Objective: Smoking is a significant health problem as the main cause of many diseases. In this study we aimed to investigate the early stage changes in the quality of life and the lung function following the cessation of smoking and to investigate the relationship between these changes in the patients who admitted to our smoking cessation outpatient clinic. Methods: A total of 112 smoking cessation patients who admitted to Turgut Ozal Medical Center Smoking Cessation outpatient clinic were investigated. The patients answered a questionnaire, a health quality test Quality of Life Assessment Scale (SF-36), Fagerström Nicotine Addiction Test (FNAT) and they were given Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) and the test and repeated at the end of the first and the third months. “SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows 22.0” was used for statistical analysis and a p< 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance. Results: The analysis was carried out on 112 individuals who applied to the smoking cessation polyclinic. FEV₁(L), FVC (L) and FEF25-75 (L) values were significantly lower in females compared to males and there was not any difference between the groups in FEV₁/ FVC (L) values (p> 0.05). We observed no improvement in terms of pulmonary function tests (PFT) after smoking cessation whereas a significant development was observed in terms of life quality (p< 0.05). Conclusion: We found that respiratory functions did not improve after smoking cessation whereas the quality of life improved significantly in the early period. While the effects of smoking cessation on the respiratory functions and quality of life on long term are emphasized in the literature, in this study we demonstrated that the quality of life improves regardless of respiratory functions in the early period of cessation.

Purpose: COVID-19 pandemic has created a serious psychological impact worldwide since it has been declared. This study aims to investigate the level of psychological impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on Turkish population and to determine related factors. Methods: The study was carried out by using an online questionnaire using the virtual snowball sampling method. The sociodemographic data were collected on the following subjects: Participants’ experience on any signs of infection within the last month, the history of COVID-19 contact-treatment-quarantine, level of compliance with precautionary measures, the sources of information and level of knowledge about the pandemic process and their belief levels on the knowledge they acquire. Besides, questions that take place in the depression, anxiety, stress scale (DASS-21), and impact of events scale (IESR) were asked. Results: Of the 3549 participants, anxiety was found in 15.8%, depression in 22.6%, stress in 12.9%, and psychological trauma in 20.29%. Female gender, young age, higher education level, being single, high monthly income, presence of psychiatric illness, a high number of people living together, having any signs of infection, and contact history with COVID-19 infected person or contaminated object are identified as risk factors that may increase psychological impact. Compliance with the rules was found to reduce the risk of psychological response. Conclusions: During the pandemic, reducing the spread of the virus and knowing the risk factors in protecting the mental health of individuals will be guided in determining the measures to be followed and the policies to be followed.