[Maternal mortality in central Serbia]. / Maternalni mortalitet u centralnoj Srbiji.

This paper described the trend of official maternal mortality rate in Serbia excluding provinces for the last 30 years and it was investigated whether it was underregistered. Data for calculation of the official rate of maternal mortality were obtained from the publications of the official health statistics. Five hundred and three death certificates of women in reproductive period, that died in the period May-December 1992 in central Serbia, were examined to investigate underregistration. Notable decrease of the official rate of maternal mortality found in the period of 30 years, could be the basis for satisfaction if the results of investigation did not suggest that the significant number of maternal deaths was underregistered.

[Premature mortality in Serbia]. / Nivo prevremenog mortaliteta u Srbiji.

Premature mortality is calculated from the years of potential life lost (YPLL). The use of this indicator provides information about the state of health of the population in East European countries in comparision to West European countries, the USA and Japan, in the late 1980s. The article deals with the possibility of rough calculations of YPLL per 10,000 inabitants, aged 0-64 years, in Serbia and the two provinces, and according to sex. On the basis of these calculations, it is evident that premature mortality in Serbia, just before the war in Yugoslavia, was the same as that in some East Eruopean countries.

[Development of mechanisms for evaluation of the quality of perinatal care]. / Razvoj mehanizma za procenu kvaliteta perinatalne zastite.

Published evidence of the actual efforts for the development of mechanism for the quality assessment and assurance of perinatal care in the USA, Belgium, Netherlands and West Germany is presented. The choice of countries was determined by the availability of evidence. Despite known differences in the health care systems, every country developing mechanisms for the quality assessment in a particular field of health care involves in this process its respective professional associations. In the case of perinatal care it is the association of gynecologists and obstetricians. The administration of the process lies within the JCAH in the US and the ministries of health and universities in other countries.

[Risk factors for breast cancer in Belgrade]. / Faktori rizika za karcinom dojke u Beogradu.

Reproductive history, contraceptive use, family history of breast cancer, health behaviour and socioeconomic variables of 60 women with breast cancer were compared to those of 71 age and place of living matched hospital controls. Besides nulliparity, all known risk factors for breast cancer were more frequently present in the cases observed, although the statistical significance was not attained (age at first delivery, early menarche, positive family history of breast cancer, positive history of benign breast disease, obesity). Oral contraceptives ever used were reported for 16.7% of cases and 15.5% of controls (RR = 1.09; 95% confidence interval 0.42-2.77). Although the study is small and the difference in the risk factor distribution insignificant, it is clearly consistent with many published studies on the same subject.

[Incidence of legal abortions in 1978 in Serbia proper, excluding autonomous environs]. / Procena ucestalosti legalnog abortusa 1978. godine u SR Srbiji bez autonomnih pokrajina.

PIP: The aim of this paper was to determine how widespread legal abortion was in Serbia Proper. The following parameters of incidence were used: number of abortions/1000 inhabitants; number of abortions/1000 livebirths, and number of abortions/1000 pregnancies. Data were available for 7 of 9 regions in Serbia Proper. Results showed that with the ratio of over 1500 abortions/1000 livebirths in 1978, the abortion incidence was very high in this region compared with some republics in Yugoslavia and some foreign countries. Regional differences with regard to the distribution of abortion and birthrates were investigated with range correlation. (author's modified)^ieng