Different tobacco and related products, like waterpipe, e-cigarettes, are gaining popularity among adolescents in different countries; the data for Slovenia is currently limited. The purpose of this ...paper is to present the latest data on the use of different tobacco and related products, with or without flavours, among 15-year old students in Slovenia.
Data for 15-year-old students were drawn from 2014 Slovene database of the cross-national survey Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children. The survey sample was selected with stratified two-stage sampling method. The survey was performed in schools with a self-administered web questionnaire. The survey questionnaire included international compulsory, selected optional and national questions, all on a variety of topics related to youth health behaviour.
25.2% of 15-year-old students reported current (past 30-day) use of any tobacco related product, mainly cigarettes (93.1% of users), followed by waterpipe (11.7%) and cigars, cigarillos and pipes (9.4%). Exclusive use of unconventional products is low (5.1% of users). 85.5% of users of any product used one product, 48.5% of users used products with flavours. The use of different products, one or more products, and flavoured products was related to gender.
A comprehensive tobacco control and prevention must address all tobacco and related products.
Multimorbidity presents an increasingly common problem in older population, and is tightly related to polypharmacy, i.e., concurrent use of multiple medications by one individual. Detecting ...polypharmacy from drug prescription records is not only related to multimorbidity, but can also point at incorrect use of medicines. In this work, we build models for predicting polypharmacy from drug prescription records for newly diagnosed chronic patients. We evaluate the models' performance with a strong focus on interpretability of the results.
A centrally collected nationwide dataset of prescription records was used to perform electronic phenotyping of patients for the following two chronic conditions: type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). In addition, a hospital discharge dataset was linked to the prescription records. A regularized regression model was built for 11 different experimental scenarios on two datasets, and complexity of the model was controlled with a maximum number of dimensions (MND) parameter. Performance and interpretability of the model were evaluated with AUC, AUPRC, calibration plots, and interpretation by a medical doctor.
For the CVD model, AUC and AUPRC values of 0.900 (95% 0.898-0.901) and 0.640 (0.635-0.645) were reached, respectively, while for the T2D model the values were 0.808 (0.803-0.812) and 0.732 (0.725-0.739). Reducing complexity of the model by 65% and 48% for CVD and T2D, resulted in 3% and 4% lower AUC, and 4% and 5% lower AUPRC values, respectively. Calibration plots for our models showed that we can achieve moderate calibration with reducing the models' complexity without significant loss of predictive performance.
In this study, we found that it is possible to use drug prescription data to build a model for polypharmacy prediction in older population. In addition, the study showed that it is possible to find a balance between good performance and interpretability of the model, and achieve acceptable calibration at the same time.
Background
SARS-CoV-2 infection does not confer long immunity. However, studies suggest that prior infection is associated with lower risk of reinfection and milder outcomes of recurrent infections. ...The aims of this retrospective observational case-control study were to describe the clinical and molecular characteristics of genetically confirmed Delta reinfection cases and to assess the potential protective role of preceding infection on the severity of reinfection.
Methods
We used next generation sequencing (NGS) to explore if cases with two positive real time RT-PCR tests > 90 days apart were infected with a different SARS-CoV-2 variant. Cases with confirmed reinfection between August 1st and October 31st, 2021 (the Delta wave) in Slovenia were matched 1:4 by age, sex and timeframe (week of positive test) with individuals with primary infection. Sociodemographic and epidemiologic data, vaccination status, and data on hospitalization and outcome of infection were retrieved from several centralized and standardized national databases. Additional epidemiologic surveys were performed on a limited number of cases and controls.
Results
We identified 628 cases of genetically confirmed reinfection during the study period and matched them with 2,512 control subjects with Delta primary infection. Primary infections in individuals with reinfection were mainly caused by B.1.258.17 (51.1%), followed by B.1.1.7 (15.1%) and reinfection was detected on average 271 days after primary infection (range 101–477 days). Our results show a substantially lower probability of hospitalization in cases with reinfection compared with controls (OR: 0.21,
p
= 0.017), but no significant difference was observed in intensive care unit admission and deaths. We observed a significantly lower proportion of vaccinated individuals among cases compared to controls (4.5% vs. 28.2%), suggesting that hybrid immunity leads to lower probability of reinfection. Detailed analysis of the temporal distribution of variants, responsible for reinfections, showed no significant differences in reinfection potential.
Conclusion
Reinfection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant resulted in fewer hospitalizations compared to the primary Delta infection, suggesting that primary infection may, to some extent, produce at least short lasting protective immunity. This study provides additional insight into the reinfection dynamics that may allow appropriate public health measures to be taken in subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite decreasing COVID-19 disease severity during the Omicron waves, a proportion of patients still require hospitalization and intensive care.
To compare demographic characteristics, ...comorbidities, vaccination status, and previous infections in patients hospitalized for community-associated COVID-19 (CAC) in predominantly Delta, Omicron BA.1 and BA.4/5 SARS-CoV-2 waves.
