Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke in Relation to Behavioral, Emotional, Social and Health Indicators of Slovak School Children.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure has been shown in general as a major environmental risk factor and deserves attention in vulnerable population groups. The aim of the project is to analyze the relationships among the ETS and behavior and health in 6−15-year-old children in Slovakia. The status of physical and mental health of children in relation to exposure to tobacco smoke was examined in a representative group of 1478 school children.

Long-term trends in the epidemiology of human leptospirosis (Slovak Republic, 1954-2006).

The purpose of this study was the observation of eventual shifts in some basic epidemiological features of human leptospirosis in Slovakia over a long period of time. Epidemiological traits of human leptospirosis were evaluated in three decades: 1954-1963 (822 cases), 1976-1985 (477 cases) and 1997-2006 (310 cases). The evaluation encompassed the aetiologic structure of cases, the incidence rate of diseases, men-to-women ratio of patients, as well as the professional and seasonal distribution of patients.

Reported incidence of Lyme disease in Slovakia and antibodies to B. burgdorferi antigens detected in healthy population.

The reported incidence of Lyme disease in Slovakia is indicative of the cyclic character of its appearance, which in the last 10 years rated 12.7/100,000 of the population with typically summer seasonality, prevalence (+20 %) in women, and relative high incidences in the 5-14 and 45-64 age groups. Early forms of the disease were manifested in 70 % of all reported cases.

Cleft lip and palate in Western Slovakia in the years 1985-2000.

Orofacial clefts are common congenital anomalies. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence in Western Slovakia. The study material were the case records of infants from the Bratislava and Western Slovakia regions, born between 1985 and 2000, and operated on in the Department of Plastic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Commenius University, General Hospital Ruzinov, in Bratislava.

[Orofacial clefts in western Slovakia].

Orofacial clefts are relatively frequent inborn developmental defects. The objective of our study was to reveal the actual frequency of orofacial clefts in western Slovakia. From 390 404 liveborn children in Bratislava and the western Slovakian region in 1985-1999, 629 children with orofacial clefts were operated at a specialized department--the Clinic of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery of the Medical Faculty, Comenius University Bratislava.

[Changes in the epidemiology of human leptospirosis in the Slovak Republic].

Background: The epidemiologic patterns of infectious diseases are liable to change in the course of time. References to such changes in leptospirosis are very rare and of low systematic value.

Objectives: The study is aimed at the detection of changes in the epidemiology of leptospirosis within the 20 years in Slovakia.

[The development of work absenteeism due to home nursing by family members].

The author investigated the absence from work in employees of the chancellor's office of the Comenius University on account of care of a family member, and factors, which influence it and consequent economic losses. A substantial part of care of family members is on account of infectious diseases (94.8%), in particular diseases of the airways which accounted for as much as 76.