The impact of a belief in life after death on health-state preferences: True difference or artifact?

Purpose: In most religions, the preservation of one's own, God-given, life is considered obligatory, while the time trade-off method (TTO) forces one to voluntarily forego life years. We sought to verify how this conflict impacts TTO-results among the religious.

Methods: We used the data from the only EQ-5D valuation in Poland (2008, three-level, 321 respondents, 23 states each)-a very religious, mostly Catholic country.

Objective drivers of subjective well-being in geriatric inpatients: mobility function and level of education are general predictors of self-evaluated health, feeling of loneliness, and severity of depression symptoms.

Purpose: Identification of optimal predictors for different indicators of subjective well-being (SWB) in geriatric inpatients: (1) self-evaluated health status (SEH), (2) feeling of loneliness (FoL), and (3) severity of depression symptoms (SoDS). Investigation of the relationship between response categories of the SWB indicators and their predictors.

Methods: The data were collected retrospectively from hospital records.

CT Angiography for the Detection of Coronary Artery Stenoses in Patients Referred for Cardiac Valve Surgery: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) for detecting coronary artery stenoses in patients with valvular heart disease undergoing valve surgery.

Background: Coronary CTA is currently not routinely recommended for detecting coronary artery stenoses before cardiac valve surgery. However, recent improvements in computed tomography technology may enable the identification of the most appropriate candidates for coronary CTA before valve surgery.

Bridging Social Capital and Individual Earnings: Evidence for an Inverted U.

Based on data on a cross section of individuals surveyed in the 1999-2002 wave of World and European Values Surveys, we investigate the multilateral associations between bridging social capital, individuals' earnings, as well as social trust and employment status. Our analysis provides robust evidence that the relationship between bridging social capital and earnings is inverted-U shaped. We carry out a range of tests in order to ascertain that this result is not driven by regressor endogeneity or omitted variables bias.

Cost of severe hypoglycaemia in nine European countries.

Objective: Complications contribute largely to the economic gravity of diabetes mellitus (DM). How they arise and are treated differs substantially between countries. This paper assesses the total annual, direct, and indirect cost of severe hypoglycemia events (SHEs) in nine European countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia/the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MK), Poland, Slovenia, and Spain.

Strategies of Coping with Pain in Cancer on the Basis of Lung, Breast, Colorectal, and Prostate Carcinoma.

Background: The selection of an illness coping strategy has a major effect on the quality of life preconditioned by health status.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to assess the influence of the primary site and socioeconomic factors on strategies of coping with pain in patients diagnosed with breast, lung, colorectal, and prostate carcinoma.

Methods: The study included 902 patients treated at the outpatient's department of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center-Institute of Oncology in Warsaw.

Acceptance of, inclination for, and barriers in genetic testing for gene mutations that increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancers among female residents of Warsaw.

Aim Of The Study: To check the degree of acceptance of, inclination for, and barriers in genetic testing for gene mutations that increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancers among female residents of Warsaw.

Material And Methods: This study involved 562 women between 20 and 77 years of age, all of whom were patients visiting gynaecologists practising in clinics in the City of Warsaw. The studied population was divided into six age categories.

The influence of negative response style on survey-based household inflation expectations.

The study identified a sub-group of respondents adopting a negative response style in consumer tendency surveys and investigated their influence on aggregate household inflation expectations. Households prone to negative response style were identified using multi-group latent class models. The data source was the State of the Household Survey, conducted following European Commission methodology, in Poland between 1999 and 2010 (45 quarters).

The Relationship between Levels of Physical Activity and Quality of Life among Students of the University of the Third Age.

Aim: The assessment of quality of life (QoL) among elderly people is of great importance when preparing health care programmes for this social group. Many researchers indicate that poor health is less frequently observed in senior citizens who display levels of physical activity (PA) prescribed by WHO. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the level of PA among students of the University of the Third Age (U3A) and their self-assessment concerning their QoL.

Flavonoids intake among Polish and Spanish students.

Background: Flavonoids are a group of bioactive compounds that are extensively found in foodstuffs of plant origin. Their regular consumption plays an important role in the prevention of degenerative diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to estimate dietary flavonoid intake among Polish and Spanish students and to establish the main dietary sources of flavonoids.

Assessment of health related quality of life in polish patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Background: Most patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) have impaired health related quality of life (HRQoL), as assessed by PBC-specific HRQoL (PBC-40) and generic (SF-36) questionnaires. Data on the applicability of PBC-27, a shorter version of PBC-40, have been limited.

Aims: To assess HRQoL in Polish PBC patients, applying PBC-40, PBC-27 and SF-36 and to associate clinical or laboratory parameters with HRQoL factors.

Drug-related risk of severe hypoglycaemia in observational studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) leads to multiple complications, including severe hypoglycaemia events (SHEs). SHEs can impact a patient's quality of life and compliance and may directly result in additional costs to the health care system. The aim of this review was to evaluate the risk of severe hypoglycaemia in patients with type 1 (T1) and 2 (T2) DM as observed in everyday clinical practice for various drug regimens.

