Conclusion Different perceptions of menopause among Turkish women are influenced by many factors, including cultural differences, level of education, regular exercise, social factors, and impact of the media. These need to be considered when studying the frequency and characteristics of menopausal problems.

Background: Diagnosing GABHS (Group A-beta Hemolytic Streptococcus) tonsillopharyngitis by clinical scoring is a recommended approach in developed countries, but there is still much controversy for low resource settings.Aim: We aimed to assess the impact of Centor criteria with the support of practical laboratory tests.Methods: We prospectively included patients complaining sore throat (N = 282). We evaluated them in terms of Centor scoring and performed white blood cell count (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), rapid antigen detecting test, and throat culture.Results: In GABHS cases (n = 32, 11·3%), two of the criteria were observed to be positive in more than half of the cases (n = 19, 59·3%), while 13 (40·7%) cases met three/four criteria. The specificity of having two criteria was found to be 65·5% and increased to 91·5% after including CRP and WBC.Conclusion: Centor criteria could be safely used to reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage for tonsillopharyngitis in developing countries.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore consanguinity, consanguineous marriages, their different types, and socio-demographic correlates in a suburb of Bursa, the fourth largest city in Turkey. Material and Methods: A total of 1380 ever married women, who attended the Emek Family Medicine Clinic in this suburb over a period of one year, were requested to participate in the study. Those who gave their informed consent were accepted as study participants. A total of I 110 women were interviewed. The questionnaire provided information on consanguinity and socio-demographic data. Analyses were made by using SPSS V.11.5. Results: The mean age of our study participants was (mean SE) 34.2 +/- 0.6 years. Most of them were illiterate and housewives. About one-third of the participants had consanguineous marriages and about 93% of those marriages were between first cousins. Among first cousin unions, marriage with uncle's male child was the most common. The mean coefficient of inbreeding was 0.015458. Consanguineous marriages were more prevalent among illiterate women, Consanguineous marriages were 4 times more common in women with a family history of consanguinity than in women without any such history. There were no significant correlations between consanguineous marriages and reported stillbirths, miscarriages or infant deaths. However, we found a significant relationship between consanguineous marriages and reported congenital malformations of the offspring. Conclusion: We conclude that offspring of consanguineous unions are at high risk for some congenital malformations and diseases. Hence, we recommend that families with a high risk for genetic diseases be identified and be provided with prospective genetic counseling.

Objective: To explore the prevalence, type, frequency and causes of domestic marital violence among Turkish women in a socio-economically developed metropolitan setting. Methods: A cross-sectional Study was performed in 2003. All married women, aged 18 years and over, who were visiting any of the 50 primary health care units for different purposes were asked to participate in the study. Of 1427 asked, 1010 gave consent and completed face-to-face interviews. Multiple correspondence analysis, and logistic regression were used for statistical analyses. Results: Domestic violence was statistically significantly associated with educational level. Illiterate women reported marital abuse 2.6 times more than university or more educated women. No statistically significant relationship was observed between domestic marital violence and women's age or occupation, marital duration or family income. The most frequently reported type of violence was physical, followed by psychological. Among women reporting domestic violence, those with the lowest educational level and income were experiencing all types of domestic violence frequently. Conclusion: Placing more importance oil educating girls Could be a key component ofprcventing domestic violence.