To examine the relation between perceived exposure to parents, siblings, and peers' substance use and self-reported substance consumption among early adolescents in Primorsko-goranska county, ...Croatia, and between perceived exposure to substance use and risk-taking behaviors such as going out late at night, gathering at secluded places, skipping school, and gambling.
A self-reported cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2007 among 2219 eight-grade (14-year old) pupils in elementary schools in Primorsko-goranska county. Exposure to substance use in their immediate social environment, self-reported consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, inhalants, and marihuana, ways of spending free time, and family and peer relationships were assessed.
There was a significant association between perceived exposure to substance use and self-reported consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, inhalants, and marihuana in both sexes (P < 0.001). Pupils whose parents, siblings, and peers used substances significantly more often developed the same behavioral patterns. Level of exposure to substance use in the immediate social environment had the strongest effect on experimenting with smoking among girls (from 26.6% in low exposure to 76.2% in high exposure group) and among boys (from 15.8% in low exposure to 69.4% in high exposure); on regular everyday smoking among girls (from 4.4% in low exposure to 45% in high exposure group) and among boys (from 2.7% in low exposure to 36.7% in high exposure group); on hard liquor consumption among girls (from 25.1% in low exposure to 79.5% in high exposure group) and among boys (from 28.1% in low exposure to 78.4% in high exposure group), as well as on binge drinking among girls (from 10.9% in low exposure to 56.6% in high exposure group) and among boys (from 15.5% in low exposure to 62.4% in high exposure group). Girls and boys exposed to substance use engaged more often in risk-taking and potentially delinquent behaviors (F(2, 1180) = 166 502; P < 0.001, two-way ANOVA).
High exposure to substance use in immediate social environment and its great impact on substance use among early adolescents indicate that there is a need for the introduction of preventive programs that would reduce inappropriate behavior among adolescents' social models.
Procjenom zdravstvenog stanja stanovnika data je slika zdravlja Primorsko-goranske županije, na temelju koje se mogu identificirati i ocijeniti zdravstvene potrebe stanovništva. Prilikom procjene ...zdravlja i zdravstvenih potreba stanovnika Županije korištena je rutinska zdravstvena i demografska statistika i analizirani su demografski i zdravstveni pokazatelji. U istraživanju zdravstvenih pokazatelja korišteni su podatci Svjetske zdravstvene organizacije u strategiji unaprjeđenja zdravlja „Zdravlje za sve u 21. stoljeću” i podatci mortalitetne statistike Hrvatskog zavoda za javno zdravstvo, a analiza pokazatelja provodila se deskriptivnom statističkom metodom, prvenstveno komparativnom analizom. Razina prikaza i interpretacije podataka jest Županija, odnosno njezine četiri podregionalne cjeline.
Doprinos je ovoga rada podrška donositeljima odluka u promicanju, održavanju i unaprjeđenju zdravlja u zajednici, odnosno kvalitete življenja stanovništva na području Županije u cijelosti. Ocjena može poslužiti za odabir novih prioriteta, kao i podloga za izradu smjernica budućih intervencija u zajednici.
Assessing the health status of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County residents a picture of the health of the county in the health context will be obtained. This would identify and evaluate the health needs of the population. The health and health needs of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County residents were assessed using routine health and demographic statistics. For Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, demographic and health indicators were analyzed. In the research of health indicators, the data of the World Health Organization from the health improvement strategy “Health for all in the 21st century” and the data of mortality statistics of the Croatian Institute of Public Health were used. The analysis of the indicators will be performed by a descriptive-statistical method, primarily by comparative analysis. The level of representation and interpretation of data was the County and its four subregional units. The contribution of this paper consists of supporting decision-makers to promote, maintain and improve community health and quality of living in the County on the basis of measuring the health needs of the population. The assessment could serve for selecting new priorities as well as the basis for developing guidelines for future interventions in the community.
