Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women over the world. To reducing reoccurrence and mortality rates, adjuvant hormonal therapy (AHT) is used for a long period. The major barrier to the effectiveness of the treatment is adherence. Adherence to medicines among patients is challenging. Patient beliefs in medications can be positively or negatively correlated to adherence. Objectives: To investigate the extent of adherence and factors affecting adherence, as well as to investigate the association between beliefs and adherence in women with breast cancer taking AHT. Method: A cross-sectional study included 124 Iraqi women with breast cancer recruited from Middle Euphrates Cancer Center. Morisky medication adherence scale (MMAS) and beliefs about medication questionnaires (BMQ) are used to assess adherence and beliefs respectively. Result: 25% of women were fully adherent (MMAS = 8). 83.06% of all women developed side effects from medications received. Side effects and unemployed women were significantly associated with non-adherence. Additionally, there is no significant association between beliefs in medications and adherence. conclusion The enormous percent of poor adherence caused by side effects suggests the need for interventions by educating patients about the importance of their treatment and how to overcome side effects.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disorder that is a serious health concern all over the globe, it is linked to Interleukin-10 (IL-10) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the promoter region. On the other hand, diabetes influences the cellular and humoral immunity predisposing the patient to a variety of opportunistic parasites one of them is Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), which may infect any nucleated cell, including pancreatic cells. The purpose of this research was to explore the association of IL-10 genetic polymorphisms with T2DM and latent toxoplasmosis among Iraqi patients with T2DM. Fifty-five and fifty-eight venous blood samples were taken from T2DM patients and age-matched non-diabetic person
... Show MoreBackground: Urolithiasis and hypertension are prevalent and clinically significant conditions in the Middle East, both influenced by shared metabolic and environmental risk factors. Understanding the potential association between them is important for guiding prevention strategies. Objective: To explore the relationship between urolithiasis and hypertension in a sample of Iraqi adult patients. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted at Alkindy Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, from September 2024 to March 2025. Participants included 237 patients with confirmed urinary tract stones and 244 controls confirmed to be stone-free, matched for age and sex. Exclusion criteria included secondary hypertension, chronic kidney di
... Show MoreCombination of natural poly-phenolic compounds with chemotherapeutic agents is recently being a novel strategy in cancer therapy researches owing to their potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that modulate several intracellular signaling pathways.
Resveratrol and Baicalein are well known poly-phenolic compounds that belong to stilbene and flavone subclasses, respectively.
This study aims to investigate the possible enhancement effect of resveratrol and Baicalein when combined with doxorubicin using a different combination ratio and applied on two cancer cell lines: HCT116 (colorectal cancer cells) and HepG2 (hepatocellular cancer cells). It also investigates the possibility of such natural compounds to p
... Show MoreABSTRACT:
Objectives: The study aims to know the effectiveness of the educational program in the patient’s adherence to medication and diet and to know the relationship between the effectiveness of the education program and their demographic data related to the patient’s age, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, monthly income and residence.
Methodology: A quasi -experimental design study was performed on patient who attended to Gastroenterology and Hepatology Teaching Hospital, from March 2021 to September 2021. The non-probability sampling including 50 patients for case study and 30 patients for control group. The questionnaire consists of 3 parts, part one the socio
... Show MoreThe study objective was to conduct Pharmacoeconomics study (cost-effective analysis) between infliximab reference (Remicade) and its biosimilar (Remsima) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Iraqi hospitals.
This is a retrospective multicenter pharmacoeconomic analysis conducted at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq which provided infliximab to patients with RA. Data were collected from patient’s medical records and face-to-face interviews with the patients from December 2021 to April 2022.
The study included 57 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The patients were categorized into two groups according to the type of infliximab they received over 30 weeks: 27 patients received
... Show MoreBackground: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the top ten most common cancers worldwide. There are multiple risk factors for CRC, one of which is aging. However, in recent years, CRC has been reported in children. Objective: To describe the main characteristics and symptoms of CRC as well as highlight pathologic data for early-onset CRC. Methods: 79 CRC patients were recruited from the Oncology Teaching Hospital in the period February–December 2022. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic and clinical data. Results: 25 (31.6%) of patients were below 50 years of age. 52 (65.8%) patients had tumors in the colon. The most common symptom is bleeding per rectum in both age groups. There was no significant difference in patholog
... Show MoreObjective To highlight the main demographic characteristics and clinical profiles of female patients registered with breast cancer in Iraq; focusing on the impact of age.Methods This retrospective study enrolled 1172 female patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer at the Main Center for Early Detection of Breast Cancer/Medical City Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Data were extracted from an established information system, developed by the principal author under supervision of WHO, that was based on valid clinical records of Iraqi patients affected by breast cancer. The recorded information regarding clinical examination comprised positive palpable lumps, bloody nipple discharge, skin changes, bilateral breast involvement, tumor
... Show MoreTyphoid fever (TF) is a systemic infection caused by Salmonella Typhi (Salmonella Enterica) transmitted through contaminated water, food, or contact with infected individuals. In various infectious diseases, blood viscosity (BV) is affected by changes in hemoglobin concentrations and acute phase reactants. Inflammatory responses can lead to elevated plasma protein levels and further affect BV. This study aimed to investigate BV changes in patients with acute TF. A cross-sectional study was performed involving 55 patients with acute TF compared to 38 healthy controls. BV and inflammatory parameters were measured in both groups. TF patients showed reduced blood cells compared to healthy controls (p=0.001). Additionally, plasma total protein (
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