Bmc Public Health
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Case Reports Comparative Study
Regional differences in mortality in Greece (1984-2004): the case of Thrace.
Mortality differences at national level can generate hypothesis on possible causal association that could be further investigated. The aim of the present study was to identify regions with high mortality rates in Greece. ⋯ Thrace is the region with the highest mortality rate in Greece. Further research is needed to assess the contribution of each possible risk factor to the increased mortality rate of Thrace which could have important public health implications.
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Comparative Study
Life style related to blood pressure and body weight in adolescence: cross sectional data from the Young-HUNT study, Norway.
The associations between physical activity, unhealthy dietary habits and cigarette smoking and blood pressure, overweight and obesity are well established in adulthood. This is not the case for similar associations in adolescence. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine how physical activity, smoking status and dietary habits were related to overweight, obesity and blood pressure in a population of Norwegian adolescents. ⋯ In this population of adolescents low levels of physical activity were associated with higher mean DBP and higher odds of overweight or obesity. Smoking was also associated with higher odds of overweight and obesity. The paradoxical associations between healthy dietary habits and overweight and obesity are most likely an effect of reverse causality.
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Analysis of hospital mortality helps to assess the standards of health-care delivery. ⋯ Several important issues were raised. Disease specific characteristics, as well as functional and infrastructural inadequacies were identified and provided evidence for defining priorities and strategies for improving the standards of care. Effective transformation can promise better prospects.
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As Iran started to experience population ageing, it is important to consider and address the elderly people's needs and concerns, which might have direct impacts on their well-being and quality of life. There have been only a few researches into different aspects of life of the elderly population in Iran including their health-related quality of life. The purpose of this study was to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of elderly Iranians and to identify its some determinant factors. ⋯ The study findings, although with a small number of participants, indicate that elderly people living in Tehran, Iran suffer from relatively poor HRQoL; particularly elderly women and those with lower education. Indeed to improve quality of life among elderly Iranians much more attention should be paid to all aspects of their life including their health, and economic status.
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Germany currently experiences a situation of major physician attrition. The incompatibility between work and family has been discussed as one of the major reasons for the increasing departure of German physicians for non-clinical occupations or abroad. This study investigates predictors for one particular direction of Work-Family Conflict--namely work interfering with family conflict (WIF)--which are located within the psychosocial work environment or work organisation of hospital physicians. Furthermore, effects of WIF on the individual physicians' physical and mental health were examined. Analyses were performed with an emphasis on gender differences. Comparisons with the general German population were made. ⋯ In our study, work interfering with family conflict (WIF) as part of Work-Family Conflict (WFC) was highly prevalent among German hospital physicians. Factors of work organisation as well as factors of interpersonal relations at work were identified as significant predictors for WIF. Some of these predictors are accessible to alteration by improving work organisation in hospitals.