Risk factors for the development of arterial hypertension.

Aim: To examine risk factors for the development of primary arterial hypertension which is a significant health and public health problem throughout the world.

Methods: This anamnestic study, conducted at the Primary Health Centre "Stari Grad" in Belgrade during 2006, included 63 new cases of arterial hypertension and 63 subjects who formed the control group. Patients and control group were individually matched to each other by sex, age (+/- 3 years) and place of residence.

HIV/AIDS risk behaviours among Roma and non-Roma sex workers in Belgrade (Serbia).

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyze differences between Roma and non-Roma sex workers (SWs) according to their HIV/AIDS risk behaviors. In this study 91 Roma and 100 non-Roma SWs were included. They offered sex services at Belgrade hot spots during the period 2006-2007.

Treatment of hypertension in Germany: is there a social gradient?

Objectives: Effective hypertension control remains low without much improvement since the 1990s. However, information is limited whether and how social status impacts on hypertension control.

Methods: Data from the German Health Survey 1998 are used to explore the role of social status according to educational achievement in treating hypertension, adjusted for key determinants in a logistic regression.

Risk of HIV infection among indoor and street sex workers and their use of health services in Belgrade, Serbia.

Introduction: HIV in Serbia is most often transmitted through sexual contact, and therefore numerous prevention activities are geared towards sex workers (SW).

Objective: To analyse the differences in knowledge, attitudes and risky behaviour between indoor and street SW in Belgrade; to examine the accessibility of health services to this vulnerable group.

Methods: In this behavioural cross-sectional study, 113 street and 78 indoor SW were included.

Hospital management training and improvement in managerial skills: Serbian experience.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the improvement of managerial skills of hospitals' top managers after a specific management training programme, and to explore possible predictors and relations.

Methods: The study was conducted during the years 2006 and 2007 with cohort of 107 managers from 20 Serbian general hospitals. The managers self-assessed the improvement in their managerial skills before and after the training programme.

Serbia within the European context: An analysis of premature mortality.

Background: Based on the global predictions majority of deaths will be collectively caused by cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and traffic accidents over the coming 25 years. In planning future national health policy actions, inter - regional assessments play an important role. The purpose of the study was to analyze similarities and differences in premature mortality between Serbia, EURO A, EURO B, and EURO C regions in 2000.

Prevalence of chronic diseases according to socioeconomic status measured by wealth index: health survey in Serbia.

Aim: To examine socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of chronic diseases in Serbia, using the data from 2006 national health survey.

Method: A stratified sample of 7673 households was selected and 14522 household members older than 20 years were interviewed (response rate 80.5%).

Years of life lost due to premature death in Serbia (excluding Kosovo and Metohia).

Objective: To provide an assessment of the mortality burden in Serbia (excluding Kosovo and Metohia).

Methods: The study was undertaken using data for Serbia, excluding Kosovo and Metohia, for the year 2000. Years of life lost (YLL), the mortality component of disability-adjusted life years, was determined from the average life expectancy at each age of death while discounting future years by 3% per annum.

Brief report: Risky sexual behavior of adolescents in Belgrade: association with socioeconomic status and family structure.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between socioeconomic status and family structure with risky sexual behaviors in adolescents.

Methods: A total of 1782 15-year-old Belgrade schoolchildren (47.5% boys and 52.

Strategic orientation of public health in transition: an overview of South Eastern Europe.

Two recent developments have redirected the course of Public Health in Europe - the Public Health Mandate of the European Commission and the conceptualization of a New Public Health. For the transition, countries in South Eastern Europe, particularly Serbia, provide support to essential public health reforms in four areas: strategic management, public health information, public health legislation, and public health training and research. The roles of the Dubrovnik Pledge (2001) and the Stability Pact, which has international support, have been central.

The burden of type 2 diabetes in Serbia and the cost-effectiveness of its management.

The purpose of this study was to analyse whether the nationwide application of the national Serbian guideline for diabetes mellitus (NSGDM) would save a relevant amount of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and/or reduce the medical cost of treating diabetic patients in Serbia, as compared to the present situation. Disability-adjusted life years were calculated for Serbia and the cost-effectiveness was analysed in eight population groups under ideal and present conditions; prevalent and incident cases were each split up for patients with blood glucose that was well controlled and that was uncontrolled. Under ideal conditions, i.

Burden of ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases in Serbia without Kosovo and Metohia, 2000.

Background: To provide estimates of cardiovascular disease burden to guide future health strategies and interventions and enable improvements in health and performance of the health care system to be monitored.

Design: A descriptive study.

Methods: The study was performed in Serbia without Kosovo and Metohia for the year 2000.

The burden of disease and injury in Serbia.

Background: In the last decade of the 20th century, a considerable effort has been put into the development of summary measures of population health that combine information on mortality and non-fatal health outcomes. We used the DALYs (Disability adjusted life years) method to assess the burden of disease and injury in the population of Serbia.

Methods: Our study, largely based on the methods developed for the Global burden of disease study, was conducted between October 2002 and September 2003.

Building public health associations in the transition countries of south-eastern Europe: the example of Albania.

The Albanian Forum of Public Health (AFPH), an umbrella organization including different public health associations operating in Albania, was established in March 2004 with the support of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) and the Open Society Institute (OSI). Ever since its establishment the AFPH has been an open arena wherein opinions and options for rational health policies comprising all relevant issues of the New Public Health are discussed, formulated, and documented near the Albanian Ministry of Health. Notwithstanding the laudable mission of the AFPH, there is an emerging need to establish a regional Public Health Forum in south-east Europe as a basic prerequisite for sustainable development of public health in these countries.

Burden of cancer in Serbia.

Aim: To provide a comprehensive assessment of burden of selected cancers in Serbia.

Method: We calculated disability adjusted life years (DALY)-- the sum of the years of life lost (YLL) from premature mortality and the years lived with disability (YLD)--for cancers of stomach, colon and rectum, lung, breast, and cervical cancer for central Serbia and Vojvodina, Serbia and Montenegro. The obtained values were compared with the corresponding values for European region as estimated by the World Health Organization.

Factors associated with spousal physical violence in Albania: cross sectional study.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of intimate partner violence and associated factors among married women in Albania.

Design: Cross sectional study.

Setting: Tirana, the capital city of Albania.

Regional collaboration in public health training and research among countries of South Eastern Europe.

Unlabelled: It is argued that each country of South Eastern Europe should have its own school of public health. However, a basic prerequisite of modern public health training is the comprehensiveness of the programme and a worldview approach. Most of the countries of South Eastern Europe face the same difficulties to adapt their inherited communist structures of public health training to Western standards.

Multimodal assessment of the primary healthcare system of Serbia: a model for evaluating post-conflict health systems.

Introduction: Conflicts, social unrest, and disasters can significantly affect the ability of a healthcare system to provide for the needs of its citizens. The collapse of the primary healthcare system in Serbia is a model of the effects that civil unrest can have on the health of a population. However, with improving social and political conditions, focus now can be turned towards the greatly needed development and reorganization of the primary healthcare system in Serbia.

Public health and peace.

The modern concept of public health, the New Public Health, carries a great potential for healthy and therefore less aggressive societies. Its core disciplines are health promotion, environmental health, and health care management based on advanced epidemiological methodologies. The main principles of living together in healthy societies can be summarized as four ethical concepts of the New Public Health essential to violence reduction equity, participation, subsidiarity, and sustainability.