Characteristics and quality of life of substance users and their caregivers.

The correlation between substance use and depression has been emphasized in the literature. Substance use disorders can also adversely affect the caregivers of drug-addicted persons. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Special Hospital for Addiction Diseases in Belgrade in 2015 to analyze the characteristics, consequences, and health-related quality of life of drug users and their caregivers. The sample comprised 136 users of various substances, and 136 caregivers. A questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, the Short Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36), and Beck Depression Inventory were administered to all participants. According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, compared with caregivers, substance users were significantly more frequently male (P < .001), ≤ 39 years old (P < .001), and more frequently reported the use of sedatives (P = .009) and smoking (P < .001). Some level of depression was present in all participants, but severe forms were more frequent in substance users (P = .010). Among substance users, mean scores of SF-36 domains ranged from 56.62‒87.17, and among their caregivers, from 50.37‒75.07; however, the difference was significant only for the health change domain (P = .037), the score for which was lower in caregivers. Substance users suffered from more severe forms of depression compared to their caregivers, who had lower SF-36 scores in the domain of health change.

Quality of life improvement in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis and other goiters after surgery: A prospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) and other benign goiters (BG) might influence patients' quality of life (QoL). The objective of this study was to analyze influence of surgery on these patients' QoL. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted. The ThyPRO questionnaire was used in the QoL assessment. RESULTS: The HT patients experienced significantly worse hypothyroid symptoms and sex life than the BG patients. The improvement in QoL in the BG patients was significant after surgery in all ThyPRO domains. In the HT patients, the improvement was significant in all but two domains, eye symptoms and cognitive impairment. The best improvement in both groups was in overall QoL. None of the patients developed permanent consequences. CONCLUSIONS: The QoL of HT and BG patients is impaired and improves significantly after surgical treatment. Thyroidectomy should be considered as a treatment option in the HT patients more often as in the BG patients.

Improvement of quality of life in patients with benign goiter after surgical treatment.

PURPOSE: A quality of life (QoL) assessment is considered an important outcome measure in the treatment of benign thyroid diseases. The aims of this study were to analyze the impact of different surgical treatments on QoL in patients with benign thyroid diseases and to evaluate factors correlating with the QoL outcomes. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted. One hundred thirty-two patients met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and completed the disease-specific questionnaire, thyroid patient-reported outcome (ThyPRO), before surgery and after 6 months. Preoperative and postoperative QoL outcomes were compared and correlating factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Indication for surgery was euthyroid goiter, toxic goiter, and suspicious malignant thyroid disease in 58.3, 29.5, and 12.1 % of the patients, respectively. None of the patients had overtly toxic goiter. There were 65.2 % of the patients who underwent total thyroidectomy, while 34.8 % underwent hemithyroidectomy. The total postoperative complication rate was 5.3 %. QoL improved significantly after surgical treatment, independent of the extent of performed surgery. The most affected domain, pre- and postoperative, was for tiredness. QoL improvement was significant for women in all domains, while for men, it was significant in only three domains (goiter symptoms, emotional susceptibility, and cosmetic complaints) and in overall QoL. Younger patients had significantly better cognitive functioning and daily life, while elderly patients had significantly less cosmetic complaints. The factors that significantly correlated with improvement of QoL in different domains were lower education level, duration of disease, and microcarcinoma at final histology. CONCLUSION: QoL in patients with benign thyroid diseases improves significantly after operative treatment, independent of the extent of the operation.

Trends in mortality rates from coronary heart disease in Belgrade (Serbia) during the period 1990-2010: a joinpoint regression analysis.

BACKGROUND: Coronary heart disease (CHD) causes an estimated 7 million deaths worldwide each year. In the last few decades, mortality from CHD has been decreasing in many countries. The aim of this study was to analyze the trends of mortality from CHD and myocardial infarction (MI) in the population of Belgrade during the period 1990-2010. METHODS: Mortality data for CHD and MI were obtained from the Municipal Institute of Statistics in Belgrade and used to calculate age- and sex-specific and age-adjusted mortality rates. Joinpoint regression analysis was used to estimate annual percent changes (APCs) in mortality and to identify points in time where significant changes in trend occur. RESULTS: Trends in CHD mortality rates showed significant decline in men during the period studied (APC -0.5%, no joinpoints detected), but no significant change among women (APC +0.4%, no joinpoints detected). While we observed significant declines in CHD mortality in men aged 35-44, 55-64 and 65-74 and women aged 55-64, there was a significant increase in mortality in men aged ≥85 and women aged 75-84 and ≥85. Trends in MI mortality rates showed similar patterns in both genders, with a significant decline from the mid-1990s. Significant decline in MI mortality was observed in almost all age groups, except the two oldest (75-84 and ≥85) in women population. CONCLUSIONS: Given that CHD and MI mortality trends showed different patterns during the period studied, especially in women, our results imply that further observation of trend is needed.