Economic resources consumption structure in severe hypoglycemia episodes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with severe hypoglycemia events (SHEs) that vary in severity and resource consumption. Here we perform a systematic review in Medline of studies evaluating SHE-related health resource use. Eligible studies investigated patients with DM and included ≥10 SHEs.

Factors increasing the risk of inactivity among administrative, technical, and manual workers in Warszawa public institutions.

Objectives: The research aims to assess the level of physical activity among administrative, technical, and manual workers employed in Warszawa public institutions and to analyze the factors that increase the risk of failing to meet World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

Material And Methods: The study comprised 373 employees of randomly selected institutions. A short version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was applied.

Concepts of Confidence in Tendency Survey Research: An Assessment with Multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

In this paper, we investigate the link between the formal definition of confidence in tendency surveys and its measurement. We advocate for the use of reflective measures in an assessment of the confidence level in both consumer and industrial indicators. Based on the data from Poland's tendency survey research, we use a multi-group confirmatory factor analytical approach to demonstrate that the set of indicators proposed by the European Commission methodology that is currently used might be not appropriate to measure the concept of confidence consistently, both within and between periods.

Selected questionnaire methods studying the quality of life.

The scientific literature is full of numerous reports dealing with the quality of life of patients suffering from different diseases. The aim of the study is to present a set of questionnaires, which are used to study the quality of the patient's life, the questionnaires, which are the most popular in Poland and all over the world as well as those which concern the children's allergy. Increasingly, the research deals with the objective and subjective feelings of patients about their condition.

Individual and environmental factors determining sedentary lifestyle of the polish population.

Background: The aim of the current investigation was to evaluate the sedentary lifestyle of the Polish population and its link with prolonged sitting in light of individual and environmental factors.

Methods: The sample consisted of 1505 Polish people between 18 and 64 years old. The Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) survey was conducted with the Polish version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-LF) and the survey of the determinants of a sport activity among the Polish population.

The regional variation in tobacco smoking - attributable mortality in Poland, 2006-2010.

Study Objective: To explain the regional variation in smoking-attributable mortality in Poland by selected environmental characteristics.

Material And Methods: On the basis of the simplified Peto method, standardized smoking-attributable death rates were estimated by applying data on overall mortality and mortality due to malignant neoplasms of trachea, bronchus and lung for the years 2006-2010 obtained from the Central Statistical Office. The correlation between smoking-attributable mortality (SAM) and selected regional characteristics was estimated in two models of linear regression (for men and women).

Estrogen receptor alpha polymorphisms, estradiol level, and occurrence of atherosclerosis risk factors in healthy postmenopausal women.

Background: The objective of the study was to analyze the relationship between interaction of polymorphisms in the estrogen receptor alpha gene (Erα) and estradiol (E2), and the occurrence of selected atherosclerosis risk factors in postmenopausal women without the diagnosis of a cardiovascular disease.

Material/methods: The study covered 210 women, a minimum of 2 years after menopause, with FSH >30 mlU/ml, aged 50-60 years, with no chronic diseases diagnosed. In the women examined, the levels of estradiol, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides were determined, as well as height, waist circumference (W), hip circumference (R), and arterial hypertension.

Authenticity of food products in the Polish market checked during 2005-2012.

Background: Food fraud/adulteration has ever increasingly become a dominant food issue of the modern world in both developed and developing countries. It is presumed that globalisation is mainly one of the underlying reasons.

Objectives: To assess and analyse the occurrence of food fraud on the Polish market during 2005-2012.

Regional variation in mortality from ischaemic heart disease in Poland, 2006-2010.

Background: Spatial differences in mortality in Poland are large and remain unexplained to a large extent. Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is a good candidate for explaining regional inequalities in mortality in Poland due to the high level of mortality from this cause and the large spatial differences.

Aim: We describe the contribution of IHD to all-cause mortality in Poland in 2006-2010 on a powiat (Polish district) level and explain the differences in mortality by selected socio-economic factors.

Association of socio-economic and demographic factors with physical activity of males and females aged 20-69 years.

Objective: To assess the physical activity of working residents of Warsaw aged 20-69 years, as well as to identify the socio-demographic factors associated with their levels of physical activity.

Materials And Method: The study involved 2,544 working residents of Warsaw aged 20-69 years. The short version of the IPAQ was applied and four physical activity levels (insufficient, sufficient, augmented, high) were distinguished.

Social discounting: Choice between rewards for other people.

The purpose of the present study was to test the prediction that when two rewards, a smaller but "socially closer" one and a larger but "socially more distant" one, are moved away from the subject by the same social distance, subjective value of the socially more distant reward will increase (i.e. the rate of social discounting will be shallower).

Coronary computed tomographic prediction rule for time-efficient guidewire crossing through chronic total occlusion: insights from the CT-RECTOR multicenter registry (Computed Tomography Registry of Chronic Total Occlusion Revascularization).

Objectives: This study sought to establish a coronary computed tomography angiography prediction rule for grading chronic total occlusion (CTO) difficulty for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Background: The uncertainty of procedural outcome remains the strongest barrier to PCI in CTO.

Methods: Data from 4 centers involving 240 consecutive CTO lesions with pre-procedural coronary computed tomography angiography were analyzed.