Tal Bergman-Levy MD MHA, Oren Asman LLB LLM LLD, Eyal Dahan MD, Binyamin Greenberg MD, Shmuel Hirshmann MD and Rael Strous MD MHA
Background: In Israel a general code of ethics exists for physicians, drafted by the Israel Medical Association. The question arises whether psychiatrists require a separate set of ethical guidelines.
Objectives: To examine the positions of Israeli psychiatrists with regard to ethics in general and professional ethics in particular, and to explore opinions regarding a code of ethics or ethical guidelines for psychiatry.
Methods: A specially designed questionnaire was compiled and completed by psychiatrists recruited for the study.
Results: Most participants reported low levels of perceived knowledge regarding ethics, professional ethics, and the general code of ethics. Older and more experienced professionals reported a higher level of knowledge. Most psychiatrists agreed or strongly agreed with the need for a distinct code of ethics/ethical guidelines for psychiatrists. This support was significantly higher among both psychiatrists under 50 years and residents.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the existing code of ethics and position papers may not be sufficient, indicating a potential need to develop and implement a process to create the ethical code itself. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of ethics education, suggesting that the need for a code of ethics is more urgent in the early stages of professional training, as younger professionals may be more exposed to advanced media technology. While some may fear that a distinct code of ethics will distance psychiatry from modern medicine, others assert that the profession combines aspects from the humanities and social sciences that require a unique sort of management and thus this profession requires a distinct code of ethics.
Aharon Kessel MD, Yael Graif MD, Zahava Vadasz MD, Vered Schichter-Konfino MD, Meital Almog MD, Shai Cohen MD, Valery Teplitski MD, Nili Stein MPH, Ilaria Baiardini PhD, Marcus Maurer MD and Elias Toubi MD
Background: Chronic urticaria (CU) is a common disabling disorder. The CU-Q2oL (Chronic Urticaria Quality of Life Questionnaire) is a specific questionnaire for evaluating quality of life in CU patients. It consists of 23 items divided into six quality-of-life dimensions. It was initially developed in Italy and later validated in other countries.
Objectives: To validate and adapt the CU-Q2oL to the Hebrew language in order to make it suitable for use in Israel.
Methods: The CU-Q2oL questionnaire was translated to Hebrew. A group of 119 CU patients were asked to complete this version, in addition to the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Urticaria Activity Score (UAS) questionnaires. A factorial analysis was performed to identify CU-Q2oL subscales, internal consistency and convergent validity assessment, as well as factors determining quality-of-life scores.
Results: The factor analysis identified six scales of the Israeli CU-Q2oL: (i) sleep and concentration, (ii) function and mental status, (iii) embarrassment and clothing limitations, (iv) itching, (v) eating behavior and medication side effects, and (vi) swelling, which accounted for 77% of the data variance. Five scales showed good internal consistency over 0.81. The mean ± SD score of CU-Q2oL in our patients with CIU was 41 ± 21.7. We found a strong positive correlation between the overall scores of CU-Q2oL and DLQI questionnaires (r = 0.8, P < 0.01). Additionally, we found a positive correlation between UAS and both CU-Q2oL and DLQI (r = 0.62, P < 0.01, and r = 0.53, P < 0.01, respectively).
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the Israeli CU-Q2oL questionnaire is suitable for both clinical use and research in Israel.
Ron Lavy MD, Yehuda Hershkovitz MD, Lital Keinan-Boker MD and Ariel Halevy MD
Background: Gastrointestinal malignancies comprise a broad spectrum of neoplasms and have a high overall incidence. The incidence rates in Israel vary among ethnic groups due to different risk factors.
Objectives: To investigate incidence trends of these cancers in Israel in both Jewish and Arab ethnic groups in order to better understand the risks in those groups.
Methods: This study is based on data published by the Israel National Cancer Registry and the Central Bureau of Statistics. We compared statistics between ethnicities and genders. We examined the eight most common gastrointestinal cancers, focusing on colon, rectal and gastric cancers.
Results: Between 1980 and 2012 there was a decline in the incidence of gastric cancer in the Jewish population; in contrast, a significant increase occurred in Arab women, but there was no significant change in Arab men. Colon cancer showed a relative decrease in incidence in the Jewish population, but an increase in the Arab population. A decrease in the incidence of rectal cancer in the Jewish population and an increase in the Arab population was observed.
Conclusions: Gastric, colon and rectal cancers exhibit differences in incidence and outcome between Jewish and Arab populations in Israel. These differences were not observed in the other five types of less common gastrointestinal cancers.
Galit Pomeranz MD, Avishalom Pomeranz MD, Alexandra Osadchy MD, Yigal Griton MD and Ze’ev Korzets MBBS