Europe's War against COVID-19: A Map of Countries' Disease Vulnerability Using Mortality Indicators.

Specific and older age-associated comorbidities increase mortality risk in severe forms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). We matched COVID-19 comorbidities with causes of death in 28 EU countries for the total population and for the population above 65 years and applied a machine-learning-based tree clustering algorithm on shares of death for COVID-19 comorbidities and for influenza and on their growth rates between 2011 and 2016. We distributed EU countries in clusters and drew a map of the EU populations' vulnerabilities to COVID-19 comorbidities and to influenza. Noncommunicable diseases had impressive shares of death in the EU but with substantial differences between eastern and western countries. The tree clustering algorithm accurately indicated the presence of western and eastern country clusters, with significantly different patterns of disease shares of death and growth rates. Western populations displayed higher vulnerability to malignancy, blood-related diseases, and diabetes mellitus and lower respiratory diseases, while eastern countries' populations suffered more from ischaemic heart, cerebrovascular, and circulatory diseases. Dissimilarities between EU countries were also present when influenza was considered. The heat maps of EU populations' vulnerability to diseases based on mortality indicators constitute the basis for more targeted health policy strategies in a collaborative effort at the EU level.

A Statistical Assessment of Information, Knowledge and Attitudes of Medical Students Regarding Contraception Use.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how contraception use is linked to information, knowledge and attitudes towards family planning and contraception of medical students. METHODS: This is a voluntary cross-sectional study using an anonymous questionnaire applied to 62 medical students. The questionnaire had the following main structure: characteristics of the studied population, information on contraception, knowledge about contraception methods, attitudes regarding family planning and contraception, and contraception use. Statistical analysis was performed using STATISTICA 8.0 software and statistical significance of the data was verified using the t-statistic test. RESULTS: The survey had a 95% response rate. Seventy seven percent of the studied population consisted of females aged between 20-40 years, with 85.50% of them being 20-25 years old. The overwhelming majority of respondents believed it was important to be informed on the subject and considered themselves to be well informed on contraception. The internet and courses are the main sources of information. Of all respondents, 75.41% had routine discussions with their partners regarding contraception, 53.23% talked about it with family members and 46.77% with their physician; 90.16% had at least one gynecological examination and 47.54% got themselves tested for sexually transmitted diseases. The condom and the contraceptive pill were the main contraceptive methods for the respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Romanian medical students share similar features to their peers in European developed countries. We used a statistical analysis to demonstrate that information, knowledge and attitudes on contraception are closely linked to contraceptive choice.