Social Burden and Lifestyle in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

We aimed to evaluate how the presence and severity of congenital heart disease (CHD) influence social life and lifestyle in adult patients. A random sample (n = 1,496) from the CONgenital CORvitia (n = 11,047), the Dutch national registry of adult patients with CHD, completed a questionnaire on educational attainment, employment and marital statuses, and lifestyle (response 76%). The Utrecht Health Project provided a large reference group (n = 6,810) of unaffected subjects. Logistic regression models were used for subgroup analyses and to adjust for age, gender, and socioeconomic status where appropriate. Of all patients 51.5% were men (median age 39 years, interquartile range 29 to 51) with mild (46%), moderate (44%), and severe (10%) CHD. Young ( <40-year-old) patients with CHD were more likely to have achieved a lower education (adjusted odds ratios [ORs] 1.6 for men and 1.9 for women, p <0.05 for the 2 comparisons), significantly more often unemployed (adjusted ORs 5.9 and 2.0 for men and women, respectively), and less likely to be in a relationship compared to the reference group (adjusted ORs 8.5 for men and 4.5 for women). These poorer outcomes were seen in all severity groups. Overall, the CHD population smoked less (adjusted OR 0.5, p <0.05), had more sports participation (adjusted OR 1.2, p <0.05), and had less obesity (adjusted OR 0.7, p <0.05) than the reference group. In conclusion, there was a substantial social disadvantage in adult patients with CHD, which was seen in all severity groups and primarily in young men. In contrast, adults with CHD had healthier lifestyles compared to the reference group. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (Am J Cardiol 2012;109:1657-1663

COMPLEX EVALUATION OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IMPACT ON LITHUANIAN INDUSTRIES

The paper analyses the impact of the economic crisis of 2008 on Lithuanian industries. The research involves 68 industries identified according to the 2nd-digit level classification of economic activities by Statistics Lithuania. Considering industry to be a complex phenomenon, the crisis effect is evaluated complexly on the basis of the system of 10 financial state and performance indicators belonging to four main groups of enterprise financial ratios: profitability, liquidity, solvency and asset turnover. SAW, TOPSIS and VIKOR multi-criteria decision making methods, widely applied in construction, economics and management, are selected as mathematical tools for quantitative assessment of the economic crisis effect on Lithuanian industries. By applying multi-criteria decision making methods relative positions (ranks) of industries are determined for every year of the period of 2006–2011. The ranks and their changes are further analysed distinguishing pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis periods, determining the industries most and least affected by the economic crisis; also, the industries characterised by the fastest and the slowest after-crisis recovery