Publications by authors named "Alexandra Brazinova"

Article Synopsis
  • Slovakia is experiencing a rising cancer burden, particularly with breast, colorectal, and cervical cancers, necessitating improved preventive and healthcare strategies.
  • Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer diagnosis and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, while cervical cancer is the second most common but shows decreasing mortality rates.
  • Colorectal cancer has high incidence and mortality rates among both genders, often diagnosed late, highlighting the need for enhanced cancer screening and interventions in Slovakia.
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Background: The Slovak Republic, an Eastern European country, borders Ukraine, which has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in Europe. This study aims to inform readers about the demographic characteristics of Ukrainian war refugees with HIV/AIDS seeking temporary protection status in Slovakia due to the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022. It focuses on their epidemiology, immunological profiles, co-infections, and treatment.

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Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the secondary attack rate in unvaccinated members of households of two regions in the Slovak Republic for the period November 2020 ‒ April 2021.

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 infection poses a high risk of transmission in close-contact indoor settings, such as households. The household transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 varies widely across countries.

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Background: Population's mental health surveillance is essential for knowing the distribution of mental well-being and mental disorders in the society. This allows for the establishment, evaluation, and revision of preventive measures and curative services. The results of such monitoring should serve as a database for evidence-based mental health policy.

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This study aimed to examine attitudes towards people with mental illness and psychiatry and interest in career choice in psychiatry among medical students from three medical schools in Czechia and Slovakia. A total of 495 medical students participated in a cross-sectional study. Participants completed (1) the Medical students' version of mental illness: clinicians' attitudes (MICA-2) scale, (2) the Reported and intended behaviour scale (RIBS), (3) the Attractiveness of working on a psychiatry-related position scale (P-ATTRACT), and (4) the Status of psychiatry scale (P-STATUS).

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Background: Legionnaires' disease (LD) occurs predominantly in adults and elderly people. Its incidence in Europe has been increasing in recent years. It is rare in younger age groups and prone to be reported as healthcare-associated infection with a higher risk of fatal outcome.

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Article Synopsis
  • Injuries significantly impact global health, with the number of injury deaths rising from approximately 4.26 million in 1990 to about 4.48 million in 2017, despite a decline in age-standardized mortality rates.
  • The Global Burden of Disease study measured both fatal and non-fatal injuries through years of life lost (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs), which were combined into disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
  • While overall injury incidence increased, age-standardized DALYs decreased, indicating a need for ongoing research focused on injury prevention, better data collection, and improving access to medical care in high-burden areas.
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Purpose: The association of TBI with socioeconomic characteristics of patients has not been studied extensively. The objective of this study was to analyse the differences in injury characteristics and outcome in TBI patients based on their occupational status.

Methods: Data on patients from 13 centres based in Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia were included in the analysis.

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Background: Systematic collection of mortality/morbidity data over time is crucial for monitoring trends in population health, developing health policies, assessing the impact of health programs. In Poland, a comprehensive analysis describing trends in disease burden for major conditions has never been published. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides data on the burden of over 300 diseases in 195 countries since 1990.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates how sociodemographic factors relate to injury-related health outcomes worldwide, specifically analyzing disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from injuries across 195 countries from 1990 to 2017.
  • - Findings show that while most injury causes display a trend of decreasing DALY rates with higher Socio-demographic Index (SDI), certain injuries like road injuries, interpersonal violence, and self-harm deviate from this trend, indicating complex underlying factors.
  • - The research highlights the importance of understanding these injury patterns to improve health strategies and intervention efforts at both national and global levels, especially since not all injuries follow the same developmental trajectory.
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This study explored unmet mental health and social care needs in the Slovak Republic and their adverse human rights consequences. We estimated treatment gap for persons aged 15-64 years in year 2015 affected by depressive, anxiety, substance use and schizophrenic disorders by comparing local treated prevalence rates with population estimated rates for Europe. Two-thirds of people with depressive disorders and over 80% of those with anxiety disorders and alcohol dependence were not receiving treatment.

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: Understanding the factors related to traumatic brain injury (TBI)-related mortality is important in obtaining a complete picture of the predictors and burden of injury-related deaths. : To analyze deaths due to TBI occurring inside versus outside hospitals. : Data were obtained by requests to the representatives of national statistical offices and health administration institutions for one reported calendar year (2014 or the nearest available year).

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Importance: Understanding global variation in firearm mortality rates could guide prevention policies and interventions.

Objective: To estimate mortality due to firearm injury deaths from 1990 to 2016 in 195 countries and territories.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study used deidentified aggregated data including 13 812 location-years of vital registration data to generate estimates of levels and rates of death by age-sex-year-location.

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Introduction: Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a major medical and socioeconomic problem. We aimed to estimate the hospital-based incidence, population-wide mortality, and the contribution of TBI to injury-related mortalities in European countries, and to provide European summary estimates for these indicators.

Methods: For this cross-sectional analysis, we obtained population data from Eurostat for hospital discharges and causes of death in European countries in 2012.

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Goal-oriented management of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can save the lives and/or improve the long-term outcome of millions of affected patients worldwide. Additionally, enhancing quality of life will save enormous socio-economic costs; however, promising TBI treatment strategies with neuroprotective agents, such as citicoline (CDP-choline), lacked evidence or produced contradictory results in clinical trials. During a prehospital TBI project to optimize early TBI care within 14 Austrian trauma centers, data on 778 TBI patients were prospectively collected.

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Introduction: Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a major public health, medical, and societal challenge globally. They present a substantial burden to victims, their families, and the society as a whole. Although indicators such as incidence or death rates provide insight into the occurrence and outcome of TBIs in various populations, they fail to quantify the full extent of their public health and societal impact.

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Background: Traumatic spinal cord injuries (TSCI) pose a significant burden globally, while existing epidemiological data-especially on population mortality-are limited. The aim of this study was to calculate the age-standardized population mortality rates attributable to TSCI in 22 European countries, along with the pooled age-standardized mortality rate attributable to TSCI in Europe.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted.

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Background: Various reports have suggested that epidemiological patterns of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are changing in high-income countries, but the evidence to support this is often indirect and only a few longitudinal studies exist. We aimed to explore epidemiological patterns of TBI in Belgium over a 10-year period.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of Minimum Hospital Data provided by Statistics Belgium was performed for the period 2003-2012.

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Importance: Comprehensive and timely monitoring of disease burden in all age groups, including children and adolescents, is essential for improving population health.

Objective: To quantify and describe levels and trends of mortality and nonfatal health outcomes among children and adolescents from 1990 to 2015 to provide a framework for policy discussion.

Evidence Review: Cause-specific mortality and nonfatal health outcomes were analyzed for 195 countries and territories by age group, sex, and year from 1990 to 2015 using standardized approaches for data processing and statistical modeling, with subsequent analysis of the findings to describe levels and trends across geography and time among children and adolescents 19 years or younger.

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Objectives: Prognosis of outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is important in the assessment of quality of care and can help improve treatment and outcome. The aim of this study was to compare the prognostic value of relatively simple injury severity scores between each other and against a gold standard model - the IMPACT-extended (IMP-E) multivariable prognostic model.

Materials And Methods: For this study, 866 patients with moderate/severe TBI from Austria were analyzed.

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The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is witnessing an increase in chronic disorders, including mental illness. With ongoing unrest, this is expected to rise. This is the first study to quantify the burden of mental disorders in the EMR.

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