Aim To estimate the prevalence of selected behavioral risk factorsfor cardiovascular diseases in the western region of Croatia and todetermine the differences based on age and gender.Methods A ...national survey on health status and health behavior ofthe adult population has been conducted. The representative sampleof 10,766 households for six officially defined regions of Croatiahas been determined, and Western region has been included with1,562 inhabitants, aged 18 years and older. The overall responserate of administered face-to-face questionnaire was 85-6%. Prevalencerates per 100 inhabitants (smoking, eating habits, alcoholconsumption, physical activity, socio-economic characteristics,chronic conditions) have been determined.Results Nearly half (46.3%) of the adults were smokers or hadquit smoking less than 10 years ago. Prevalence of high bloodpressure was high amounting to 40.6% and it was higher in middleaged males (46.7%, p<0.01) and young males (13.7%), p<0.01).Prevalence of obesity was 38.9%, highest in females aged 35-64(51.2%, p<0.001) and 65 and older (73.8%, p<0.01).Almost a quarter of respondents (23.3%) has been insufficientlyphysically active, especially young females 22.5%, p<0.01).Conclusion There was a significant difference in the prevalenceof all observed behavioral risk factors according to the gender andage. Moreover, smoking tobacco has been found as the most frequentrisk factor in the observed population.
Pregledni rad o najznačajnijem društvenom problemu koji ima za cilj zainteresirati i pokrenuti društvo radi revitalizacije Gorskog kotara, ali na objektivnoj vrijednosti jednoga kraja koji su ...nazivali „Mala Švica“ (mala Švicarska), a danas ga zovu „Zeleno srce Hrvatske“. Slijedom takvih slogana koji idealiziraju jedan kraj, a stvarnost je depopulacija tog područja, pitanje je kako zaustaviti ta negativna kretanja. Odgovor je jednoznačan, treba krenuti od djece.
Three institutions: Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorsko-Goranska County, Croatian Association "Albert Einstein" and Eye Clinic "Dr B.Vojnikovid" Rijeka agreed a five-year project to ...study children's health status of vision at Primorsko-Goranska County. Main task was the study of damage of vision in children due to prolonged sun exposure. Examination were conducted on a three locations, with the assumption of varying insolation: Island of Rab, Novi Vinodolski and Delnice. The study included children aged between 9 to 14 years. The study included 189 children. Except routine ophthalmologic examinations in addition were preformed biomicroscopic examination of the anterior segment of the eye, intraocular pressure and eye fundus. In a certain number of children with suspect of a specific disease (macular degeneration, glaucoma and refractive error), additional tests were performed: glaucoma treatment, field of vision, optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the eye and detailed eye refraction. This study specifically addressed of refractive error at that three different regions. It was found that the most difficult situation was at the Novi Vinodolski where as many as 40% of children have a refractive error, followed by Island of Rab with 17% and Delnice with 9%. Especially like to mention that on the island of Rab, 50-60 years ago, it was a very rare occurrence of some refractive errors in children.
From the beginning of the human race people have been applying different methods to change the genetic material of either plants or animals in order to increase their yield as well as to improve the ...quality and quantity of food. Genetically modified organism (GMO) means an organism in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. Analysing the presence of GMO in food is done by detecting the presence of either specific DNA sequences inserted in the genome of transgenic organism, or detecting proteins as a result of the expression of the inserted DNA. In this work food testing for the presence of genetically modified organisms was conducted during the period from 2004 to 2007 in the GMO laboratory of the Croatian National Institute of Public Health. According to the regulations, among the samples in which the presence of GMO was detected, all those which had more than 0.9% of GMO content were either rejected from the border or removed from the market, because such GM food has to be appropriately labelled. Among the food samples which were analysed in 2004: 127 (2.37%) of a total of 1226 samples contained more than 0.9% of GMOs; in 2005 there was only one in 512 (0.20%) samples in total; in 2006 there were 4 out of 404 samples (0.99%), and in 2007: 7 of a total of 655 samples (1.07%) had GMO content above the allowed threshold of 0.9%.
Patient satisfaction has been a widely investigated subject in health care research. Quality of care from the patient perspective, especially in home health care, however has been investigated only ...very recently. Home health care is a system of care provided by skilled practitioners to patients in their homes under the direction of a physician. Multidisciplinary nature of home health care services present challenges to quality measurement that differ from those found in a more traditional hospital settings. The aim of the study was to investigate the satisfaction of elderly patients living on islands with home health care. Participants receiving skilled nursing care in their homes, for any diagnosis, who met selection criteria, were surveyed about their perception of the quality of health care. The research was conducted during the year 2010 among the residents of Kvarnerian islands (Krk, Cres and Mali Losinj) under the authority of Croatian Institute for Health Insurance that approved the protocols employed in the investigation. Most older patients (96.2%) reported high levels of satisfaction with health services delivery. Common leading diagnosis among home health care patient include diseases of circulatory system (28.9% of patients), nutritional and metabolic disease (14.5%), malignant diseases (13.2%), musculoskeletal and connective tissue disease (11.8%), diseases of the nervous system (9.2%), followed by injury and poisoning (7.9%). Provision of home health care was well received by elderly patients. Home health care providers seek to provide high quality, safe care in ways that honour patient autonomy and accommodate the individual characteristics of each patients home and family. The demographics of an aging society will sustain the trend towards home-based care. Therefore, research on effective practices, conducted in home health care settings, is necessary to support excellent and evidence-based care.