Risk factors for sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma.

Medullary thyroid cancer is a rare tumour that appears in two distinct forms. The rarer familial form is genetically determined. The sporadic form is more common, but its aetiology has not been defined clearly so far. The aim of this study was to examine the risk factors for development of sporadic medullary thyroid cancer (sMTC). A case-control study was carried out during the period 2000-2009. The case group included 98 consecutive patients with sMTC. The control group comprised twice as many cases (196), who were neighbours of the patients from the case group. Patients were individually matched by sex, age and place of residence. Conditional univariate and multivariate logistic regression methods were applied in data analyses. According to the univariate logistic regression method, sMTC was significantly related to smoking status, duration of smoking, number of cigarettes smoked per day, personal history of goitre or thyroid nodules, personal history of nonthyroid cancer, menarche after 14 years of age, first full-term pregnancy before 20 years of age and usage of oral contraceptives. According to the multivariate logistic regression method, sMTC was independently related to smoking status [odds ratio (OR)=0.46, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.20-0.90], personal history of goitre or thyroid nodules (OR=11.29, 95% CI=1.16-73.45) and menarche after 14 years of age (OR=2.77, 95% CI=1.33-6.28). Risk factors for sMTC were goitre or thyroid nodules and late menarche; cigarette smoking appeared to be a protective factor.

Cigarette smoking, coffee intake and alcohol consumption preceding Parkinson's disease: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: A case-control study was performed in Belgrade in order to investigate the association between Parkinson's disease (PD) and smoking, coffee and alcohol consumption. METHODS: During the period 2001-2005, 110 new PD cases and 220 hospital controls were interviewed. Cases and controls were matched by sex, age and place of residence (urban/rural). For the analysis of data conditional univariate and multivariate logistic regression methods were used. RESULTS: With PD were associated, independently from each other, current smoking [odds ratio (OR) = 0.44; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.23-0.82], alcohol consumption (OR = 4.78; 95% CI = 2.67-8.55) and coffee consumption (OR = 2.54; 95% CI = 1.36-4.75). In ever smokers the risk for PD significantly decreased with the increasing number of cigarettes smoked and with increasing duration of smoking. The risk for PD significantly increased with the increasing quantity of alcohol consumption. PD risk was significantly higher in subjects whose average daily consumption of coffee was 1 and 2-3 cups, and it was lower (but not significantly) in those whose daily coffee consumption was 4+ cups. Cases and controls did not differ in duration of alcohol and coffee consumption. The results of multivariate analyses did not substantially change after adjustment on family history positive on PD. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study support the hypotheses of inverse association of smoking with PD, but an inverse association with coffee was not confirmed. PD was found to be positively associated with coffee and alcohol consumption.

Environmental factors and Parkinson's disease: a case-control study in Belgrade, Serbia.

A case-control study was performed in Belgrade in order to investigate the association between Parkinson's disease (PD) and some environmental factors. During the period 2001-2005, 110 new PD cases and 220 hospital controls were interviewed. Cases and controls were matched by sex, age (+/-2 years), and place of residence (urban/rural). According to multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis, PD was positively asssociated with exposure to insecticides (odds ratio (OR) 3.22, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.32-7.87), dyes (OR 25.33; 95% CI, 2.89-222.0), and naphtha and its derivates (OR 9.53; 95% CI, 1.04-86.96), and with gardening (OR 5.51; 95% CI, 3.04-10.01), well water drinking (OR 2.62; 95% CI, 1.40-4.90), and spring water drinking (OR 2.19; 95% CI, 1.15-4.16). Negative association was found for service-sector working (OR 0.15; 95% CI, 0.04-0.59). The results obtained did not changed after adjustment for smoking. The findings of the present study support the role of environmental factors in the occurence of PD.