Data were extracted from three national databases-the National COVID-19 Database, National Vaccination Registry and National Registry of Hospitalizations.
Among the hospitalized CAC patients analyzed in this study, 5,512 were infected with Delta, 1,120 with Omicron BA.1, and 1,143 with the Omicron BA.4/5 variant. The age and sex structure changed from Delta to BA.4/5, with the proportion of women (9.5% increase), children and adolescents (10.4% increase), and octa- and nonagenarians increasing significantly (24.5% increase). Significantly more patients had comorbidities (measured by the Charlson Comorbidity Index), 30.3% in Delta and 43% in BA.4/5 period. The need for non-invasive ventilatory support (NiVS), ICU admission, mechanical ventilation (MV), and in-hospital mortality (IHM) decreased from Delta to Omicron BA.4/5 period for 12.6, 13.5, 11.5, and 6.3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed significantly lower odds for ICU admission (OR 0.68, CI 0.54-0.84,
< 0.001) and IHM (OR 0.74, CI 0.58-0.93,
= 0.011) during the Delta period in patients who had been fully vaccinated or boosted with a COVID-19 vaccine within the previous 6 months. In the BA.1 variant period, patients who had less than 6 months elapsed between the last vaccine dose and SARS-CoV-2 positivity had lower odds for MV (OR 0.38, CI 0.18-0.72,
= 0.005) and IHM (OR 0.56, CI 0.37- 0.83,
= 0.005), but not for NIVS or ICU admission.
The likelihood of developing severe CAC in hospitalized patients was higher in those with the Delta and Omicron BA.1 variant compared to BA.4/5.
INTRODUCTIONElectronic cigarettes (ECs) have generated extensive discussion about their role in smoking cessation. The Slovenia National Institute of Public Health's recommendations state that ECs ...are not to be recommended for smoking cessation or reduction. The aim of this study was to explore how healthcare professionals working in the field of preventive healthcare and smoking cessation in Slovenia communicate with and counsel patients regarding electronic cigarettes and smoking cessation or reduction. METHODSA cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted among healthcare professionals working in the field of preventive healthcare and smoking cessation in Slovenia. A total of 479 healthcare professionals were included in the analysis. RESULTSWhile a minority of participants (12.7%) do or would recommend electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation or reduction in general, a higher proportion of participants (33.1%) would recommend electronic cigarettes to specific groups of patients. Knowledge on electronic cigarettes was the key determinant of differences in recommendations. Only a minority of participants (9.1%) reported availability of workplace guidelines/recommendations regarding counselling about electronic cigarettes. CONCLUSIONSTraining programmes, educational materials and existing guidelines/recommendations regarding counselling about electronic cigarette use should be provided and distributed among healthcare professionals, together with efforts to ensure compliance to official guidelines/recommendations.
Introduction: While the co-use of tobacco and cannabis is common among adolescents, no data on this topic is currently available for Slovenia. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore the ...prevalence and characteristics of tobacco and cannabis co-use in 15-year-old students in Slovenia.Methods: We analysed the data obtained from a representative sample of 15-year-old Slovene students (n = 1615) who took part in the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children international cross-sectional survey, and performed a chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analyses.Results: Lifetime tobacco and cannabis use was reported by 19.5 % of 15-year-old students with no gender difference (p = 0.108) and was associated with history of drunkenness (OR = 8.18, 95 % C.I. 5.74−11.64), friends' use of cannabis (OR = 3.93, 95 % C.I. 2.67−5.79) and tobacco (OR = 1.83, 95 % C. I. 1.25−2.69), and with lower perceived family support (OR = 0.88, 95 % C.I. 0.80−0.97). Current co-use was reported by 7.2 % with no gender difference (p = 0.136) and was associated with a history of drunkenness (OR = 8.06, 95 % C.I. 4.43−14.67), friends' use of cannabis (OR = 3.72, 95 % C.I. 2.23−6.19) and living in a reconstructed family (OR = 3.33, 95 % C. I. 1.74−6.40).Discussion and conclusion: Our study advocates for expanding preventive and cessation programmes from one to more psychoactive substances. Peers and family are the key factors which need to be addressed in theseprogrammes. They can be reached through the school and healthcare systems. Environmental prevention measures, including legislative measures, create environments promoting healthy choices and thus contribute to the reduction of such co-use.
