Occupational diseases are diseases directly induced by work and working conditions. In the Republic of Croatia, according to the procedure set out by law, occupational diseases are reported and ...recognized by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund and registered and monitored in the Registry of Occupational Diseases kept by the Croatian Institute for Public Health – Department of Occupational Health. Diagnoses are under responsibility of occupational medicine specialists and are carried out according to modern occupational health criteria, which include determining the clinical picture of the disease and the damage caused by the work process. The recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease is extremely important for the worker considering the financial and pension benefits according to the applicable laws and regulations. Most workers who have had COVID-19 as a professional disease do not get the disease recognized as an occupational disease while they are sick. The length of the acute disease is shorter than the process of application and evaluation of occupational disease. However, the recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease may be important for the future. Should any of the complications (e.g. post COVID-19 syndrome) arise in the future, the worker holds their rights under health insurance. The scientific and healthcare community is still in the process of evaluating and recognizing complications of COVID-19 disease and their long-term impact on health and work ability. Key words: occupational disease, legislation, public health, occupational medicine
In this review, we have explored the relationship between overtraining syndrome (OTS) and bone stress injuries among paralympic athletes. OTS is a complex condition that arises from an imbalance ...between training volume, nutrition, and recovery time, leading to significant negative effects on paralympic athlete's performance and overall well-being. On the other hand, bone stress injuries occur when abnormal and repetitive loading is applied to normal bone, resulting in microdamage accumulation and potential. The prevalence of overtraining syndrome and bone stress injuries among athletes highlights the need for a better understanding of their relationship and implications for prevention and management strategies.
A literature review from the PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases including the MeSH keywords "overtraining syndrome", "bone", and "paralympic athletes".
Studies have consistently shown that athletes engaged in endurance sports are particularly susceptible to overtraining syndrome. The multifactorial nature of this condition involves not only physical factors, but also psychological and environmental determinants. In addition, the diagnosis and management of OTS and bone stress injuries present challenges in clinical practice.
Currently, there are no definitive biochemical markers for overtraining syndrome. The diagnosis is based on a combination of subjective measures such as questionnaires, symptoms checklists, and objective biomarkers, including hormone levels, inflammatory markers, and imaging studies. However, these diagnostic approaches have limitations regarding their specificity and sensitivity.
Eating and lifestyle habits of first (n=169) and sixth (n=272) year students, aged 18 to 26 years, attending a Medical School in Zagreb, were compared related to the years of study. A ...self-administered questionnaire created for this study incorporated a food frequency questionnaire. Both year students reported similar number of meals per day, irregular consumption of meals, skipping breakfast, frequency of vegetables, fruits, cereals, sweets, milk and dairy products consumption, body mass index (BMI) calculated from self-reported weight and height and alcohol consumption. Significant differences between groups were observed in consuming supper (p = 0.001), being on diet (p = 0.032), intake of supplements (p = 0.041), meat (p < 0.001), dried meat (p = 0.027), coffee and tea consumption (p = 0.016), physical activity (p = 0.041; p = 0.016), and smoking (p = 0.029). This study showed non-healthy eating arid lifestyle behavior among Medical School students. We observed association between the year of study, and some of the eating habits and lifestyle factors.
This study investigated 5-year cumulative incidence of unhealthy dietary habits across various gender and age groups within the CroHort study, a repeated cross-sectional survey of Croatian adults. ...The results monitoring the frequency of certain foodstuffs consumption indicate that 10.6% of examinees (10.9% of men, and 9.1% of women) reported worsening of their dietary habits in 2008 as compared to 2003. The cumulative incidence of unhealthy diet was higher in men than in women, and was highest in younger age-groups (18-34 years), both in men and women. The public health programmes should be strengthened in a way which would put a special emphasis on education of younger adults, especially males, on nutrition health impact and healthy diet principles.
Gender related differences in respiratory disease have been documented. The aim of this study was to investigate gender related differences in respiratory findings by occupation. We analyzed data ...from 12 of our previously published studies.
Three thousand and eleven (3011) workers employed in "organic dust" industries (1379 female and 1632 male) were studied. A control group of 806 workers not exposed to any kind of dust were also investigated (male = 419, female = 387). Acute and chronic respiratory symptoms and lung function were measured. The weighted average method and the Mantel-Haentszel method were used to calculate the odds ratios of symptoms. Hedge's unbiased estimations were used to measure lung function differences between men and women.
