A qualitative synthesis of factors influencing maintenance of lifestyle behaviour change in individuals with high cardiovascular risk.

Background: Management of cardiovascular risk factors includes commitment from patients to adhere to prescribed medications and adopt healthy lifestyles. Unfortunately many fail to take up and maintain the four key healthy behaviours (not smoking, having a balanced diet, limiting alcohol consumption and being more active). Five factors (beliefs, knowledge, transport and other costs, emotions, and friends and family support) are known to predict uptake of lifestyle behaviour change.

Patient characteristics and quality dimensions related to patient satisfaction.

Objective: To examine the relation of respondents' characteristics, and perceived quality dimensions of health care to overall patient satisfaction in out-patient hospital care.

Design: A questionnaire concerning the perceived quality of health care sent to patients in out-patient medical care.

Setting: All medical centres in Ostergötland County, Sweden, during a period in 2007.

Working shifts and mental health--findings from the British Household Panel Survey (1995-2005).

Objective: Our objective was to examine the impact of shift work on mental health at the population level. We expected that this impact would depend on duration of exposure, type of shift work, and gender.

Methods: We analyzed longitudinal data (1995-2005) from the British Household Panel Survey.

Patients retrieving additional information via the Internet: a trend analysis in a Swedish population, 2000-05.

Aims: To examine the trends over five years for patients' seeking online additional health information about their disease/health problem to what the doctor has been giving, and investigate any differences in information-seeking behaviour according to age, gender, self-perceived health status, living area, and type of medical encounter.

Methods: Data from three independent surveys conducted in 2000, 2002, and 2005 of a population with a recent experience of outpatient care[n]typesetter: please remove blue shading here and elsewhere[/n], including 24,800 respondents aged between 20 and 95, were analysed in a trend analysis and a logistic regression regarding background factors that may influence the seeking behaviour.

Results: During the study period, there was a significant increase in Internet use in most age groups.

Is self-medication with antibiotics in Europe driven by prescribed use?

Background: Self-medication with antibiotics may increase the risk of inappropriate use and the selection of resistant bacteria. One of the triggers for using self-medication may be past experience with antibiotics prescribed by health professionals. We examined the association between prescribed use and self-medication with antibiotics.

Self-medication with antimicrobial drugs in Europe.

We surveyed the populations of 19 European countries to compare the prevalence of antimicrobial drug self-medication in the previous 12 months and intended self-medication and storage and to identify the associated demographic characteristics. By using a multistage sampling design, 1,000-3,000 adults in each country were randomly selected. The prevalence of actual self-medication varied from 1 to 210 per 1,000 and intended self-medication from 73 to 449 per 1,000; both rates were high in eastern and southern Europe and low in northern and western Europe.

Opinions on changes in the Romanian health care system from people's point of view: a descriptive study.

After 10 years of changes, the Romanian people were asked to assess the consequences of the reforms that were carried out through the health care system in the last decennium. This article studies the opinion of changes among individuals and socio-economic-demographic groups living in Dolj region. Such surveys are rare in Romania.

Reforms of health care system in Romania.

Aim: To describe health care reforms and analyze the transition of the health care system in Romania in the 1989-2001 period.

Method: We analyzed policy documents, political intentions and objectives of health care reform, described new legislation, and presented changes in financial resources of the health care system.

Results: The reforms of the health care system in Romania have been realized in a rather difficult context of scarcity of financial and human resources.