Tackling the challenge of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes across Europe: a joint action by more than 300 public health professionals. Commentary.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes pose significant health challenges in Europe, affecting millions and burdening healthcare systems. The recent EU4Health Programme places reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) at the forefront, through a Joint Action focused on CVD and diabetes (JACARDI, Joint Action on CARdiovascular diseases and DIabetes). This initiative unites 21 European countries, including Ukraine, and over 300 experts. Employing an innovative approach and standardised methodology, JACARDI implements 142 pilot projects covering the entire "patient" journey. Particular focus will be given to improvement of data availability and quality. Additionally, JACARDI will emphasise transversal and intersectional aspects, such as health equity, determinants of health, and social, cultural, and ethnic diversity, while pioneering gender-transformative leadership. Committed to evidence-based interventions, JACARDI aims to harmonise strategies and disseminate knowledge for enhanced CVD and diabetes prevention and management. The goal is to identify effective strategies for wider implementation, fostering cross-national collaboration and fortifying Europe's health resilience.

Associations between diabetes and cancer: A 10-year national population-based retrospective cohort study.

AIMS: To investigate the risk of cancer in people with diabetes compared to the population without diabetes and to gain insight into the timely association between diabetes and cancer at national level. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyse the role of diabetes in the development of cancer, based on service utilisation and antidiabetic dispensing data of the population between 2010 and 2021. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression were used to examine how diabetes status, in relationship with age and sex are related to the time to cancer diagnosis. RESULTS: Examining a population of 3 681 774 individuals, people with diabetes have a consistently higher risk for cancer diagnosis for each cancer site studied. Diabetes adds the highest risk for pancreatic cancer (HR = 2.294, 99 % CI: 2.099; 2.507) and for liver cancer (HR = 1.830, 99 % CI: 1.631; 2.054); it adds the lowest - but still significant - risk for breast cancer (HR = 1.137, 99 % CI: 1.055; 1.227) and prostate cancer (HR = 1.171, 99 % CI: 1.071; 1.280).The difference in cancer rate is driven by the younger age group (40-54 years: for patients with diabetes 5.4 % vs. controls 4.4 %; 70-89 years: for patients with diabetes 12.7 % vs. controls 12.4 %). There are no consistent results whether the presence of diabetes increases the risk of cancer diagnosis differently in males and females. The cancer incidence starts to increase before the diagnosis of diabetes and peaks in the year after. By the year after the start of the inclusion date, the incidence is 114/10,000 population in the control group, vs 195/10,000 population in the group with diabetes. Following this, the incidence drops close to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Screening activities should be revised and the guidelines on diabetes should be complemented with recommendations on cancer prevention also considering that the cancer incidence is highest around the time of the diagnosis of diabetes. For prostate cancer, our results contradict many previous studies, and further research is recommended to clarify this.

[Who knows what? - About patient handover. Experiences of a Hungarian and Polish sample knowledge survey]. / Ki mit tud? ­ A betegátadásról. Egy magyar és lengyel mintán végzett tudásfelmérés tapasztalatai.

Introduction: The most common reason for the adverse events in healthcare is communication. Due to the development of health technologies and the increasing specialization of care, more and more healthcare professionals are involved in the treatment of patients, resulting in an increasingly important role and risk for patient handover. Aim: To present the current state of knowledge of patient handover through the results of an international project. Method: Self-developed, anonymous questionnaires with single and multiple choice questions were used to investigate handover knowledge among healthcare workers in 3 Hungarian and 3 Polish hospitals. The frequency of responses was analyzed according to their correctness. The factors that can influence the knowledge were studied using a regression model in the Hungarian sample. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 63% of the 2963 employees who received the questionnaires. In the two countries, there was no significant difference in the proportion of correct responses. Nearly half of the responders (49.4%-45.7%) gave the right answers to the question about the definition of patient handover. The lowest rate of correct answers (14.4%-11.1%) was given to elements of patient handover techniques. The difficulty of the questions also showed a similar pattern. Conclusion: Based on the results, it can be concluded that knowledge of handover needs to be improved in both countries. Although healthcare providers have some knowledge about handover, it cannot be considered accurate and complete. It is important to promote the knowledge and practice of handover together for the safety of patients and healthcare providers. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(44): 1735-1743.