[Health status of the population in six cities in the Czech Republic: prevalence and therapy of various chronic diseases]. / Zdravotní stav obyvatelstva sesti mest Ceské republiky: prevalence a terapie nekterých chronických onemocnení.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to describe health status of the urban middle-age population in six cities of the Czech Republic, which were included into the System of Population Health Survey in Relation to the Environment. METHODS AND RESULTS: From the population of cities Brno, Ceské Budejovice, Hradec Králové, Karviná, Kolín, Ustí nad Labem 400 males and 400 females in the age of 45 to 54 years were included into the study. All respondents filled out a question-form, half of them also underwent a medical check up. Results has shown that 52.8% of males and 51.6% of females had their cholesterol level elevated (> 5.2 mmol/l), 47.3% of males and 38.3% if females had higher blood pressure (SBP > = 140 mmHg and/or DBP > = 90 mmHg) or they were cured of hypertension, 39.4% of males and 22.5% of females were obese. Significant differences were observed in the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and smoking habits among the cities in study. According to the case histories, 55.6% of males and 57.8% of females complained of long-lasting ill-being, 37.0% of males and 45.2% of females were treated for a chronic disease, 13.3% of males and 12.4% of females considered their health during the previous year as bad or very bad. 45.4% of males and 57.9% of females underwent long-term pharmacological treatment, most frequently on a cardiovascular disease. Above described parameters differed significantly among cities in study. CONCLUSION: In the middle-aged population in six Czech cities the high prevalence of chronic diseases, health troubles and risk factors of chronic disease were found. Though the death rate in CR has been declining, chronic diseases have became a serious problem. Since most of these health problems can be improved by correct regimen, high attention should be given to their prevention.

Five years of the system of monitoring the environmental impact on population health of the Czech Republic.

The data collected in the System of monitoring the environmental impact on population health of the Czech Republic in 1994-1998 were obtained routinely and in a stabilized manner in six subsystems: health consequences and risks related to air pollution, drinking water quality, noise, human dietary exposure, human exposure to toxic pollutants from the environment and monitoring of the health status and evaluation of selected indicators of demographic and health statistics. They represent a useful and comprehensive background for providing objective information on the health status of the Czech population and on pollution of different components of the environment in the Czech Republic. The results obtained in the period 1994-1998 show that no critical situation needing urgent countermeasures to be taken appeared in the localities monitored. However, some results are indicative of the necessity to take certain remedial measures to maintain all population exposure burdens as low as reasonably possible from the economical and social points of view. Generally, the admissible limit values and exposure limits are exceeded only sporadically in some localities while for most contaminants monitored only very low values compared to the limits can be found and such situations are mostly considered as non-systematic changes.