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Objectives: Medical students experience numerous demands during the education process, which determine their quality of life (QoL). In particular, the first years of medical studies are a challenge for students. This paper aims to identify and evaluate the quality of life with simultaneous assessment of their determinants in Polish medical students in Poland during longitudinal observation., Material and Methods: The authors analyzed data collected from the first follow-up of the cohort study named POLLEK (Polski Lekarz - The Polish Physician) conducted among medical students at the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. The QoL was assessed using the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Test - Bref (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Students were followed at 2 points of time: in their first year of studies - the academic year 2021/2022 (T1) (N = 427), and then in their second year - the academic year 2022/2023 (T2) (N = 335)., Results: Changes in QoL indicators were analyzed using paired data. A significant decrease in the QoL scores in the somatic and psychological domain in T2 was observed, while scores in the environmental domain showed an increase by T2. In addition, it was found that better self-rated health (SRH), higher physical activity (PA), and better socioeconomic status (SES) were the key determinants of higher quality of life domains across both T1 and T2 domains., Conclusions: In conclusion, although the overall QoL remained stable throughout the observation period, the QoL in the somatic and psychological domains deteriorated among medical students between T1 and T2. However, there was a slight improvement in the environmental domain during the second year. The observations suggest that medical schools should actively promote a balance between schoolwork and the personal life of medical students, and courses on coping with difficult, stressful situations. These activities should be introduced at an early stage of medical education. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2024;37(5):495-507., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)

Objectives: Social distancing and remote learning as one of the ways to fight against COVID-19 pandemic have affected universities and changed the lifestyle of many students. Psychoactive substances use was one of the way to deal with the anxiety caused by these new settings. Studies published so far have not provided a clear answer on whether COVID-19 leads to changes in the structure of alcohol consumption among medical students. The presented study attempted to answer this question based on the data available from the POLLEK study., Material and Methods: The study group included 3 separate groups of medical students (recruited in the following academic years: 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022) with a total number of 899 students. To assess the characteristics of alcohol consumption the authors used a Polish version of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT)., Results: Students surveyed during the lockdown lived in the family home much more often, reported good health, and declared consumption of a smaller number of alcoholic beverages. Their AUDIT scores were statistically significantly (p = 0.04) lower compared to the group surveyed before the pandemic (5 vs. 6, respectively). There were no significant differences in the AUDIT results between other study periods., Conclusions: Lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic might be associated with a decrease in alcohol intake among medical students. This may be due to a different place of residence of students, a family home rather than a dormitory. However, the debate on this topic seems to be still open. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(3):406-16., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)

Objectives: Industrially contaminated sites (ICS) represent an important public health issue in European countries. The Silesian Voivodeship, the region located in the southern part of Poland, the historical center of industry, has many sites that meet ICS criteria. Most of them are landfills containing lead, cadmium and zinc., Material and Methods: The aim of the study has been to evaluate determinants of lead and cadmium blood levels for preschool children living in the vicinity of selected environmental hazards in Piekary Śląskie, the city located in the region of Silesia. Data about exposure was obtained from the parental questionnaire and was verified by levels of biomarkers in children's blood. Finally, 678 preschool children were studied., Results: Obtained results have confirmed that the statistically significant higher level of lead in blood has been revealed in the case of younger children whose fathers have a higher level of education and whose mothers smoke cigarettes at home, as well as for those living in the vicinity of any environmental hazard. In the case of cadmium, a higher level of the biomarker has been reported for older children who rather do not live close to any environmental hazard. We have recognized 30% of children with blood lead level (PbB) exceeding 2 μg/dl and 0.8% of children with blood cadmium level (CdB) exceeding the reference value (0.5 μg/l)., Conclusions: Own observation has confirmed that preschool children living in Piekary Śląskie are still exposed to heavy metals existing in environment. The source of the higher level in blood is not only the hazardous vicinity in the place of residence but also well-known factors associated with the age of children, parental life style and educational background. The parental questionnaire could be useful to identify potential determinants of exposure to lead and cadmium, however exposure must be verified by measurement of a proper biomarker. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2018;31(3):351-359., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)

Objectives: Health Impact Assessments (HIA) approach can be executed by calculating the attributable burden of disease. The most common indicators used in the HIA methodology are: premature mortality, morbidity, life-expectancy, and Disability Adjusted Life-Year (DALY). The term Disability Adjusted Life-Years (DALYs) indicates months/years lost due to a premature death or disability. The aim of the study was to present health benefits, expressed in terms of lower total mortality and cardio-respiratory hospitalization rates, due to a decreased particulate matter (PM) concentration in ambient air, in Silesian voivodeship., Material and Methods: In this paper, results obtained from the APHEKOM (Improving Knowledge and Communication for Decision Making on Air Pollution and Health in Europe) project, which provided specialized HIA tools, useful for assessing health benefits resulting from reducing air pollution, were used. Both short-term and long-term exposure HIA tools were applied with regard to the appropriate data for Silesian voivodeship. Exposure data were obtained from the Regional Environmental Inspectorate in Katowice, while population and health data were obtained from the Central Statistical Office of Poland or from the Silesian Voivodeship Office, respectively., Results: Health benefits that are related to an improvement of ambient air quality in Silesia region are similar to previous estimates obtained for Kraków city. The reduction of short-term exposure to PM10 by 5 μg/m3 results in a lower number of yearly non-external deaths (2.6-2.75 per 100 000 inhabitants). This effect was also shown to be similar in the city of Zabrze, as well as in the whole Silesia region., Conclusions: The Health Impact Assessments tools developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) can help public health experts make decisions in order to improve the health of populations living in particular regions of Europe., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)