Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107129

Hediye Seval Akgün, Professor, Public Health Department, Baskent University, School of Medicine, 12.street.7/9, Bahcelievler, Ankara, 06490, Turkey, 00-90-312-2120434, sevala@baskent-ank.edu.tr, Meric Colak, PhD, Department of Healthcare Administration, Baskent University School of Health Sciences, Eskisehir Yolu 20. Km., Baglica Kampusu, Ankara, 06530, Turkey, and Özlem Aydin, PhD, Statistics, Baskent University School of Sciences, Eskisehir Yolu 20. Km, Baglica Kampusu, Ankara, 06530, Turkey.

Demographic trends and health transitions, along with changes in the distribution of risk factors, have accelerated the epidemic of non-communicable diseases in the country. Cardiovascular diseases account for 19.8 % of the disease burden while ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease are the two leading causes of mortality in all ages. Several meta-analyses had been carried out in order to identify the incidence and prevalence of some selected chronic diseases like asthma, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, all types of malignant neoplasms and neuropsychiatric disorders. 20.000 published and un-published documents such as articles, theses, congress documents and reports were evaluated. To select the most appropriate document, a coding system was developed that used the format and information providing important for rating the data. The main important criteria for rating were, population description, sampling strategy and some quality indicators such as type of survey, classification of exposure, risk factors are conformable with the standards and /or follow the reference methods. Each of the categories was given 1 point. Evaluations were made on a total of 10 possible points: fewer than 4 points was considered an indication of poor quality and not included into database. About 290 articles were selected as relevant to our topics and specified criteria. According to 85 surveys selected for hypertension showed that the prevalence in the country changed from 15.7 % to 56.7 % according to the regions and age groups while 47 survey results revealed that diabetes mellitus rose from 3.48 % to 13.5 %.

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