The role of diet is crucial in the development and prevention of cardiovascular disease. The purpose of the current study was to describe dietary intake and assess health scores of children and adults by using a survey questionnaire on moldavian and transylvanian population, in order to evaluate whether it is necessary to introduce a prevention program for cardiovascular diseases in Romania. In 2015, a questionnaire was sent to 347 children and 583 adults in two counties in Romania where the climatic and topographic conditions are different. Participation rate in the children group was 56.48% moldavian / 43.51% transylvanian, respectively 39.62% moldavian / 60.37% transylvanian participants in the adult group. The questionnaire included a 44-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and questions on lifestyle for children and a 21- item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and a health score for adults. Results were evaluated against the WHO recommendations of healthy diet. In Mures county the number of former smokers is significantly higher compared to Bacau county, and considerably more subjects report active smoking and exposure to passive smoking. The incidence of overweight and obesity was similar in the two counties, 68.14% in Bacau and 70.67% in Mures. More subjects from Bacau (94.35%) have regular exercise compared to those from Mures (85.38%), the difference is not quite significant. The majority of the subjects from Bacau county have a significantly healthier diet compared to those from Mures, consuming regularly eggs, meat and dairy products. Based on our data, only 16% of Romanian children reach the WHO recommendation for healthy nutrition regarding fruit and vegetable intake.Dietary habits of children and adults in Romania warrant improvements. Public health actions should be taken to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables, decrease the consumption of saturated fats and sweets and also to increase the frequency of physical activity. These actions may be helpful in reducing the risks for overweight and cardiovascular diseases.
Background: Smoking is a problem of the modern world and annually produces more victims, and due to ignorance and lack of health education in our country the disease diagnosis is made at an advanced stage. Many studies show that, young people aged between 10 and 18 are smokers and start smoking at an increasingly early age.Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the smoking habits of institutionalized children in family care homes from Harghita and Mures county.Methods: The method chosen was a sociological survey based on questionnaires. Our study included 254 children institutionalized in family care homes in Mures county and 254 children from Harghita county. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences.Results: A statistically significant difference was obtained analyzing the number of smokers from the group of children under 12 years in Mures compared to the Harghita county. More than half of children smoked their first cigarette after they entered in family care homes in both counties and the most common setting in which the children were smoking was when being together with their friends.Conclusions: In Mures county the number of smokers under the age of 12 was significantly higher than in Harghita county. Despite the educational classes and institutional regulations of smoking, more than half of children smoke. The decisive role in testing of smoking are the friends. Due to the very high number of underage smokers, the prevention and education hours have an unquestionable importance.
The constantly and intensely changing modern society has a negative influence on the the general population�s health status. Risk factors being deeply inserted in the structure of the modern society can hardly be influenced and corrected. The aim of the study was the lifestyle- and diet-related comparison of two distinct adult populations from Romania: Bacau and Tirgu Mures. Material and methods: We evaluated the dietary habits, alcohol consumption and physical activity by a complex, validated questionnaire. Body mass index was also determined. The adult population from Tirgu Mures numbered 352 subjects, who were compared to the adults from Bacau, numbering 231 individuals. The considered threshold of significance was 0.05. Body mass index is over the normal range in more than 2/3 of the subjects. The overweight occurrence was 37.95%. The majority of the subjects (77.5%) has regular daily exercise (30 minutes or more). Daily alcohol consumption was present in 42.42% of the cases. Dietary habits were also analyzed: 61.9% of the subjects consume breakfast daily, and 46.94% of them consumes snacks between meals 2-3 times per week. A statistical difference could be observed regarding the frequency of breakfast consumption and body mass index (p-0.042): 2/3 of the studied adults from Tirgu Mures who eat breakfast sometimes having their body mass index over 25 kg/m2. Regarding physical activity a significant difference could be observed in case of those who responded rarely or never (p-0.027) (76.0% of Mures county with this response vs. only 24.0% in Bacau). The frequency of alcohol consumption is higher in Tirgu Mures and surroundings in case of once or several times per week consumption (p-0.005). Instructional and educational interventions targeting the development of healthier lifestyle habits in general population are worthy and needed to reduce the risk factors associated with the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and reducing the burden upon the society of these diseases.
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