Central European journal of public health最新文献

Objectives: The aim of this study was to confirm the relevance of knowledge a dentist has regarding obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), considering the fact that based on specific risk factors a dentist may be the first clinician to identify patients who are at risk of being affected by this serious condition.

Methods: The cohort consisted of 53 subjects who underwent a routine dental examination. Anthropometric data and data on tongue size (Mallampati classification), tonsil size (Friedman classification), daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale) and systemic risk factors were recorded in a record sheet. On the basis of the monitored parameters, selected subjects underwent polysomnography in order to objectivise the parameters observed.

Results: Polysomnography confirmed a 96% success rate in our identifying subjects as being at high risk of developing OSA. This indicates that the parameters monitored during a routine dental examination were properly selected to identify patients with this condition in advance.

Conclusion: The relevance of information dentists have about the early identification of patients with OSA may be crucial in the management of further therapy to be provided to these patients.

Objectives: An unhealthy lifestyle, inappropriate eating habits, and inadequate physical activity are the most common risk factors affecting health and causing the premature onset of non-communicable diseases. The study aimed to evaluate lifestyle factors, eating habits, and daily regimens in a sample of Slovak adolescents.

Methods: The sample involves 524 students aged 15-22 years attending selected secondary schools from the model region of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We assessed the prevalence of selected lifestyle factors and investigated the relationship between negative lifestyle factors and the presence of overweight and obesity.

Results: We found eating irregularities including avoidance of school lunch, inadequate daily consumption of vegetables, dairy products and wholegrain foods, and the high consumption of sweets and sweetened beverages. The prevalence of excess weight and obesity in the sample was 18.4%. Compared to the non-obese, overweight or obese students had significantly lower daily consumption of vegetables and used to avoid sports more frequently. Almost 37% of students did not do sports at all. Students who were not doing sports on regular basis used to skip breakfast more frequently, they ate fewer vegetables and more sweets and spent considerable time in sedentary activities.

Conclusion: In the sample of secondary school students, we investigated several negative lifestyle factors and the relatively high prevalence of overweight and obesity. The results of the study can be used for the development of preventive measures to protect and promote the health of children and youth.

Objectives: Patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are repeatedly affected by oral diseases or problems, including dental caries and periodontal diseases (PDs). Periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis are chronic inflammatory destructive diseases that share many similarities. The objective of this study was to assess oral health status including examination of hard dental tissues and periodontium in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and compare the results with healthy controls. We hypothesize some interlink between oral diseases and RA.

Methods: The epidemiological case-control study involved a total of 64 subjects divided into an experimental group (14 rheumatoid arthritis cases) and a control group (50 healthy individuals). Disease activity in the subjects with RA was assessed by the Disease Activity Score (DAS28). The number of Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT) and Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Need (CPITN) as a basic epidemiological oral health indexes were recorded. Finally, the data were analysed statistically.

Results: The RA patients (19.21, SD = 6.95) showed a higher caries index level measured by DMFT than the control group (17.72, SD = 6.19); the difference was not statistically significant (U = 387.5, p = 0.547). In terms of a mean number of teeth decayed (p = 0.078), teeth filled due to caries (p = 0.397), and missing teeth (p = 0.126), the two groups were not significantly different. In terms of periodontal health, a significant difference was observed between the two groups concerning the CPI maximum score (p = 0.003). The RA patients showed higher prevalence of periodontitis than the controls.

Conclusions: A complete basic oral examination, along with an oral health instruction including adequate oral and dental hygiene, is crucial to prevent dental caries and periodontal diseases and associated complications in RA patients, since they appear to be more vulnerable than the non-RA population.

Objectives: The main aim of the article is to indicate how selected socioeconomic factors contribute to the selected characteristics of the subjectively perceived health of seniors 65+ living in the Czech Republic.

Methods: Data collection took place in the Czech Republic from 27 January 2020 to 14 February 2020. The total number of interviews carried out in the research was 1,172, from a representative quota sample of seniors from the senior population living in the Czech Republic. Questionnaires were distributed in the form of PAPI interviews.

Results: The assessment of subjective social status increases with education and employment (these three aspects are closely linked), and the assessment transferred to the senior years.

Conclusion: The accumulation of advantages and disadvantages should encourage the Government of the Czech Republic, as well as other European states, to focus on those who, based on their low levels of education and social status, have very low assessments of their subjective health. Prevention (in both health and social fields), which includes access to information and the subsequent better life decisions, must be implemented throughout a person's lifetime (so as to reduce the disadvantages that accumulate from the cradle to the grave).

