In the Czech Republic, an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been decelerated by quickly adopting strict and strongly limiting government measures. In this study, the authors present the preliminary results (April 1-5, 2020) of a public risk perception study of COVID-19. Material and Methods: The online questionnaire survey was announced in the national TV and radio stations with the nationwide coverage. Respondents were recruited through the website of the University of Ostrava during the first 5 days of the survey (N = 7966). The data covered risk perception with a focus on physical and psychological aspects, the current socioeconomic situation and adaptation to the lockdown. The authors used Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, as well as ordered logistic regression, with a significance level of 5% using STATA version 15. Results: From the total sample of the respondents aged 40 years on average (a range of 15-87 years), the present study shows that women (p < 0.001) and elderly people (p < 0.001) perceived the health risk related to COVID-19 as significantly worse than others. Older people (>60 years) perceived their mental health as significantly better than younger participants (p < 0.001). Most of the respondents assessed the adopted measures as adequate (71%) and believed in their effectiveness (69.7%). Conclusions: This study contributes to understanding the risk perception as a public response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The health impacts of suspended particulate matter (SPM) are significantly associated with size—the smaller the aerosol particles, the stronger the biological effect. Quantitative evaluation of fine and ultrafine particles (FP and UFP) is, therefore, an integral part of ongoing epidemiological studies. The mass concentrations of SPM fractions (especially PM2.5, PM1.0, PM0.25) were measured in an industrial area using cascade personal samplers and a gravimetric method, and their mass ratio was determined. The results of PM2.5, PM1.0 were also compared with the reference measurement at stationary stations. The mean ratios PM2.5/SPM, PM1.0/SPM, and PM1.0/PM2.5 were 0.76, 0.65, and 0.86, respectively. Surprisingly, a mass dominance of UFP with an aerodynamic diameter <0.25 μm (PM0.25) was found with mean ratios of 0.43, 0.57, 0.67 in SPM, PM2.5 and PM1.0. The method used showed satisfactory agreement in comparison with reference measurements. The respirable fraction may consist predominantly of UFP. Despite the measures currently being taken to improve air quality, the most biologically efficient UFP can escape and remain in the air. UFP are currently determined primarily as particle number as opposed to the mass concentration used for conventional fractions. This complicates their mutual comparison and determination of individual fraction ratios.

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Objectives: Evidence of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental and physical health behaviours is limited. This study presents results of two cross-sectional surveys on mental health changes and its consequences on healthy and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours.Methods: An online survey was distributed during Spring 2020 (N = 9,168) and Autumn 2020 (N = 1,042) in the Czech Republic. Differences in mental health observed in both surveys were evaluated using Mann-Whitney test and logistic regressions were used to examine demographic and socio-economic determinants of COVID-19-related mental health issues and resulting healthy and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours.Results: In multivariable models, the youngest individuals, females, people with increased work demands and participants with a reduced personal income due to the COVID-19 pandemic were all negatively associated with self-reported mental health issues (p &lt; 0.05). A worsened quality of sleep, dietary habits, physical activity and unhealthy behaviours were highly associated with affected mental health in the models adjusted for potential covariates (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusion: Taken together, these findings suggest that health promotion strategies directed to individuals who are at risk should be encouraged to adopt and/or maintain positive health-related behaviours.

The review provides a comprehensive summary of existing literature focusing on the most serious risk factors of non-communicable diseases and collects current knowledge on their distribution, determinants, clusters, psychological and socioeconomic consequences. Especially, the life-course approach is stressed, early life consequences of the later onset of chronic diseases, the risk behavior and its social, socio-economic and psychosocial determination is reviewed. Potential of preventing these harmful consequences has a lifelong approach. The aim is to demonstrate the opportunity for future health system transformation in terms of public health prevention regarding the non-communicable diseases. It is concluded that personalized lifestyle medicine should address a patient's health by empowering them with the information they need to regain control of their health. Preventive methods should be tailored for each patient, considering such patient's specific genes, environment, lifestyle, early life factors and social patterns of risk factors to avoid burden of health in later age. Intervention and preventive measures should target not only to individual factors but should reflect wider social, psychosocial and socioeconomic consequences. It is also crucial from the point of view of public health to consider data on exposome, which are not included in epidemiological studies as well as its impact on health in the context of non-communicable diseases. Med Pr. 2021;72(5)