[General risk factors of chronic non-infectious diseases among schoolchildren in Kaunas and Moscow]. / Urovni obshchikh faktorov riska khronicheskikh neinfektsionnykh zabolevanii sredi shkol'nikov v Kaunase i Moskve.

Representative samples of 16-year-old school-children including 126 children from Kaunas and 124 children from Moscow were surveyed by one and the same team consisting of researchers from Kaunas and Moscow. The survey indicated a statistically valid higher level of systolic blood pressure among Kaunas schoolchildren as compared to Moscow schoolchildren of the same age group. Diastolic blood pressure was somewhat higher among Moscow schoolchildren. Moscow schoolchildren smoked statistically valid more often and more intensively. During leisure time boys from Kaunas and girls from Moscow were less physically active. A higher level of arterial blood pressure was found among schoolchildren with high rates of IMT and among non-smoking boys. There was no dependence between the duration of physical activity in leisure time and the level of arterial blood pressure. The established correlations between levels of general risk factors for chronic noninfectious diseases (CNID) among Kaunas and Moscow schoolchildren are important for the evaluation of the effectiveness of CNID integrated prevention programme.

[Predicting the dynamics of elevated arterial pressure in 12--13-year-old children of Kaunas and Berlin]. / Prognozirovanie dinamiki povyshennogo arterial'nogo davleniia u 12--13-letnikh detei Kaunasa i Berlina.

The increased arterial blood pressure (BP) variation between 12-13 and 15-16 years of age was examined in 119 schoolchildren of Kaunas and 169 schoolchildren of Berlin. The 90th percentile for systolic and/or diastolic BP was used as a criterion of increased arterial BP. The data were treated by multivariate logistical regression analysis. Independent samples were used to construct and test the model. The reproducibility of increased arterial BP was shown to be affected by physical developmental status as well as baseline systolic and diastolic BP, the influence being more pronounced in girls, as compared to boys. The derived formulas are presented as a nomogram to facilitate their practical application.

[Value of the "regression-to-mean" effect in the evaluation of arterial blood pressure in adolescents in epidemiological studies]. / Znachenie "effekta regressii k srednemu" pri otsenke arterial'nogo davleniia u podrostkov v epidemiologicheskikh issledovaniiakh.

Patterns of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were assessed in adolescents who were 12-13 at the time of first examination. Three-year follow-up consisted of 5 check-ups. Upon the first examination, all adolescents were divided into three groups: those with low (below the 10th percentile), normal (between the 10th and 90th percentiles) and high (above the 90th percentile) arterial BP values. Repeated checkups covered all adolescents with low and high arterial BP as well as a 20% sample of normotensive subjects. Over the three years of follow-up; the greatest increment in systolic and diastolic arterial BP was noted in the hypotensive group, and the smallest, in the hypertensive group. Various hypotheses are discussed that might explain the demonstrated regularity; the "regression-to-mean" effect is proposed as a possible explanation.

Preventive study of atherosclerosis and ischaemic heart disease risk factors among Kaunas school-children.

In a series of 1,216 Kaunas school-children aged 10-15 years, a study was conducted of risk factors for atherosclerosis and ischaemic heart disease (elevated blood pressure, overweight, reduced physical activity, and smoking), and of the influence of nonmedicamentous measures on the risk factors' level. After three-years intensive health education concentrated on school-children and their parents, the number of smokers and subjects with reduced physical activity among school-children significantly decreased and the number of overweight school-children also dropped in the preventive intervention district, compared to the control district. The study showed the need for regular examinations of school-children for detecting the presence of risk factors, and the effectiveness of primary non-medicamentous prevention of atherosclerosis and ischaemic heart disease, carried out from school-age.

[Mortality and its determining factors in patients who have had a myocardial infarct]. / Letal'nost' i opredeliaiushchie ee faktory u bol'nykh, perenesshikh infarkt miokarda.

The two-year mortality in 993 patients aged from 29 to 86 years included into the register of the acute myocardial infarction and survived during the first 4 weeks totalled 22.9%. The more frequent causes of lethal outcome was sudden death (31.3%) and progressing circulatory insufficiency (19.1%). A system of factors has been established acting favourably or unfavourably on the late results. Attention is drawn to the fact that different factors act differently in persons of different age.

[Epidemiological studies of arteriosclerosis precursors among 10- to 15-year-old schoolchildren]. / Epidemiologicheskie issledovaniia nekotorykh predvestnikov ateroskleroza sredi skhol'nikov 10-15 let.

Epidemiological study of atherosclerosis precursors in schoolchildren whose ages ranged from 10 to 15 was undertaken in 1977; 2 296 schoolchildren have been screened. The follow-up groups were formed according to the following factors: high arterial blood pressure, overweight and obesity, low physical activity, smoking. Analysis of the data showed the distribution of the precursors of atherosclerosis to be as follows: 47.4% of boys and 42.2% of girls had no precursors: 34.3% of boys and 42.2% of girls had one precursor; 14.1% of boys and 13.8% of girls had two precursors, and 4.2% of boys and 4.9% of girls had three precursors. To lower the incidence of the precursors of atherosclerosis special attention should be paid to the children with such precursors.