There were high prevalences of acute and chronic respiratory symptoms in all the "dusty" studied groups compared to controls. Significantly less chronic cough, chronic phlegm as well as chronic bronchitis were found among women than among men after the adjustments for smoking, age and duration of employment. Upper respiratory tract symptoms by contrast were more frequent in women than in men in these groups. Significant gender related lung function differences occurred in the textile industry but not in the food processing industry or among farmers.
The results of this study suggest that in industries processing organic compounds there are gender differences in respiratory symptoms and lung function in exposed workers. Whether these findings represent true physiologic gender differences, gender specific workplace exposures or other undefined gender variables not defined in this study cannot be determined. These data do not suggest that special limitations for women are warranted for respiratory health reasons in these industries, but the issue of upper respiratory irritation and disease warrants further study.
Ozljede i bolesti mogu znatno utjecati na stvaralačku sposobnost, kreativnost i dostignuća umjetnika. Povezanost uvjeta i načina rada s pojavom bolesti u umjetnika prepoznata je već u srednjem ...vijeku. Tjelesna zahtjevnost izvedbe, gdje se tijelo koristi kao instrument izražavanja, može uzrokovati ozljede i razvoj profesionalnih bolesti koje mogu dovesti do nemogućnosti umjetničke interpretacije na očekivanoj razini, prekinuti aktivnosti i onemogućiti nastavak profesionalne karijere. Plesači su jedna od skupina umjetnika/izvođača koji su izloženi specifičnim rizicima i kojima treba specifična zdravstvena zaštita, što nije moguće ostvariti bez poznavanja mehanizama nastajanja ozljeda i uvažavanja posebnosti potreba plesača. Mnogi plesači teže visokim umjetničkim i estetskim kriterijima izvedbe, pri čemu često protežu svoje tjelesne mogućnosti i izdržljivost i zanemaruju vlastita tjelesna ograničenja. Zdravstveni problemi plesača obuhvaćaju čitav niz ozljeda, profesionalnih bolesti i bolesti vezanih uz rad koji se kreću od stresa i straha od nastupa sve do poremećaja u prehrambenim navikama. Također obuhvaćaju ozljede mišićno-koštanoga sustava, sindrome prenaprezanja i trenažnoga preopterećenja koje može uzrokovati karakterističnu topološku pojavu boli, koja je često početak kroničnih zdravstvenih problema kod plesača. Navedeni zdravstveni problemi plesača sve su češće područje zanimanja liječnika različitih specijalizacija, unaprjeđenja i provođenja preventivnih programa, dijagnostičkih metoda i liječenja u tom djelu populacije.
Injuries and diseases can significantly affect the creativity and artistic performance. The link between working conditions and artistic performance had been recognised as early as the medieval age. ...Physically demanding performance arts such as dance can sometimes result in injuries, illnesses, inability to perform, and even end artist's career. Dancers are exposed to specific risks and in need of specific medical care. Many dancers often stretch their physical capabilities and endurance and neglect their physical limitations. Their health problems include a number of work-related illnesses that range from stress and stage fright to metabolic and nutritional disorders. They also include musculoskeletal injuries due to overload training that are often the beginning of chronic health problems.
The aim of this study was to investigate the dietary habits of the adult Croatian population according to geographical regions and gender. Date was obtained from the Croatian Adult Health Survey ...questionnaire, carried out in six regions of Republic of Croatia (Eastern, Northern, Central, City of Zagreb, Mountainous and Coastal), with a total of 9,070 responses. Results have shown that the highest prevalence of unhealthy dietary habits was recorded in Eastern and Central regions, while Coastal region and city of Zagreb had significantly lower prevalence of unhealthy dietary habits (P < 0.05). Prevalence of unhealthy dietary habits was higher in men in all regions. Women had healthier dietary habits, what was strongly expressed in Coastal and Mountainous region. This study has shown that the unhealthy dietary habits were practiced by approximately one quarter of the adult population, regardless on the region in which they resided. Regional differences in dietary habits should be taken into account in any new public health studies and interventions.
Medical history and relationship to the medical conditions as well as to the music creativity and productivity of some of the classical European composers have been described. In this review article ...we analyzed their illnesses as well as association between physical or mental diseases and their creativity and adaptability to disease. Some classical composers suffered from organic diseases, while others complained of mental disturbances. However, in spite of their disorders, the intensity of their creativity mostly remained unchanged.
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