Browsing by Author "Bulajic, Milica (24281134800)"

Background: The increasing prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) is reported worldwide. Illness perception (IP) assessment is warranted in current routine clinical practice to assist communication between patients and medical staff, and improve adherence to treatment and disease outcome. Objective: To investigate a group of patients with AR in terms of their IP by the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) and to correlate the findings with demographic and clinical features. Methods: In this observational questionnaire-based study, a successive series of patients treated for AR at the Allergology and Immunology Teaching Hospital, Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade, were enrolled from September 2010 to January 2011, and 93 valid questionnaires were analyzed. Each item of the BIPQ assessed one dimension of IP like the consequences, timeline, personal control, treatment control, identity, coherence, emotional representation and concern. Results: The patients' average age: 35.25±12.42; male/female ratio: 0.79; the overall BIPQ score=34.69±11.89. The highest item-related scores were found for treatment control (8.17±2.28), illness understanding (7.34±2.96) and emotional representation (6.30±3.45), and the lowest for identity (4.8±2.78) and affection (4.83±2.65). Women compared with men perceive AR as a significantly more threatening disease (P=0.04). No significant correlation between the BIPQ total or item-related scores was found for any other demographic or clinical feature. Conclusion: The BIPQ, which allows rapid assessment of IP and reveals gender differences in AR, is a convenient tool for use in routine clinical practice. Further investigation is needed to demonstrate how IP may influence patients' behavior in AR, treatment adherence and disease outcome. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

In this observational study based on an original questionnaire, we investigated a group of health care workers--smokers employees of a teaching hospital in terms of basic features of tobacco smoking. A total of 137 smokers were asked to answer the questions on voluntary basis and anonymously. Response rate was 70%: a total of 96 participants with valid questionnaires consisted of 93% women, predominantly nurses (71%); mean age 40.5 (range 19-58 years). They started smoking at the age of 20 years on average; 83% started smoking before the age of 23. The mean smoking duration was 19.1 +/- 9.378 years and the average number of the cigarettes smoked per day was 17 +/- 7.90. They smoke 18 +/- 13.55 pack/year; 25% smoke 7.42 pack/year, 25% smoke > 27.5 pack/year. Some 59% had tried and failed to stop smoking while 61% intend to stop smoking (married significantly more intend to quit than singles). The most important reasons for smoking, in a rank order, were: a) habit (35.36%), b) nervousness (12.13%) and c) pleasure (11.11%); boredom and desire were rarely mentioned; only 7 (7.3%) stated addiction. There is an urgent need of continuous medical education on tobacco smoking as an addictive disease, its primary prevention and cure, including professional assistance in smoking cessation.

Background: Population's knowledge on tuberculosis (TB) is crucial in early seeking of medical care. Delay in diagnosis for any reason contributes to advanced forms and TB transmission in the community. Knowledge about TB in general population of Serbia is poor, including vulnerable groups. Aim: to assess knowledge about TB in a group of non medical students in University of Belgrade, their attitudes towards TB patients, sources of medical information they use or desire. Methods:- observational, questionnaire based study. University students of the Faculty of Organizational Science and Faculty of Geography completed the 27-item questionnaires voluntarily and anonymously. The questions related to TB etiology, way of transmission, risk factors and the source of health information students preffer. Statistical analysis was performed. Results: All the participants (69 students aged 20±0.777 years, 69.7% male, 30.3% female) previously heard about TB, mostly describing it as pulmonary disease. Only 22 (31.88%) selected bacillus as the only cause of TB, and 20% selected answer "I do not know". TB is curable (95%). One third does not know about TB symptoms and 45/69 (65%) think that TB is an infectious disease. Majority (78.3%) would pay visit to TB patient, 1/2 with fear of infection that is in positive correlation with knowledge on infectiousness (p=0.041). Television is the most common used source of health information. Students have the greatest confidence in doctors' information. Conclusion: Students' knowledge on TB is inadequate, especially on its cause and way of transmission. More effort is needed in university students' health education.