Objective: Anxiety and depression in patients following cerebrovascular accidents are among frequently occurring complications of the medical condition. The consequences affect personal, family, professional, and social life. They cause severe functional and cognitive impairments, limit the ability to perform normal daily activities, which can result in complete disability. The aim of the study was to monitor the occurrence of anxiety and depression in patients following cerebrovascular accidents hospitalized in neurological departments in the region of eastern Slovakia.

Methods: A total of 101 patients following cerebrovascular accidents, aged from 48-86 years, were included in the descriptive study. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from patients and from medical records. We determined the occurrence of anxiety disorders, depression and emotional distress in patients following cerebrovascular accidents using a standardized Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire.

Results: Data analysis confirms a high incidence of anxiety in the HADS-A subscale (9.23 ± 4.13) and depression in the HADS-D subscale (9.09 ± 4.43) during the hospitalization phase of the disease. It demonstrates the pathological occurrence of anxiety states in 37%, depression in 36%, emotional distress in 36%, and a serious degree of combination of pathological values of the anxiety subscale and the depression subscale in 27% of patients. The existence of a strong positive correlation between anxiety and depression indicators was confirmed.

Conclusion: The results confirm a high prevalence of anxiety and depression in the acute phase of the disease. The findings indicate that patients recovering from cerebrovascular accidents not only face physical difficulties and loss of independence but also struggle with anxiety and depression, which can negatively impact and slow their recovery. Given the high frequency of these psychological conditions, further research is needed to enhance the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cerebrovascular accidents.

Objectives: Many studies draw attention to the negative consequences of the pandemic or lockdown on the well-being and lifestyle of different sections of the population. This study considers whether changes occurred in dietary regime and level of physical activity during three periods - before the pandemic, during the lockdown, and during the present in older Slovak adults. We also investigate whether individual weights changed during the pandemic.

Methods: The study has a cross-sectional design. We collected 436 questionnaires from older adults (60+) living in Slovakia; 277 come from the first phase of online data collection (04/2022-06/2022) in university students of the third age, and 159 from the second phase of offline collection (07/2022-11/2022) in social service facilities. We monitored if there were any changes within the observed periods in the variables of diet regime, physical activity, and BMI. The database has been processed in IBM SPSS Statistics.

Results: During the lockdown, the frequency of physical activity decreased (p < 0.001), the quality of movement worsened (p < 0.001), and the time respondents devoted to physical activity during the week decreased (p < 0.001). At present, the variables have increased. Within the dietary regimen, statistically significant changes occurred in appetite and non-alcoholic beverage intake (p = 0.002). However, there were no significant changes in the number of daily meals (p = 0.190), or the amount of alcohol consumed (p = 0.066). The BMI of older men and women did not change after the pandemic (p = 0.519), and it did not differ between men and women either before the pandemic (p = 0.281) or after it (p = 0.449). Also there is no difference between UTA students and social facility living seniors before the pandemic (0.933) and now (0.317). The results showed that even though physical activity significantly decreased during the lockdown, the older adults in our study did not eat more during the lockdown, nor did they gain weight. However, this probably had negative consequences for the quality of their movement.

Conclusion: It is essential to simultaneously create compensatory measures while implementing future anti-epidemic (or other) measures. They would help maintain the desired amount of physical activity or other healthy habits on an optimal level.

Objectives: The study aimed to assess the attitudes of pregnant women toward vaccination against COVID-19.

Methods: The research was conducted using a diagnostic survey with our original questionnaire among 283 pregnant women. The survey was carried out in Poland in the first quarter of 2022. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS 26.0 (p < 0.05).

Results: It was shown that 140 (49.5%) pregnant women were vaccinated against COVID-19, of which 90 (64.3%) received vaccination during pregnancy. In the group of 143 (50%) unvaccinated people, only 11.9% of respondents expressed willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The most frequently cited arguments for receiving the vaccine were fear of a severe course of the disease (37.5%) and the possibility of passing antibodies to a child (37.1%). Women who did not undergo vaccination believed that they did not want to put themselves and their babies at risk (39.9%) and were concerned about adverse post-vaccination reactions (35.2%) and the safety of the vaccine (32.5%). Women with higher education and professionally active (p = 0.004) were vaccinated more often than respondents with a lower level of education (p < 0.001). Age (p = 0.101) and place of residence (p = 0.179) did not indicate statistically significant differences in decision-making regarding vaccination against COVID-19.

Conclusion: Pregnant women presented both pro- and anti-vaccination attitudes. Less than half of the respondents were vaccinated against COVID-19, and most of the women took the preparation during pregnancy. Selected socio-demographic factors determined women's attitudes toward vaccinations against COVID-19. Medical personnel should play a role in deciding whether a pregnant woman is vaccinated.

