Central European Journal of Public Health

Last time the world faced a deadly pandemic was the H1N1 Spanish flu in 1918, which affected almost one-third of the world's population (500 million people). Since then, almost 100 years later, we are now facing another pandemic of the SARS-CoV2 virus (COVID-19), which is still endemic to this day. As the technology evolved during those 100 years, an effective vaccine for COVID-19 was produced within only a year, a huge feat. But, unfortunately, due to its fast development, another force would arise limiting the impact of the vaccine: vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaxxers, which John Hopkins and the World Health Organization call the biggest current threat to global health...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of overweight/obesity in 15-19 years old adolescents in the Province of Vojvodina, Serbia, and to evaluate the association between obesity and socio-demographic factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in high schools in the territory of Vojvodina, Serbia. The sample consisted of 986 high-school students (47.4% girls and 52.6% boys). Body height, body weight, and waist circumference were measured...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to developed sex- and age-specific normative-referenced percentile values for health-related fitness among 12 to 18 years old Czech youth. METHODS: This study included cross-sectional data from 1,173 participants (50.7% boys) collected between 2013 and 2016. Participants were recruited from 32 elementary or secondary schools across eight cities located in the Czech Republic. Health-related fitness was objectively measured using both anthropometric (height, body mass, and sum of skinfolds) and performance (20-m shuttle run for cardiorespiratory endurance, modified push-ups for muscular strength/endurance, and V sit-and-reach for flexibility) tests...

OBJECTIVES: Emerging evidence suggests that the use of safer nicotine products (SNPs), such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) poses significantly lower health risks than continued smoking, particularly over the short and medium term. However, it remains uncertain whether the public has been adequately informed about these relative risks. This study assesses the perceived relative harm of e-cigarettes compared to conventional cigarettes in Ukraine. METHODS: Two nationally representative surveys were conducted in February 2021 and December 2022...

OBJECTIVES: Due to nano-dimensions (less than 100 nm), can nanoparticles probably penetrate through various membranes and travel from the bloodstream to other organs in the body. The aim of our study was to find out whether NPs Fe3 O4 (coated with sodium oleate) injected into the tail vein of laboratory Wistar rats pass through the bloodstream to the respiratory tract (in comparison with a control group); and if so whether increasing doses of NPs Fe3 O4 have an escalating harmful effect on selected bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) parameters...

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this quantitative study is to assess the impact of fine particles air pollution in major cities of Slovakia. The study aims to estimate number of premature deaths from long-term exposure to fine particles PM2.5 in eight regional capitals of Slovakia in the period 2016-2020. Consequently, the study aims to conduct a comparative analysis using secondary derived indicators. METHODS: For calculations of estimated premature deaths from long-term exposure to fine particles PM2...

OBJECTIVES: No previous research of university students in Finland assessed lifestyle behavioural risk factors (BRFs) and categorized students into clusters, explored the associations of the clusters with self-reported health complaints (HCs), whilst controlling for potential confounders. The current study undertook this task. METHODS: Students at the University of Turku (1,177) completed an online well-being questionnaire that assessed socio-demographic variables, 5 BRFs - problematic alcohol consumption, smoking, illicit drug use, food consumption habits, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and 22 HCs...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess the factors determining the work of nurses in internal medicine departments. METHODS: The study was multicentre, cross-sectional, and observational. The selection of the research group was intentional. The subject of the study were 209 nurses working in 11 internal medicine departments in 10 hospitals in the region of southern Poland. RESULTS: The number of patients cared for by one nurse, nurses' participation in the decision-making process, and nurses' age were shown to be direct predictors of emotional exhaustion...

OBJECTIVES: The acute respiratory syndrome, known as COVID-19, is characterised by high morbidity and increased mortality. Genetic factors may partially explain the differences in susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19. METHODS: We have analysed common functional polymorphisms within the OAS1 (rs4767027), TMPRSS6 (rs855791), DPP4 (rs3788979), and ZNF335 (rs3848719) genes in SARS-CoV-2 positive subjects (n = 521, different disease severity) and in population controls (n = 2,559 subjects, COVID-19 status unknown)...

