An Alarmingly High Number of Candidates for Bariatric Procedures among Professionally Active Poles and Its Strong Relationship with Cardiovascular Co-Morbidities-POL-O-CARIA 2022 Study.

Over recent years, the global healthcare system has experienced a notable increase in the prevalence of obesity and its associated health complications such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, lipid disorders, etc. What is more, one of the significant phenomena is the increasing demand for bariatric procedures among individuals of working age due to the high prevalence of type III obesity and type II obesity with co-morbidities. This trend is pronounced in Poland, due to the increasing number of patients meeting the qualifying criteria for surgery among professionally active and inactive patients. The aim of this study is to characterize the alarmingly high number of candidates for bariatric procedures among professionally active Poles. In total, the results of 2,056,861 initial, control, and periodic visits as part of the occupational medicine certificate were analyzed-collected from 1,342,749 unique patients (51.7% men; mean age of whole group: 36.81, SD = 10.91). Statistical calculations were performed, qualitative data were assessed using percentage and occurrence counts, while qualitative data were described using mean (M), standard deviation (SD), median, skewness, kurtosis, and range values. Results with p < 0.05 were deemed significant. Chi-square analysis and one-way ANOVA (with Scheffe's post hoc test) were employed. Charts were created in the R program. It was noticed that there was a consistent rise in the proportion of individuals classified as candidates for bariatric procedures (an increase of 0.3%) alongside a notable decrease in the percentage of individuals maintaining a healthy body weight. Moreover, it is imperative to conduct yearly evaluations of the prevalence of obesity and its associated health conditions. It should be noted that hypertension occurred in 42.2% of patients, type 2 diabetes in 6.2% of patients, and lipid disorders in 8.4% of patients with third-degree obesity. This proactive approach is essential in order to adequately equip the healthcare system to address the increasing population of obese individuals, especially candidates for bariatric procedures.

Prevalence of Cigarette Smoking among Professionally Active Adult Population in Poland and Its Strong Relationship with Cardiovascular Co-Morbidities-POL-O-CARIA 2021 Study.

Smoking is a leading cause of preventable mortality. It affects both the health and economic situation within societies. The aim of the study is to perform an epidemiological analysis of smoking among professionally active adults in Poland in the years 2016-2020 and its Strong Relationship with Cardiovascular Co-morbidities. The article retrospectively analyzed the records of 1,450,455 who underwent occupational medicine examinations between 2016 and 2020. Statistical analyses performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software were performed. In general, irrespective of the year of measurement, 11.6% of women and 17.1% of men declared smoking. After sorting by year of measurement, we found that the percentage of female smokers was decreasing, while that of males remained relatively consistent. In the case of BMI, it was found that among tobacco smokers the percentage of people with normal body weight decreases with successive years of measurement, while the percentage of overweight and level I obesity increases. Moreover, we analyzed in detail the occurrence of particular comorbidities in the group of people who declared smoking. The most common diseases in this group were: arterial hypertension (39%), lipid disorders (26.7%), and hypertension and lipid disorders (16.5%). Active preventive measures are necessary to reduce the number of smokers and the negative impact of smoking on the occurrence of comorbid diseases.

Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity among Professionally Active Adult Population in Poland and Its Strong Relationship with Cardiovascular Co-Morbidities-POL-O-CARIA 2016-2020 Study.

For several decades, a steady increase in the percentage of overweight and obese people has been observed all over the world. There are many studies available in the literature emphasizing the relationship of overweight and obesity with the occurrence of other diseases. The aim of this study is to characterize the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity, as well as their changes over time, among professionally active adults who underwent occupational medicine examinations in Poland in 2016−2020, for the POL-O-CARIA 2016−2020 study. In total, the results of 1,450,455 initial, control and periodic visits as part of the occupational medicine certificate were analyzed. Statistical calculations were performed with the use of IBM SPSS Statistics 25. In both groups (men/women), a significant decrease was observed every year for people who had normal body weight. In addition, the tendency to increase in people with I and III degrees of obesity was more strongly observed in the male group. A significant relationship was also observed between BMI categories and the occurrence of all analyzed comorbidities: hypertension, type 2 diabetes, lipid disorders and coronary artery disease (chi2 (70) = 12,228.11; p < 0.001). Detailed results showed that in the group of patients diagnosed with hypertension or lipid disorders, significant differences were observed between all groups; it turned out that as the BMI level increased (I, I, III), there was an increase in the percentage of occurrence of hypertension (38.1%, 41% and 45.3%, respectively) and type 2 diabetes (3.2%, 4.6% and 5.8%, respectively) (p < 0.001). Our analysis indicates that the prevalence of adult obesity and severe obesity will continue to increase nationwide, with an accompanying large increase in comorbidities.

Safety and Impact on Training of the Influenza Vaccines in Elite Athletes Participating in the Rio 2016 Olympics.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the safety and tolerance of influenza vaccines for the northern and southern hemispheres in Polish elite athletes participating in the Rio 2016 Olympics. DESIGN: Prospective, observational, cohort study. SETTING: Institutional level. PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-seven athletes vaccinated only with the northern hemisphere vaccine; 98 athletes received the southern hemisphere vaccine alone, whereas 39 athletes were vaccinated with both vaccines. INTERVENTIONS: The athletes were vaccinated with a trivalent, inactivated influenza vaccine recommended for the northern hemisphere 2015/2016 and then with the vaccine recommended for the southern hemisphere 2016. Athletes kept a diary of adverse events and effects (if any) on training for 6 days after vaccination. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The percentage of general and local adverse events, number of lost or modified training sessions. RESULTS: Significantly more local adverse events (pain and redness) were found in the group immunized with the vaccine for the northern hemisphere. There were no differences in the frequency of general adverse events and influence on training between groups. Of total 273 athletes who had 1911 training days during 6 days after vaccination, 6 athletes (2.2%) lost 13 training days (0.7%) and 16 athletes (5.9%) had to modify 34 (1.7%) training days within first 2 days after vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Athletes tolerated influenza immunization well. If they are going to travel to the other hemisphere during the influenza season, the use of the second influenza vaccine should be advised. Athletes should anticipate modification of trainings for 2 days after vaccination.

Spiritual Needs of Polish Patients with Chronic Diseases.

In a cross-sectional survey using standardized questionnaires such as the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ), we analyze unmet spiritual needs of 275 patients with chronic diseases from Catholic Poland. The factorial structure of SpNQ's Polish version is similar to the primary version and has good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.89). Here, not only Inner Peace needs and Giving/Generativity needs were of relevance, but also Religious Needs and Existential Needs. These needs were not significantly associated with life satisfaction, but with interpretations of illness. To address such unmet needs, multi-professional teams should care for patients' multifaceted needs.