Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1)

Influence of Climate Warming on Tick-borne Encephalitis Expansion to Higher Altitudes during the Last Decade (1997-2006) in the Highland Region (Czech Republic)

Vlasta Danielová, Stanislava Kliegrová, Milan Daniel, Čestmír Beneš

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):4-11 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3460  

The steep rise in the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in the 1990s and its subsequent high level in the Czech Republic are not even over the whole territory. It is manifested markedly in the Czech-Moravian Highland region. In the decades of 1971 through 1992, TBE incidence in the Highland Region did not reach the countrywide average. The rise has been noted only since 1997; in the year 2006 TBE incidence in that administrative region was more than double the countrywide average. Analysis of the situation have not found any socio-economic shifts or land-use changes, or in the numbers of game animals, that could have had an effect on TBE incidence....

Nosocomial Rotaviral Gastroenteritis in Paediatric Departments

Mária Štefkovičová, Pavol Šimurka, Lenka Juračková, Henrieta Hudečková, Rastislav Maďar

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):12-16 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3453  

The authors present a retrospective analysis of community-acquired and hospital-acquired rotaviral gastroenteritis (RVGE) cases in a 5 years period 2001-2005 and prospective analysis in 2006 in the referral area in a population of 7,000 children under 5 years of age.Out of 228 patients with RVGE, nosocomial RVGE accounted for 27.75% of the cases. Children with nosocomial RVGE were in average 9.8 months younger compared to patients with community-acquired RVGE. Nosocomial cases were also characterised by the need for longer stay in intensive care, overall longer hospital stay, longer duration of the illness and by lower age of the patients.The...

Fruit and Vegetable Intake and the Risk for Developing Coronary Heart Disease

Maja Nikolić, Dragana Nikić, Branislav Petrović

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):17-20 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3442  

The aim of the paper was to study the relationship between dietary intake of fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of coronary heart disease. We used data from a case-control study, conducted from 2001 to 2003, among 290 randomly selected cases (mean age 59.98 ± 10.03 years) with first event of an acute coronary syndrome and 290 selected paired controls by sex, age and region (mean age 59.43 ± 10.10 years), admitted to the same hospitals as cases without any suspicion of coronary disease. Using questionnaires, we assessed fruit and vegetable intake and estimated odds ratio of developing coronary heart disease by the intake. The benefit...

Long-term Care in Developed Countries and Recommendations for Slovak Republic

Mário Ležovič, Miroslava Raučinová, Andrej Kováč, Štefánia Moricová, Roman Kováč

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):21-25 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3436  

The aging of our population represents a most significant demographic change. It represents important challenges and consequences for the nation's economic, social, and health institutions and for the health and well-being of older persons and their families.Old people over 60 are now the most rapidly growing segment of the population and represent 20% of all Slovak inhabitants. Because of the high prevalence of morbidity and disability among the elderly they are the most important consumers of health care and social care services, both extramural and intramural.Long-term care is a relatively closed system of health care and social care services....

Participation in Pharmaceutical Costs and Seniors' Access to Medicines in the Czech Republic

Jana Davidová, Natasa Ivanovic, Lenka Práznovcová

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):26-28 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3439  

Objectives: Analysis of participation in drug costs by seniors in the Czech Republic in connection with seniors' access to pharmacotherapy. Materials and methods: Quota-sampled guided interview with 450 respondents visiting pharmacy; ratio of men and women approximately 1:2; age over 60 years; 3 regions of the Czech Republic.Results: Respondent's income was retirement pension in 80 %. More than 55% of respondents did not reach the official state average. Respondents used altogether 1,650 medicines on physician's prescription in the last four weeks. Overall co-payment for medicines was 38,778 CZK, i.e. 86 CZK per patient. Only 27% of respondents...

Satisfaction with Organizational Aspects of Health Care Provision among Lithuanian Physicians

Jonas Kairys, Egle Žebiene, Virginijus Šapoka, Ignas Zokas

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):29-33 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3444  

Background: Physician satisfaction is considered an important factor influencing quality of health care provision, patient compliance, and costs to health care systems. Dissatisfaction leads to an increase in turnover of physicians and early retirement, which has a negative impact on continuity and quality of health care. Physician dissatisfaction with certain aspects of health care provision may also help to identify potential weaknesses in satisfactory functioning of health care systems. The aim of the current research project is to study the satisfaction with different organizational aspects of health care provision in Lithuania as judged by a selection...

Immunochemical Methods in Health Risk Assessment: Cross Reactivity of Antibodies against Mycotoxin Deoxynivalenol with Deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside

Jiří Ruprich, Vladimír Ostrý

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):34-37 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3455  

Co-occurrence of deoxynivalenol (DON) with other DON derivatives/metabolites and other Fusarium toxins, including zearalenone, nivalenol and as well as other mycotoxins (e.g. fumonisins) is frequently observed in food and feed. DON-3β-glucopyranoside (DON-3-glucoside) was described as detoxification product of DON in wheat. This mycotoxin conjugate was observed in maize, barley, malt, beer and wort. Digestion of this conjugate in intestine is still unclear but due to possibility to release DON after hydrolysis is considered as potential masked mycotoxin. DON is analytically quantified by various methods and also with immunochemical methods. There...

Report on the 2007 International Workshop on Human Papillomaviruses and Consesnsus Recommendations for Cervical Cancer Prevention

Magdalena Grce, Philip Davies, Marc Arbyn, Ahti Anttila, Goran Grubišić, Ika Kardum-Skelin, Amanda Herbert, Joseph Jordan, Lawrence von Karsa

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):38-40 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.b0006  

National and international experts in cervical cancer prevention met at the International Workshop on Human Papillomaviruses and Consensus Recommendations for Cervical Cancer Prevention to review the current evidence and assess the potential for improvement in cervical cancer prevention and to develop plans for implementation of cervical cancer prevention programmes in Croatia. Key recommendations were developed and adopted during the course of the meeting. The process of bringing national experts together with internationally recognized experts in an open forum for the development of consensus recommendations could serve as a model for other countries...

Seroprevalence of Antibodies to Varicella-zoster Virus in Madrid (Spain) in the Absence of Vaccination

Napoleon Perez-Farinos, Luis Garcia-Comas, Rosa Ramirez-Fernandez, Juan-Carlos Sanz, Dolores Barranco, Cristina Garcia-Fernandez, Maria Ordobas

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):41-44 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3454  

Objective: to ascertain the seroprevalence of antibodies to varicella-zoster virus in the Madrid population prior to the introduction of vaccination.Study design: Cross-sectional antibody seroprevalence study.Methods: Population: persons aged 2 to 40 years in Madrid. Field work: September 1999 to April 2000. Data were collected on demographic and socio-economic variables and on a number of exposures. IgG antibodies were determined using Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA), and antibody prevalence broken down by age group. Logistic regression was used to analyse the association between the presence of antibodies and the respective study...

Prof. Ctirad John Retires from the Editorial Board of the Central European Journal of Public Health

Editorial Board

Cent Eur J Public Health 2008, 16(1):3