Smoking among pupils of secondary medical schools is of particular public health interest because of their role in the health system in the future. The study was part of the survey of smoking among ...students of Croatian medium medical schools. Data of 3 survey periods were available (1990-2002-2006). Specific smoking trends among 14-18 year olds were examined using odds ratios and multiple regressions. Sex ratios were calculated for each survey period. Daily smoking prevalence in 1990 was 15.9% in boys and 14.1% among girls. Occasional smoking in 1990 occurred among 8.9% of boys and 15.0% of girls. Twelve years after, smoking prevalence increased for daily smoking in boys to 32.9% and among girls to 30.4%. Occasional smoking decreased to 6.3% in boys, and increased to 17.8% among girls. There were no remarkable changes in prevalence from 2002 to 2006. Among adolescents in Croatia, there was high risk for smoking among adolescent population. High smoking rate among pupils of medical schools predicts not only high mortality due to smoking over 20-30 years, but also implicates for bad habit among professional health workers, if no policy interventions were taken.
Increasing burden of melanoma in Croatia Malatestinić, Dulija; Nadarević-Stefanec, Vesna; Suljić, Petra ...
Collegium antropologicum
35 Suppl 2, Številka:
supp 2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Melanoma consists 4-5% of all skin cancers, but it contributes to 71-80% of skin cancers deaths. It is controversial whether worldwide increases in melanoma incidence represent a true epidemic but at ...the same time that dramatic increase in incidence occur in setting of relatively stable mortality trends, observed in Croatia also. The majority of authors accept that main risk factors for melanoma relate to environmental exposure and genetics with epidemiologic studies linking sun exposure to melanoma development. Data were obtained from Croatian cancer register for patients diagnosed between 1999 and 2008, for malignant melanoma of the skin (ICD-10 code C43) at national level and from 2003 to 2008, at the County level (Primorsko-goranska County). Melanoma incidence nearly doubled in males from 8.75 to 13.4/10(5) per year, fold in females from 9.1 at the start of observation to the end of 12.0/10(5) per year in Croatia. Melanoma incidence rates were much more higher for Primorsko-goranska County with range from 10.1 to 17.5/10(5) per year. The greatest increase of melanoma incidence rates was in males 60 years and over year group at diagnosis. National comparison of variation in cancer incidence by region and age can provide basis for public health prevention. It requires the integration of information on risk factors, incidence that could help to reduce regional inequalities in incidence and reduce the future cancer incidence.
The prevalence of environmental diseases is increasing worldwide and these diseases are an onerous burden both to the individual and to the public health. Urban air pollution is a grave problem in ...majority of metropolises, which contain high levels of traffic congestion generating great amounts of genotoxic substances. The contribution of such environmental exposure to increase prevalence of many allergic, environmental diseases and multiple chemical sensitivity or other related syndromes, as a result of an abnormal immune response based on environmental damage of lymphocyte subsets, is marked. Benzene is one of the most important air pollutants that are emitted by oil industry, since they are involved in almost every refinery process. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a major group of air pollutants and play a crucial role in ecological damages, disturbing the ecosystem and human health. The variability of pollutants is an important factor in determining human exposure to these chemicals. The immune system possess a capacity to distinguish between innocuous and harmful foreign antigens and controls this action by mechanisms of central and peripheral tolerance, where crucial role play regulatory T cells (Tregs). We analyzed the characteristics of human Tregs of inhabitants living near gasoline industry which have assessed moderate spyrometric tests and compared them with those situated in rural areas. Our data demonstrate that the chronic inhalation exposure increases the percentage of Tregs cells, but contrary those of inhabitants with decreased spirometry values have shown diminished number of Tregs, which may contribute to the new therapeutic approach of environmental diseases.
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