Objective: The EU global health priorities focus on ensuring better health and well-being for people throughout their lives as well as on reducing inequalities between countries. The COVID-19 pandemic can be understood as a set of several events that directly or indirectly affected the mental health of people around the world. The aim of this study was to identify the main groupings of co-occurrence of all keywords related to the main keywords "COVID-19" and "mental health" acquired through search in the Scopus database using the VOSviewer tool.

Methods: Descriptive study based on a bibliometric analysis of the occurrence of the keywords "COVID-19" and "mental health" in scientific articles retrieved from the Scopus database on 31 January 2023 covering period from 2020 to 2022 plus January 2023 in the field of medical research. The result was 1,625 articles extracted into a csv file and inserted into VOSviewer tool. By counting the number of co-occurrences of keywords using the VOSviewer, the final result was 1,211 keywords. Out of the 1,211 keywords 44 different keywords with the total power link strength of association with the keywords "COVID-19" and "mental health" were selected.

Results: The presence of high rates and power links of depression and anxiety after the pandemic situation has been confirmed by visualization of keywords in scientific articles retrieved from Scopus database. The keywords "social support", "social isolation", "perceived social support", and "dementia" inform us about potential areas of research and trigger discussion about the impact of the recent pandemic on mental health. Another warning was the occurrence of the keyword "obesity" and its association with health consequences for individuals and society. Among all countries, the United States, the United Kingdom and China contributed the most with scientific publications focusing on pandemic and mental health.

Conclusion: The visualization of the keywords "COVID-19" and "mental health", specifically "depression" and "anxiety" create a new area for further research as well as establishing preventive measures leading to protection from mental health damage in the events of possible dangers of this type.

Objectives: Smoking is a strong addiction, that affects a huge number of people worldwide, including the young ones. Due to composition of cigarette smoke, which contains nicotine and other chemical substances, lots of harmful effects on human health were described. Apart from the influence on other organs smoking is associated with hearing loss.

Methods: The literature review was conducted using PubMed and the combination of the following words: smoking, hearing impairment and hearing loss.

Results: The total number of 585 articles published in the recent 10 years were analysed. The review results show a strong association of hearing loss with smoking, both active and passive. As the main reason for hearing loss, a damage to outer hair cells was identified. Hearing loss in such cases is basically sensorineural and usually affects high frequencies. It was also observed that the risk of hearing loss increases with time of smoking. Smoking cessation reduces the risk of hearing loss associated with smoking. This article is a review of the literature that summarizes the results of studies aiming to analyse the influence of smoking on human hearing.

Conclusions: As smoking causes serious health problems, public health policies in societies should promote primary prevention as well as smoking cessation (secondary prevention) to diminish the total burden of healthcare systems.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the metabolic syndrome (MS) prevalence in a sample of adolescents, to calculate their continuous metabolic syndrome scores, and to determine the associations of continuous metabolic syndrome score with overweight/obesity and selected cardiometabolic and lifestyle factors.

Methods: We enrolled a sample of 2,590 adolescents (1,180 males, mean age 17.1 ± 1.04 years) from 14 grammar schools and 48 secondary schools in the Bratislava Self-Governing Region, Slovakia. Data were collected from a standard anthropometric examination, biochemical analysis of fasting venous blood, blood pressure measurement, physical fitness assessment, and a comprehensive questionnaire focused on selected lifestyle characteristics. Continuous metabolic syndrome score and paediatric simple metabolic syndrome scores were calculated.

Results: The criteria for the MS diagnosis according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) guidelines for children and adolescents were fulfilled in the whole sample by 38 (1.4%) adolescents; all were classified as overweight/obese. In the obese subgroup (n = 270), the MS prevalence rose to 13.3%. The largest number of adolescents was in the group without any of the MS components (67.5%). In the groups with 1, 2 or 3 MS components, males predominated; 0.6% of males and no females had 4 components of MS. The increasing number of individual components of MS is accompanied by a continuous increase (in the case of HDL-cholesterol - a decrease) of mean values mostly of blood lipid levels. Mean values of blood pressure (BP) and anthropometric parameters were highest in the group with three MS components. Significant correlations with body fat content or with selected lifestyle factors were not found. Using the continuous MS score calculation we found 31 adolescents, of whom 14 (45.2%) had only 1 or at most 2 MS components, i.e., they did not meet the criteria for the MS diagnosis.

Conclusion: From the point of view of atherosclerosis prevention and early intervention, it is extremely important to monitor the MS prevalence in children and adolescents, especially in the current obesity pandemic. The paediatric MS score calculation is simple and accurate, allowing assessment of the severity of cardiometabolic risk in individuals even before the diagnosis of MS. The continuous MS score is useful in identifying individuals at increased risk and in the management of preventive health care for children and youth.