Pedometer assessed physical activity of people with metabolic syndrome in Poland.

INTRODUCTION: Metabolic syndrome is a contemporary disease of civilization, an effect of lack of healthy behaviour, a consequence of lifestyle devoid of physical activity, eating poor quality food rich in calories and excessive stress. Apart from a proper diet, physical activity remains an important part of metabolic syndrome management. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the work was to evaluate the physical activity of an adult population of patients with metabolic syndrome. materials and method. Adults aged 35-70 fulfilling the criteria of metabolic syndrome according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) were included. New Lifestyles NL-2000 pedometers were used to assess locomotive physical activity during an entire week. RESULTS: In the group of 100 subjects, as many as 61 people (61%) represented low or sedentary activity, while nearly one fourth of the respondents - 23 (32%) represented the negligible activity type. Average weekly physical activity of those in the study was 6,743 steps/day (in 100 individuals) and ranged from 1,781-15,169. A great diversity was found in the study group, since the highest number of steps per day was 23,347 and the lowest - 409. No significant differences in the number of steps on weekdays and at weekends were observed (mean: 6,676/day and 6,913/day, respectively). A statistically significant negative correlation (r = -0.29) was observed between age and physical activity, between the average daily number of steps in the week and Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) (r = 0.201), as well as between the average daily number of steps in the week and Body Mass Index (BMI) (r = 0.226). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of people with metabolic syndrome represent a low or sedentary activity type and decrease of physical activity corresponds to increasing age, BMI and WHR. No significant differences in physical activity are observed between working days and free days (weekends).

The attractiveness of family medicine among Polish medical students.

BACKGROUND: In many developed countries tuning supply and demand of medical doctors is a continuous challenge to meet the ever changing needs of community and individual patients. The long study period for medical doctors creates the opportunity to observe the current career preferences of medical students and evolution in time. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the career choices of Polish students in different stages of their medical education. METHODS: Medical students at five Polish medical universities were questioned about their career aspirations in the first, third and sixth year. RESULTS: A total of 2020 students were recruited for the survey. Among first year students 17% preferred family medicine as final career option, compared to 20% in the third year, and 30% in the sixth year (significant trend, P < 0.0001). In particular, female students prefer family medicine: 71% women versus 62% women in the group with a preference for a non-family medicine orientation (P = 0.008). Medical students rejecting a career as a family doctor stated that the impossibility to work in a hospital environment was the determining factor. CONCLUSION: The opportunity for professional development seems to be an important determining factor in the choice of a medical specialty in Poland. The proportion of Polish students choosing family medicine increases during their progress in medical education, with one third of students interested in a career in family medicine by year six.

[Evaluation of the risk of alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking among 6th year students of the Faculty of Medicine]. / Ocena ryzyka spozycia alkoholu oraz palenie tytoniu wsród studentów VI roku Wydzialu Lekarskiego.

Implementing the National Health Program assumed in Poland for the years 2007 2015, family doctors in their everyday work try to contribute to reducing the popularity of tobacco smoking as well as reducing and changing the structure of alcohol consumption, whose aim is to reduce the negative health effects caused by those substances [9]. Non smoking personnel and prohibition of smoking in health care centres are the basis for effective anti-tobacco counsel. The same dependence occurs in the case of alcohol abuse. The aim of the work was to evaluate the knowledge of the effects of alcohol abuse among students of the 6th year of the Faculty of Medicine of UMB (Medical University of Bialystok), as well as to analyze the structure of drinking and smoking among the prospective doctors. The study material was collected by means of anonymous surveys carried out before classes belonging to the family medicine subject block. The obtained data showed that the students had only superficial knowledge of the negative health effects of alcohol abuse and tobacco smoking. 26% of female students and 12% of male students smoke regularly. The results of the shortened Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), so-called AUDIT-C, showed that 50% of prospective female doctors and 61.1% of prospective male doctors drink alcohol in a risky way.

[Students of the Faculty of Medicine and of the Division of Public Health of Medical University of Bialystok towards nicotine addiction against the background of the National Health Program in Poland]. / Studenci Wydzialów Lekarskiego i Zdrowia Publicznego AM w Bialymstoku wobec nikotynizmu na tle Narodowego Programu Zdrowia w Polsce.

In the years 1998-2005 in Poland a National Health Program was being implemented. One of its chief guidelines was to reduce the popularity of tobacco smoking, recognised as a proven, single factor influencing the etiology and the course of many diseases. The objective of the work was to establish whether the program's guidelines were reflected in individual attitudes of senior students of the Faculty of Medicine and of the Division of Public Health of Medical University of Bialystok. The research was conducted with the use of an anonymous questionnaire, filled in by the students before the classes dedicated to the issues of nicotine addiction within the framework of the family medicine thematic block. The analysis of the results did not show a decrease in the number of student smokers in comparison to the previous years; however, it was observed that more than a half of the current smokers had tried and was going to try to give up smoking, and the non-smokers strongly objected to passive smoking.

[The attitude of sixth year students of the Faculty of Medicine towards the problem of addiction to nicotine]. / Postawa studentów VI roku wydzialu lekarskiego wobec problemu nikotynizmu.

According to the guidelines of the National Health Program, assumed by the Polish Ministry of Health for the years 1996 - 2005, it could be expected that, particularly at medical universities, education of future doctors in the field of problems connected to addiction to nicotine is taken into consideration. However, the research conducted in the form of anonymous survey among the sixth year students of the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Bialystok in the academic years 2001/2002 and 2004/2005 does not corroborate those expectations. The survey proves that the future graduates' knowledge of the aforementioned topic is fragmentary and confirms the necessity of including that issue in the educational curriculum in the area of family medicine.