Eesti koolinoorte tervis ja selle sõltuvus perekonna sotsiaal-majanduslikust olukorrast

Koolilaste hinnangutest oma tervisele ilmnes seaduspärasus, et vanuse suurenedes vähenes oma tervist väga heaks hinnanud poiste ja tütarlaste arv, sealjuures kasvas tütarlastehulk, kes ei hinnanud oma tervist heaks. Lapsevanemad hindasid üldiselt poegade tervist halvemaks kui poisid ise, tütarde tervist aga paremaks kui tüdrukud ise. Ilmnes kindel seos laste tervisehinnangu ja perekonna majandusliku olukorra vahel: mida paremaks hinnati pere majanduslikku olukorda, seda parem oli hinnang oma tervisele. Võib oletada, et täiskasvanuea halva tervise juured võivad vähemalt osaliselt alguse saada lapseea kehvast majanduslikust olukorrast

Tervise Arengu Instituut: väljakutsed ja võimalused

Tervise Arengu Instituut (TAI) loodi 1. mail 2003 Sotsiaalministeeriumi poolt hallatava riigi teadus- ja arendusasutusena Eksperimentaalse ja Kliinilise Meditsiini Instituudi, Eesti Tervisekasvatuse Keskuse ning Rahvatervise ja Sotsiaalkoolituse Keskuse baasil

HIV-nakkuse ennetamine Eestis

HIV-nakkuse ennetamisega on Eestis tegeletud üle 15 aasta. Probleemi mittetunnistamine ning ennetustöö alarahastamine kestis kuni epideemia puhkemiseni 2000. aastal. Tänu välisrahastusele on viimastel aastatel ennetustegevuse maht mitmekordistunud. Käivitunud on ennetavate tegevuste ja nende mõju regulaarne hindamine. Siiski pole HIV-nakkuse levik Eestis veel peatatud. Muret teeb ka järjest suurenev vajadus anti-retroviiruslike ravimite järele. Üha olulisemaks muutub tervishoiutöötajate roll nakkuse diagnoosimisel, ravil, aga ka ennetamisel. Eesti Arst 2005; 84 (4): 255-26

Ebatervislik eluviis ja ülemääraselt riskiv käitumine: psühholoogilised ja psühho- bioloogilised determinandid

Paljud uuringud viitavad sellele, et alkoholi liigtarbimist ja uimastite tarvitamist soodustavad isiksuse iseärasused. Isiksuse omaduste kujunemisel on oluline osa pärilikkusel. Isiksuseomaduste bioloogilise markerina kasutatakse monoamiinoksüdaasi (MAO) aktiivsust vereliistakutel. See omakorda korreleerub aju serotoniinineuronite aktiivsusega. Esitatud uuringu tulemused viitavad võimalusele, et MAO aktiivsus võib olla sõltuvushäirete väljakujunemise ja alkoholi kuritarvitamise eelsoodumuse marker

TV Viewing and Physical Activity Are Independently Associated with Metabolic Risk in Children: The European Youth Heart Study

BACKGROUND: TV viewing has been linked to metabolic-risk factors in youth. However, it is unclear whether this association is independent of physical activity (PA) and obesity. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We did a population-based, cross-sectional study in 9- to 10-y-old and 15- to 16-y-old boys and girls from three regions in Europe (n = 1,921). We examined the independent associations between TV viewing, PA measured by accelerometry, and metabolic-risk factors (body fatness, blood pressure, fasting triglycerides, inverted high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, glucose, and insulin levels). Clustered metabolic risk was expressed as a continuously distributed score calculated as the average of the standardized values of the six subcomponents. There was a positive association between TV viewing and adiposity (p = 0.021). However, after adjustment for PA, gender, age group, study location, sexual maturity, smoking status, birth weight, and parental socio-economic status, the association of TV viewing with clustered metabolic risk was no longer significant (p = 0.053). PA was independently and inversely associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, insulin (all p < 0.01), and triglycerides (p = 0.02). PA was also significantly and inversely associated with the clustered risk score (p < 0.0001), independently of obesity and other confounding factors. CONCLUSIONS: TV viewing and PA may be separate entities and differently associated with adiposity and metabolic risk. The association between TV viewing and clustered metabolic risk is mediated by adiposity, whereas PA is associated with individual and clustered metabolic-risk indicators independently of obesity. Thus, preventive action against metabolic risk in children may need to target TV viewing and PA separately

PREDICTING DRUNK DRIVING: CONTRIBUTION OF ALCOHOL USE AND RELATED PROBLEMS, TRAFFIC BEHAVIOUR, PERSONALITY AND PLATELET MONOAMINE OXIDASE (MAO) ACTIVITY

Abstract — Aims: The aim of the study was to characterize the predictive value of socio-economic data, alcohol consumption measures, smoking, platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity, traffic behaviour habits and impulsivity measures for actual drunk driving. Methods: Data were collected from 203 male drunk driving offenders and 211 control subjects using self-reported questionnaires, and blood samples were obtained from the two groups. Results: We identified the combination of variables, which predicted correctly, ~80 % of the subjects ’ belonging to the drunk driving and control groups. Significant independent discriminators in the final model were, among the health-behaviour measures, alcohol-related problems, frequency of using alcohol, the amount of alcohol consumed and smoking. Predictive traffic behaviour measures were seat belt use and paying for parking. Among the impulsivity measures, dysfunctional impulsivity was the best predictor; platelet MAO activity and age also had an independent predictive value. Conclusions: Our results support the notion that drunk driving is the result of a combination of various behavioural, biological and personality-related risk factors

Association of socioeconomic position with insulin resistance among children from Denmark, Estonia, and Portugal: cross sectional study

Objectives To examine the association between socioeconomic position and insulin resistance in children from three countries in northern Europe (Denmark), eastern Europe (Estonia), and southern Europe (Portugal) that have different physical, economic, and cultural environments. Design Cross sectional study. Participants 3189 randomly selected schoolchildren aged 9 and 15 years from Denmark (n = 933), Estonia (n = 1103), and Portugal (n = 1153). Main outcome measure Insulin resistance (homoeostasis model assessment). Results Family income and parental education were inversely associated with insulin resistance in Danish children but were positively associated with insulin resistance in Estonian and Portuguese children. Among Danish children, insulin resistance was 24% lower (95% confidence interval -38% to -10%) in those whose fathers had the most education compared with those with the least education. The equivalent results were 15% (2% to 28%) higher for Estonia and 19% (2% to 36%) higher for Portugal. These associations remained after adjustment for a range of covariates: -20% (-36% to -5%) for Denmark, 10% (-4% to 24%) for Estonia, and 18% (-1% to 31%) for Portugal. Strong statistical evidence supported differences between the associations in Denmark and those in the other two countries in both unadjusted and adjusted models (all P < 0.03). Conclusions Among Danish children, those with the most educated and highest earning parents had least insulin resistance, whereas the opposite was true for children from Estonia and Portugal