Case-control study of oropharyngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: In order to test some hypotheses of risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer (neoplasm of base of tongue, palate and tonsils) matched case-control study was conducted in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, during the period 1998-2000. METHODS: Study comprised 100 incidence cases with oropharyngeal cancer and 100 controls with some non-malignant diseases of head and neck. RESULTS: According to multivariate analysis, ever smoking, interaction between smoking and alcohol consumption, and occupational exposure to wood dust were found to be independent risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer (odds ratio-OR=5.10 95% confidence intervals-95% CI=1.70-15.27, OR=2.61 95% CI=1.54-4.41, and OR=4.16 95% CI=1.45-11.91, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study are in line with other authors' findings showing that smoking and alcohol consumption are the main risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer. The effect of occupational exposure to wood dust warrants further investigation.

Risk factors for Peyronie's disease: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To test some hypotheses about risk factors for Peyronie's disease (PD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a case-control study, 82 patients with PD, consecutively diagnosed at the first author's institution, were compared with 246 men visiting the same institution for dermatological diseases. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the data. RESULTS: From the multivariate logistic regression analysis the risk factors for PD were: a history of genital and/or perineal injuries, transurethral prostatectomy, cystoscopy, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, lipoma, propranolol in therapy, Dupuytren's contracture in the medical history, ever having smoked, alcohol consumption, fibromatous lesions of the genital tract of the partner, and surgical intervention on the genital tract of the partner. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study are in line with the hypothesis that, in addition to genetic predisposition, trauma of the penis and systemic vascular diseases are risk factors for PD. Smoking and alcohol consumption also seem to have some role in the development of the disease.

The Belgrade childhood diabetes study: a multivariate analysis of risk determinants for diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate some hypotheses about factors related to the development of type 1 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted in Belgrade during the period 1994-1997. A total of 105 recently onset diabetic and 210 control children, individually matched by age (+/-1 year), sex and place of residence, were included in the study. RESULTS: According to multivariate regression analysis, the following factors were related to type 1 diabetes: stressful events and symptoms of psychological dysfunction during the 12 months preceding the onset of the disease [odds ratio (OR) 3.48, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.15-5.65; and OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.33-3.48], irregular vaccination (OR 16.98, 95% CI 1.38-208.92), infection during 6 months preceding the onset of the disease (OR 4.23, 95% CI 1.95-9.17), higher education of father (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.05-2.14), mother's consumption of nitrosoamines-rich food during pregnancy (OR 4.33, 95% CI 1.95-9.61), alcohol consumption by father (OR 3.80, 95% CI 1.64-8.78), insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in three generations of children's relatives (OR 20.04, 95% CI 4.73-84.81; and OR 5.52, 95% CI 2.45-12.46), and use of ultrasound diagnostic techniques during pregnancy (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.17-1.00). CONCLUSIONS: Among non-genetic factors, those affecting the child during pregnancy are especially important because of their preventability.

Hereditary patterns of Belgrade university female students with migraine and nonmigraine primary headache.

Various studies have provided evidence that migraine is a multifactorial genetic disorder. The aim of the present study was to compare hereditary patterns of female students with migraine (245 subjects) and non-migraine primary headaches (1053 subjects). The prevalence study was performed combined with a case-control study. Migraineurs had significantly more frequently one or more first-degree and/or second-degree relatives with migraine. Students with menstrual migraine, in comparison with other subtypes of migraine (with the exception of premenstrual migraine), had significantly more frequently > or = 2 relatives with migraine. Among students with non-migraine primary headaches, those with menstrually related headache had more frequently relatives with migraine in comparison with students suffering from menstrually unrelated nonmigraine headache. The results obtained are in line with the results of genetic epidemiologic studies suggesting that genetic factors play a role in the occurrence of migraine.

Sexual behaviour of male teenagers attending a City Department for Skin and Venereal Diseases in Belgrade.

A study of sexual behaviour of teenagers is essential in the design of an effective intervention programme for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). A questionnaire was administered to 380 men, attending the department for skin and venereal diseases in Belgrade in the period from January 2000 to June 2001. Two groups were compared, 'STD cases' (attending for suspected STDs) and controls (with skin mycotic diseases). In multivariate logistic regression analysis the following risk factors were significantly more frequent in STD cases: sex on the same day as the first encounter (odds ratio (OR)= 2.62, 95% CI = 1.58-4.34), history of previous STD (OR = 3.60, 95% CI = 1.74-7.45) and never using a condom with an irregular partner (OR = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.10-4.38).