Assessment of Nutritional Status of Elderly People in a Practice of Family Medicine in Relation to MNA Test, Comorbidity and Chronic Therapy

Introduction: Nutrition assessment is one of the biggest challenges in family medicine practice because of the increasing number of older people with more comorbidities and chronic therapy. The MNA(Mini Nutritional Assessment) test has proven to be the most sensitive and exact tool for this type of research. The aim of this study was to assess whether there is a difference in the nutritional status of elderly people, over 65 years of age, with respect to sociodemographic characteristics, number and type of chronic diseases, and number of medications used in chronic therapy. Materials and methods: Research subjects were 207 patients at the age of 65 treated at the Medical Centre Slavonski Brod during a period of 3 months. During the visit, the nutritional status was examined by using the MNA test. The information on chronic diseases and number of medications the patients were using has been collected from the Medicus computer program. Results: According to the MNA test results, 62 subjects (30%) showed risk of malnutrition, average age of the subjects was 72 years and the median of MNA test results was 25.50. Also, multimorbidity is present in 64.73% of the subjects and 42% of them take more than three medications in chronic therapy. No statistically significant difference was found in the results of the MNA test regarding the number of chronic diseases (p =0.89) and number of medications (p = 0.87). Conclusion: It is important to regularly monitor the nutritional status in order to prevent progression of chronic diseases and reduce additional cost of treatment. (Bosnić Z, Miškić M, Veselski K, Vučić D, Trtica Majnarić Lj. Assessment of Nutritional Status of Elderly People in a Family Medicine Practice in Relation to MNA Test, Comorbidity and Chronic Therapy. SEEMEDJ 2019; 3(2); 1-10

Specifics of Sex Life and Methods of Birth Control among Students at the University of Osijek

The aim of this study is to define specifics of sex life and methods of birth control among students at University of Osijek. Participants were students who study at Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. A newly formed questionnaire containing 31 question was used to for this purpose. The study included 549 voluntairly students, 54,3% of students had first sexual experience between 16 and 18 of age. Most of them were long- term couples, who are managing better with sexual activities then students in short term relationships, who are more stressed because of their studies. When it comes to the type of contraceptives, 71, 9 % of students used some of birth control methods, and most common is condom (75,9 %). However, 27, 9 % of students believe that natural methods of birth are safe enough. There are no significant differences in age at the time of first sexual activity considering gender, year at university and residency. The biggest reason for not using contraception is long-term relationship in which students do not feel fear of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy

Screening with Mammography Organized by Family Physicians Teams: What Have We Learnt?

The mammography, recommended as standard method for screening on breast cancer, can reveal suspicious lesions early enough to anable cancer elimination in entirely. Experience with women of the target population, 50–69 years old, included in the mass screening programs, show the reduction in the specific mortality by 30%. One of the main problem in organizing the preventive programs is how to increase responsiveness of subjects to screening. In the study, based on the large sample of over 1000 of subjects and 20 family medicine practices, included in the investigation, we showed that it is possible, by a pro-active involvement of family physicians teams and intensive educational and motivational activities, to achieve high level of over 80% of responsiveness to mammography screening. Analysis of the reasons of nonresponsiveness can contribute to better understanding of the mental processes included in a self-decision making. This, as the final aim, can help family physicians in their efforts to overcome many hidden barriers which obstruct their patients to accept the mammography screening

Epidemiology and Clinical Presentation of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Zadar County, Croatia

Results of the retrospective, population-based study, 2000–2010, on inflammatory bowel disease, ulceratice colitis (UC) and Crohn\u27s disease (CD), from Zadar County, have been presented and compared with world experience and com- parative data from Primorsko-Goranska and Vukovarsko-Srijemska Counties. The average incidence rates (per 100 000) were 8.2 and 8.4, for UC and CD, respectively. Prevalence rates, at the end of the follow up, were 133.9 for UC and 111 for CD. Constant increase in the incidence rates for both, UC and CD, have been recorded, for CD more prominently in the second part of the follow up, 2006–2010. Prevalence rates have being continuosly rased for both diseases, data for UC ex- ceeding that for CD. Results of data comparison among the counties contribute in favour to the hypothesis of Zadar County as a rapidly developing area and strongly argue against the existence of the North-South gradient between Vukovarsko-Srijemska and Zadar Counties

Clinical Expression of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases – A Retrospective Population-Based Cohort Study; Vukovarsko-Srijemska County, Croatia, 2010

Clinical characteristics of the cohort of 150 patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn\u27s disease (CD), Vukovarsko-Srijemska County, Croatia, were retrospectively assessed. UC was clinically presented with frequent passage of bloody, slimy stools, while preferential symptoms of CD were fever, anemia and severe weight loss, differences reflecting longer duration of symptoms prior to the diagnosis, in patients with CD. The prevalent disease localisations, in patients with UC, were the rectum and the left colon and the anorectum, while the prevailing phenotype, in patients with CD, corresponded with younger adult age at disease onset, ileocolonic localization and stricturing dis- ease behavior. Intestinal complications, including perforation, fistula, abscess and ileus, were more prevalent in patients with CD. Of extraintestinal complications, only ankylosing spondylitis and erythema nodosum, reached marginally sig- nificant differences, in favor to patients with CD. Shortcomings of this study include the lack of associations and the time-dependent disease projections

The Relationship Between Appearance Satisfaction and Self-Esteem Among High School Students in Eastern Croatia

Due to the imposition of social media, a large number of adolescents face problems related to physical appearance and social contact. The research objectives were to examine the degree of satisfaction of high school students in Eastern Croatia, Vinkovci, regarding their physical appearance and self-esteem based on their gender, type of high school and the differences in socioeconomic status. The study was designed as a cross-sectional research and included 278 students from medical schools and high schools. Data was collected using a survey on the demographic and socio-economic status of participants. The Body Image Questionnaire was used in a modified and validated version in Croatia and contained fourteen questions to examine the level of satisfaction with the body image. Using Rosenberg’s ten-question test, the level of self-esteem was examined. The Median age of students was 18 years. The female students in high school were significantly more concerned about their physical appearance than the male students in the same school (χ² = 23.6, p < 0.001). The linear correlation between the degree of satisfaction regarding physical appearance and self-esteem confirmed the association between body image satisfaction and gender of students in medical schools (r = 0,157; p = 0,04) and students in high school (r = 0,371; p < 0,001). Adolescents in this region of Croatia are not overly concerned about their physical appearance despite relatively decreased self-esteem. Alcohol consumption has proven to be a big problem especially for high school students, which can be a result of stress due to maintaining excellent grades