Examination of thesis on Aspergillosis: A Turkish sample

Abstract

Objectives: While Aspergillosis was once considered to be a threat only to neutropenic patients, it is now becoming more common in non-neutropenic patients. There should be a clearer understanding of this disease. The focus of this study was to conduct a bibliographic examination of medical specialty thesis on Aspergillosis from our country and to determine the national competency level regarding this subject. The research's secondary goal was to gather perspective for future studies. Materials and methods: The study group was composed of thesis scanned between January 1971 and January 2021 using the keywords "Aspergillosis", "Aspergillus", and "Pulmonary Aspergillosis". The thesis were scanned using the database of the Higher Education Council (YÖK) Thesis Scanning Center. In this study, the qualitative research method of document analysis (bibliometric research) was used. The obtained thesis were examined using Excel forms prepared by the researchers. The percentage and frequency values were calculated to assess the data. Results: A total of 27 thesis studies were assessed. The first thesis on this topic was published in 1986, and the most recent one was published in 2019. Between 1986 and 2001, there was no thesis on the topic. This subject accounted for 96.3% of all thesis written after 2001. The sample size ranged from 26-476, with a median value of 97.5. The majority of the thesis were prospective (85.2%), patient-related, and laboratory studies. Galactomannan (26.2%), Aspergillus antigen detection (18.5%), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (11.1%), and culture (11.1%) were the most common laboratory studies. Conclusion: Even though Aspergillus infections cause significant mortality and medical expenditures, research in this field has been slower than expected. The number of studies on this topic, as well as their content, needs to be increased.