Monitoring of health behaviors, especially of adolescents, is essential for the future of each nation. Over the last decades, many changes have occurred in all aspects of our lives, affecting the ...health and quality of life of all people, including children and adolescents. The study is based on a quantitative research method. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of Slovenian 11-, 13- and 15-year-old adolescents, using a standardized international questionnaire (HBSC study--Health Behavior in School-Aged Children). The survey was carried out with the assistance of school counselors in the spring of 2002, 2006 and 2010 (n = 15.080). For determining the correlation between two individual years, the chi-square test (X^sup 2^) was used. The significance level was calculated using the statistical significance value of p < 0.05. Through the Cochran-Armitage trend test, it was established whether a trend existed for the selected indicators in the period between 2002 and 2010. There are some favorable trends, e.g. eating breakfast (p = 0.000), tooth brushing (p = 0.000), lower proportion of individuals who rate their health as poor (p = 0.002) and experience several psychosomatic symptoms (p = 0.000), but also unfavorable trends, e.g. decrease in physical activity (p = 0.023), increase in early alcohol consumption (p = 0.000), dissatisfaction with school (p = 0.000) and bullying others (p = 0.000). The conclusions of the analyses can serve as a useful basis for further work and development of systemic measures to promote healthy behaviours and prevent risky and unhealthy behaviours among children and adolescents.
Socioeconomic position and some subjective indicators of health in young people in Slovenia Background: Social economic conditions have an important influence on health and health behaviour. In ...Slovenia, there have been no in-depth engagements into researching the differences in the health of children and young people correlated to their socioeconomic conditions. In the article, we intend to research the connection between the socio-economic status and selected indicators of self-evaluated health and health-related behaviour in young people in our country. Methods: The research uses a quantitative methodology, namely the standard international survey questionnaire, in which 5130 11, 13 and 15 year olds were included. Sampling was performed randomly stratified; the sampling unit was a class. For the purposes of the analysis, the chi-square and logistical regression were used. Results: The analysis of the connectedness between socio-economic status and selected indicators of health and health-related behaviour in young people shows that the socio-economic status is significantly connected to all the selected indicators. However, the connectedness is mostly weak. Adolescents from families with a low socio-economic status (in comparison with adolescents from families with a high socio-economic status) more often evaluate their own health worse, are less satisfied with their own life, eat less fruit per day, are less physically active, more often evaluate themselves as overweight, wash their teeth less often and have had fewer injuries in the last twelve month. Conclusions: Measures for preventing health inequalities have to be planned from the political to the individual level. Population programs and measures that would strengthen health and safety factors for the whole population and reduce inequalities are needed, as well as special programs and measures for children and adolescents from poorer families and also their families, who will be given the opportunity for fair and equal access to activities and sources for a healthy life. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Introduction: Monitoring of health behaviours, especially of adolescents, is essential for the future of each nation. Over the last decades, many changes have occurred in all aspects of our lives, ...affecting the health and quality of life of all people, including children and adolescents.Methods: The study is based on a quantitative research method. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of Slovenian 11-, 13- and 15-year-old adolescents, using a standardised international questionnaire (HBSC study – Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children). The survey was carried out with the assistance of school counsellors in the spring of 2002, 2006 and 2010 (n = 15.080). For determining the correlation between two individual years, the chi-square test (c2) was used. The significance level was calculated using the statistical significance value of p ≤ 0.05. Through the Cochran-Armitage trend test, it was established whether a trend existed for the selected indicators in the period between 2002 and 2010.Results: There are some favourable trends, e.g. eating breakfast (p = 0.000), tooth brushing (p = 0.000), lower proportion of individuals who rate their health as poor (p = 0.002) and experience several psychosomatic symptoms (p = 0.000), but also unfavourable trends, e.g. decrease in physical activity (p = 0.023), increase in early alcohol consumption (p = 0.000), dissatisfaction with school (p = 0.000) and bullying others (p = 0.000).Discussion and conclusion: The conclusions of the analyses can serve as a useful basis for further work and development of systemic measures to promote healthy behaviours and prevent risky and unhealthy behaviours among children and adolescents.
Background: Nurses can contribute significantly to tobacco control efforts with smoking cessation advise and/or counselling, but the most important barrier for this is their own smoking. The aim of ...this study is to assess theprevalence of smoking among nurses in Slovenia. Methods: The analysis is based on data from a cross-sectional study on a nationally representative sample ofnurses, midwives and health technicians (online survey). Randomly chosen members of the Nurses and MidwivesAssociation of Slovenia responded in 51% (n=1500). We additionally obtained data on smoking status only from218 persons, who otherwise did not want to participate in the survey. Results: 20.9% of nurses, midwives and health technicians in Slovenia smoke, more men (32.9%) than women(19.6%), more in the group with secondary education (25.1%) than in the group with a higher level of education(12.1%) and more in the group more with a lower self-assessed material standard, not living with a partner, without(preschool) children and among those whose close co-workers, friends and relatives smoke in high proportion. Morethan half (52.9%) started to smoke during secondary school and a significant proportion (15.6%) during the first yearsof employment. 20% of them state that employees violate the ban on smoking in the institution where they work. Conclusion: Smoking among nurses, midwives and health technicians in Slovenia is still a too-common phenomenon and can greatly affect their mission and work on the promotion of non-smoking and smoking cessation interventions. For this occupational group, it is important to strengthen promotion of non-smoking from the beginning of the high school on and to organize appropriate smoking cessation programs PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
PDF
