Liver Cancer Mortality and Food Consumption in Serbia, 1991-2010: An Ecological Study.

AIM: This paper investigates the correlation between liver cancer mortality and consumption of food-groups in Serbia. METHODS: We conducted an ecological study. The study comprised the population of the Republic of Serbia (about 7.5 million inhabitants) during the period 1991-2010. This ecological study included the data on food consumption per capita which were obtained by the Household Budget Survey and mortality data for liver cancer made available by the National Statistical Office. Linear trend model was used to assess a trend of age-adjusted liver cancer mortality rates (per 100,000 persons) that were calculated by the method of direct standardization using the World Standard Population. Pearson correlation was performed to examine the association between liver cancer mortality and per capita food consumption quantified with a correlation coefficient (r value). RESULTS: In Serbia, over the past two decades a significantly decreasing trend of liver cancer mortality rates has been observed (p<0.001). Liver cancer mortality was significantly (p<0.01) positively correlated with animal fat, beef, wine and spirits intake (r=0.713, 0.631, 0.632 and 0.745, respectively). A weakly positive correlation between milk consumption and mortality from liver cancer (r=0.559, p<0.05) was found only among women. The strongest correlation was found between spirits consumption and liver cancer mortality rates in women (r=0.851, p<0.01). A negative correlation between coffee consumption and age-adjusted liver cancer mortality rates was found (r=0.516, p<0.05) only for the eldest men (aged 65 years or older). CONCLUSIONS: Correlations between liver cancer and dietary habits were observed and further effort is needed in order to investigate a possible causative association, using epidemiological analytical studies.

Association of human papillomavirus infection with cytology, colposcopy, histopathology, and risk factors in the development of low and high-grade lesions of the cervix.

PURPOSE: Persistent human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is fundamental for the development of intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to examine the association between HPV infection and cervical cytology, colposcopy, biopsy and the risk factors entailed. METHODS: The study included 784 patients tested by in situ hybridization for HPV type 6/11, 16/18 and 31/33/35 infection. The participants were divided into three categories according to the presence of high squamous intraepithelial lesions (H-SIL), low squamous intraepithelial lesions (L-SIL) and benign histologic findings. RESULTS: Patients that had L-SIL and H-SIL demonstrated a significantly higher percentage of HPV infection than patients with benign histologic findings. The percentage of H-SIL was highest in patients infected with high risk (HR)-HPV types 16/18, who had sexual intercourse before the age of 16 years, with two to five sexual partners. CONCLUSION: Among high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, there is a high prevalence of HR-HPV types 16/18, which is associated with the number of sexual partners and early sexual activity. There was a significant association between the presence of abnormal cytology and HR-HPV 16/18 in both groups (H-SIL and L-SIL). Benign colposcopic findings were not found in any patient with H-SIL, where no patient had only one sexual partner.

The importance of quality control in the implementation of breast cancer screening program in the Health Center Zemun.

PURPOSE: To investigate whether the differences in implementation between opportunistic and organized breast cancer screening affect the results, as well as the significance of quality control during the implementation of organized breast cancer screening. METHODS: Testing was performed in 2013 (opportunistic screening) and 2014 (organized screening) in the Health Centre Zemun. This included female population aged 50-69 years, belonging to the target population according to the national breast cancer screening programs. The Health Centre Zemun database of insured patients from the National Health Insurance Fund of the municipality of Zemun and Surcin was used for the evaluation of the screening performance. Statistical data processing was done with the statistical package SPSS-20.0. RESULTS: There was a highly significant difference (p=0.000) in the implementation of opportunistic and organized screening, whereby the response of women in organized screening was much greater (11.48%) than of the women responding to opportunistic screening (0.27%). The low response of women noticed in the summer in organized screening was attributed to the fact that the majority of women in Serbia take their holidays in that period. CONCLUSION: Performance and quality of screening depends on the control of all segments of the activities carried out in the screening process. Previous experience in organizing and controlling the quality of the implementation of screening can serve as a proven model, which by a multidisciplinary approach in practice can provide a better and safer healthcare.

Association of Socioeconomic Factors and Sedentary Lifestyle in Belgrade's Suburb, Working Class Community.

BACKGROUND: Sedentary lifestyle represents a growing health problem and considering that there is already a range of unhealthy habits that are marked as health risk factors and the increasing prevalence of sedentary lifestyle worldwide, we aimed to investigate association of sedentary way of living in suburb, working class local community with socioeconomic determinants such as educational level, occupation and income status. METHODS: In this community-based cross-sectional study, 1126 independently functioning adults were enrolled into the study. The study protocol included a complete clinical and biochemical investigation revealing age, gender, lipid status, height, weight and blood pressure. Trained interviewers (nurses) collected information from patients about current state of chronic diseases (diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension) smoking, medication and other socioeconomic data. Descriptive analysis, Chi-square and logistic regression were performed as statistical calculations. RESULTS: Patients with elementary school were seven times more likely to be classified in category with sedentary lifestyle compared to patients with college or faculty degree. Being retired and reporting low income were significantly associated with higher odds of sedentary behavior when compared with students and patients with high-income status, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The significance of this study lies in the fact that our results may help to easier identification of patients who may have a tendency towards a sedentary lifestyle.