Background: The aim of the present study is to examine the clinical indices related to cardiovascular risk management of Greek patients with type 2 diabetes, before and after the major economic crisis that emerged in the country.
Methods: In this retrospective database study, the medical records of patients with type 2 diabetes treated at three diabetes outpatient centers of the national health system during 2006 and 2012 were examined. Only patients with at least six months of follow-up prior to the recorded examination were included.
The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a method used widely for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) diagnosis and cardiovascular risk prediction. This study validated automated ABI measurements taken using an oscillometric blood pressure (BP) monitor allowing simultaneous arm-leg BP measurements. A total of 93 patients (hypertension 83%; dyslipidemia 72%; diabetes 45%; cardiovascular disease 23%; smoking 15%) were submitted to Doppler and automated ABI measurements, performed using a professional oscillometric BP monitor (Microlife WatchBP Office; triplicate simultaneous arm-leg BP measurements), in a randomized order.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe reviewed the records of 313 diabetic patients attending a diabetes clinic for at least two years. Despite improvements in the control rates of cardiovascular risk factors, only 8.9% of the patients reached all the metabolic target goals simultaneously at the end, indicating a gap between guidelines and clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess whether the proportion of primary care physicians implementing full body skin examination (FBSE) to screen for melanoma changed over time.
Methods: Meta-regression analyses of available data.
Data Sources: MEDLINE, ISI, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials.
Background: Primary cancer prevention is offered by the Greek health care system to the population on an opportunistic basis. This means that screening depends on advice from primary care providers and on individuals' request for screening, since a centralized invitational register is lacking. In planning preventive services, an accurate identification of baseline levels of performance for preventive activities is fundamental, so that realistic goals can be set.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in European countries. Differences in screening implementation may explain USA vs. European survival differences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess whether the use of chest radiography for screening changes over time.
Design: Systematic review.
Data Sources: MEDLINE, ISI, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and handsearching of selected journals.
Background And Aims: Colorectal cancer is a major cause of cancer death in European countries and differences in screening implementation may in part explain USA vs European survival differences. Despite the evidence, no study has evaluated the population colorectal cancer screening (CCS) coverage in any European country. We aimed to index the current CCS practices among a large sample of Greek healthy adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Data comparison between SEER and EUROCARE database provided evidence that colorectal cancer survival in USA is higher than in European countries. Since adjustment for stage at diagnosis markedly reduces the survival differences, a screening bias was hypothesized. Considering the important role of primary care in screening activities, the purpose of the study was to investigate the colorectal cancer screening awareness among Hellenic physicians.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Public health authorities worldwide discourage the use of chest radiography as a screening modality, as the diagnostic performance of chest radiography does not justify its application for screening and may even be harmful, since people with false positive results may experience anxiety and concern. Despite the accumulated evidence, various reports suggest that primary care physicians throughout the world still prescribe chest radiography for screening. We therefore set out to index the use of chest radiography for screening purposes among the healthy adult population and to analyze its relationship with possible trigger factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adjustment for stage at diagnosis markedly reduces USA versus European colorectal cancer survival differences and a screening bias was therefore suspected. Moreover, little is known about colorectal cancer screening habits in European primary care and the history of guidelines implementation. The purpose of the study was to index the overall colorectal cancer screening attitudes of European physicians involved in primary care activities.
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