FACTORS AND ESTIMATION OF RISK FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES AMONG PATIENTS IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN CENTRAL SERBIA.

AIM: Cardiovascular diseases present major cause of morbidity and mortality in the world as well as in Central Serbia. The aim of this study is to analyze the frequency of risk factors and estimate risk for the development of cardiovascular diseases. METHODS: The database was collected from health records of the Health Centre in Kragujevac. The following parameters were observed: gender and age, smoking, anthropometrical measurements and Body Mass Index, the value of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, diabetes, levels of cholesterol, and triglycerids in blood serum. The estimation of risk for developing the fatal cardiovascular disease during the period of ten years is determined according to SCORE system model. The statistical package SPSS version 18.0 was used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: The study sample consisted of 1,053 people, 505 men and 548 women. 68.8% of people were overweight and obese, arterial hypertension was noted in 72.6%, and diabetes type II in 13.3% of people. 67.6% of people had a high level of total cholesterol in blood serum and 39.6% of people had a high level of triglycerids in blood serum. The metabolic syndrome was noted in 44.3%, and 3 or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease were noted in 65% of the population. We determined a significant statistic difference for age, smoking, nutritional status, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. CONCLUSION: The high incidence of potentially modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease gives a possibility to apply prevention measures for promotion and preservation of health.

Release of legacy pollutants from melting glaciers: model evidence and conceptual understanding.

Recently, increasing concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been observed in the sediment of glacier-fed Lake Oberaar, Switzerland. Melting glaciers have been suggested as a secondary source of POPs released to Alpine lakes. Here we further investigate whether climate warming may accelerate the release of POPs previously deposited to Alpine glaciers ("glacier hypothesis"). To test this hypothesis, a dynamic multimedia mass balance model is developed for the catchment area of Lake Oberaar and is applied to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT). This lake model is combined with two other models. The first is a dynamic multimedia mass balance model parametrized for the Swiss lowlands that is used to calculate (on the basis of historical emission data) the atmospheric concentrations that are an advective input into the model of the lake catchment. The second is a flow model of Oberaar Glacier that determines the residence time of persistent chemicals in the glacier after their deposition to the glacier surface. According to results from these three models in combination, the release of POPs by the glacier is currently increasing and accounts for the observed increase in concentrations in the lake sediment. The models indicate that approximately half of the amount of PCBs, PCDD/Fs, and DDT initially incorporated into the glacier ice is still stored in the glacier. Under the assumption that the climate is warming, accelerated release of POPs is to be expected for the future; in a model run where no climate warming is assumed, the period of time required for release of the same amount of chemicals is longer by several decades than in the scenario with a changing climate.