OBJECTIVES: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a large group of persistent synthetic chemicals widely used commercially. They accumulate increasingly in all environmental components and enter the organisms, including humans. Some of them are associated with the risk of harm to health, among others with metabolic disorders. To test the associations between blood serum levels of PFASs and blood lipid profile as well as metabolic syndrome, we linked human biomonitoring with the Czech Health Examination Survey (CZ-EHES) conducted in 2019...

OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to evaluate the extent of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure in coke oven workers from Eastern Slovakia by cytogenetic analysis of human peripheral lymphocytes. METHODS: A total of 81 peripheral blood samples were collected from PAH-exposed workers (mean age 45.84 ± 9.73 years) and 30 samples constituted the control group (41.93 ± 15.39 years). The samples were processed using routine cytological analysis. Conventional cytogenetic analysis of human peripheral lymphocytes has been used to evaluate the effects of PAHs...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the variant (rs2910829) of the PDE4D gene in relation to its influence on biochemical, anthropometric and physiological parameters in patients with coronary artery disease and healthy subjects of the Eastern Slovak population. METHODS: The male group consisted of 72 individuals and the female group consisted of 132 individuals. On the basis of clinical screening the subjects were divided into two groups - with ischaemic heart disease and control group...

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to comprehensively assess the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs562556 and rs2479409) in the PCSK9 gene with biochemical parameters - C-reactive protein (CRP), glucose (GLU), triglyceride (TAG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL CHOL), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non HDL CHOL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL CHOL), cholesterol (CHOL), and anthropometric parameters (visceral fat), overweight/obesity and cardiovascular risk...

OBJECTIVE: Thyroid diseases are among the most common endocrinopathies and metabolic disorders. Hypothyroidism is caused by insufficient production of thyroid hormones with a higher prevalence in women. Causes for the development of endocrine diseases may be mutations in genes that encode peptide hormones. The aim of this scientific study was to determine the genotype and allele frequencies of the rs104893657 variant of the PAX8 gene and to determine the genotype versus phenotype association...

OBJECTIVES: Diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) is a multifactorial and polygenic disorder characterised by chronic hyperglycaemia accompanied by impaired lipid, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism. The disease is associated with several genetic polymorphisms, including the FokI polymorphism in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene. METHODS: We conducted a study of 327 probands (191 T2DM patients, 136 controls), with a mean age 65.06 (SD ± 10.88) years of patients with T2DM and 58...

OBJECTIVES: Physiological ageing is associated with major and progressive changes in body composition, particularly in the decline of fat-free mass, which puts older individuals at risk of geriatric syndromes such as sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity. Bioimpedance analysis noninvasively allows the determination of body composition, thus being able to rapidly assess primary risk factors leading to sarcopenia prediction. METHODS: We conducted a study of 180 probands, 120 females (66...

OBJECTIVES: The overall aim of the research is to gain insight into the lifestyle and health behaviour of young people with disabilities aged 12-18 years, and to learn about the factors shaping their health. In this study, our aim was to investigate the eating habits and physical activity of adolescents with disabilities and the influencing factors. METHODS: The study's source population was young people aged 12-18 with disabilities in the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County...

OBJECTIVES: Our research aimed to examine children's sleeping habits from preschool to the end of elementary school age. Developing proper sleeping habits in childhood is essential, as it is decisive for the rest of our lives. METHODS: A total of 339 children (160 males and 179 females) took part in the research, of which 145 were preschool-age children (3-7 years old), 72 lower-grade elementary school children (6-11 years old), and 122 upper-grade elementary school children (12-16 years old)...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of our research was to investigate the self-rated health status, health behaviour and hygiene habits of pregnant women, and to explore the influencing factors during the pandemic. METHODS: The sample included 1,200 pregnant women who gave birth in the most progressive institutions of the three examined counties in Hungary; 839 questionnaires were returned, based on which the willingness to answer can be said to be 69.9%. After data cleaning, 640 questionnaires were added to the database...

OBJECTIVES: The paper proposes to identify the determinants of patients' rights awareness in mothers and to examine the relationship of health literacy with awareness of those rights. METHODS: Our results are based on data from a convenience sample of 894 non-health professional ethnic Hungarian mothers from Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Health literacy is measured with the HLS-EU-16 questionnaire. RESULTS: Analysis of variance reveals a significant association of health literacy with patient rights awareness...