Browsing by Author "Medenica, Snezana (57191865365)"

Background: Risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been associated with stress from serving in a war, but it has not been established whether children who experience war-related stress are at increased CVD risk. Objective: This study aimed to compare CVD risk factors in young adults according to whether they experienced traumatic events as children during the 1990–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and whether those exposed to trauma have evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis. Method: We examined 372 first-year medical students who were preschool children during the war (1990–1995) (average age 19.5 ± 1.7 years, 67% female) in 2007–2010. They completed the Semi-Structured Interview for Survivors of War. CVD risk factors and carotid intima–media thickness (CIMT) measurements were obtained and compared in individuals with and without trauma. We also examined whether increased CIMT was independently associated with trauma after adjustment for other risk factors. Results: From multiple logistic regression, only elevated triglycerides (> 1.7 mmol/l) were associated with a 5.2 greater odds of having experienced trauma. The mean CIMT of subjects with trauma was greater than that of non-trauma-exposed subjects (0.53 mm vs 0.50 mm, p = 0.07). Moreover, trauma was independently associated with higher CIMT (difference = 0.036 mm, p = 0.024) after adjustment for CVD risk factors. Conclusions: We show that most CVD risk factors are associated with post-war trauma in young adults, and, if present, such trauma is associated with higher triglycerides and higher levels of CIMT in multivariable analysis. © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Background: Subjects that spend more time working on computers or watching television could have a higher body mass index. Aim: To assess the relationship between time spent in front of a screen and studying, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and sleep duration among university students. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 734 randomly selected students aged 21 ± 2 years (450 females) that responded an anonymous, structured questionnaire about time spent watching television or in front of a computer, time spent studying, number of daily hours of sleep, smoking habits and number of daily meals. Body mass index was also calculated for all subjects Results: Among males, the number of daily sleep hours, time spent working with computers and number of daily meals were signifi cantly higher and time spent studying was signifi cantly lower than females. Nonsmokers ate a signifi cantly higher number of meals and spent less time watching television. No association was observed between time spent in front of a screen and number of sleep hours of body mass index. Conclusions: Men and smokers spend more time working in computers. There is no association between body mass index and time spent in front of screens.