Annals of agricultural and environmental medicine : AAEM
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Jan 2012
Risk of tick-borne diseases in various categories of employment among forestry workers in eastern Poland.
Among the zoonotic agents causing occupational diseases, those transmitted by ticks are very important, in particular the spirochetes Borrelia burgdorferi which are the common cause of occupational Lyme borreliosis in forestry and agricultural workers. The objective of this study was an evaluation of the exposure of forestry workers employed at individual workplaces to infection with tick-borne pathogens (especially Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes), based on epidemiological investigation and serologic tests. Epidemiological studies covered 111 forestry employees from eastern Poland employed in 4 randomly-selected forest inspectorates which replied to questions in the area of epidemiology and prophylaxis of diseases transmitted by ticks. ⋯ Comparisons of the relationship between job category and the results of serologic study, expressed in BBU/ml, revealed that the serologic response was significantly greater in manual workers than in administrative workers (p=0.019). All other comparisons did not produce significant results. Therefore, providing a simple tweezer-like device to forest inspectorates seems to be an effective mean of protection against Lyme borreliosis and other tick-borne diseases.
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Dec 2011
Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and IFG in the prospective cohort 'PONS' study - baseline assessment.
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in the Polish-Norwegian Study (PONS) population in Poland. ⋯ The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in study population was generally high, but especially high in males, and the awareness of diabetes in the population was generally low. Among participants with known diabetes more than half was not well controlled.
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Dec 2011
Prevalence of hypertension in a sample of Polish population - baseline assessment from the prospective cohort 'PONS' study.
The aim of this cohort study was to evaluate the prevalence of hypertension and cardiovascular risk factors in the studied population. ⋯ The studied group had a high prevalence of hypertension (61.7%), which was less frequent and better controlled in the studied females than in the males. No significant difference was observed between the urban and rural populations. Level of education had significant impact on the prevalence of hypertension.
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Ann Agric Environ Med · Dec 2011
Prevalence of obesity - baseline assessment in the prospective cohort 'PONS' study.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the population of Świętokrzyskie Province in Poland. ⋯ Almost 80% of the PONS population were either overweight or obese; therefore, the PONS population is at increased risk of developing obesity-related diseases.