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Introduction: Even though preventive measures have been taken to reduce cardiovascular risk, cardiovascular mortality is increasing. Cardiovascular screening can be a population strategy that contributes to the reduction of mortality over the long term when implemented in a systematic, protocol-based, expanded manner., Objective: In this study, we examine changes in participants' health behavior between 2012 and 2019 as a follow-up to the Budakalász Epidemiological Study (BEV)., Method: A cardiovascular health index was developed to enable effective follow-up. This study included subjects with medium and high cardiovascular risks who participated in the BEV complex cardiovascular risk assessment in 2012 (n = 502). Besides the basic data from the BEV baseline study (demographics, healthy lifestyle, risk behavior, diseases treated by medicine), the 2019 follow-up questionnaire included newly added psychological questionnaires (Perceived Stress, WHO Well-being, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Health-Related Social Support, ABCD Risk Questionnaire)., Results: All factors of the cardiovascular health index created in our analysis showed an improvement of over 70% between 2012 and 2019. 37.6% of the participants did something for their health, according to their confession, by 30.3%, BEV had a big or very big impact on their lives from the 2012 BEV test in the year after the test, and by 24.7%, BEV had and still has a big or very big impact on their lives. The improving health indices show a significant correlation with psychological factors. Psychological factors showed a positive correlation with well-being (tau_b = 0.344) and a negative correlation with perceived stress (tau_b = -0.225) and hopelessness (tau_b = -0.206)., Conclusion: The participants in the study showed a significant change in health behavior seven years after the BEV cardiovascular risk assessment. A higher level of mental well-being is associated with improved values. By analyzing the impact of BEV on the health behavior change and the lifestyle, we can conclude that the cardiovascular risk assessment facilitates health behavior change. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(4): 119-131.

Objective: The effects of COVID-19, especially long-COVID, on the psychological health is incompletely understood. We aimed to evaluate the mid-term associations of the long-COVID symptoms and affective factors in a cohort of non-hospitalized patients., Method: A total of 166 patients were enrolled in this study, including 119 sedentary/non-athlete and 47 athlete subjects at the Post-COVID Outpatient Clinic of Semmelweis University. Clinical data regarding acute and long-term symptoms were obtained and detailed laboratory testing was carried out. Demographic data and psychological tests were collected., Results: We found a positive association between the level of depressive symptoms and anxiety and long-COVID symptom count, while life satisfaction and social support correlated negatively with the long-COVID symptom count. Higher haemoglobin levels and lower LDL-cholesterol were also shown to be moderating factors. A regression model showed that symptoms during acute infection, depression, age, and life satisfaction are predictors of the long-COVID symptom count. The presence of pre-existing affective or anxiety problems was also associated with higher reported long-COVID symptom count. Furthermore, we found significant association between pre-existing mental health problems and the investigated psychological constructs., Conclusion: It appears that long COVID-19 is associated with acute symptoms and mental factors. Depression and anxiety have been shown to have a negative effect on symptom perception, and also contribute to a higher number of symptoms in a non-hospitalized sample. Our study suggests bi-directional interconnection between clinical and psychological factors.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death accounting for 4 million deaths per year in Europe. Psychosocial factors explain at least 25-40% of the disease's prevalence beyond the well-known lifestyle factors. Isolation in adulthood is one of the main sources of chronic stress that raises the incidence of the disease. The low level of social support and social isolation are increasing the risk of depression and high blood pressure hence the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Aim: Our aim was to observe the correlation between social isolation and health behaviour. Furthermore, we have adapted the earlier validated Multidimensional Social Support Scale to the domain of health. Method: The data from 507 persons were collected online in 2018. Multidimensional Social Support Scale adapted to health, self-rated health, subjective means, short version of Beck Depression, shortened version of WHO Wellbeing, and Perceived Stress Scales were recorded. Results: Factor analysis verified the scale construction of the original 3-subscale structure (Cronbach alpha values = 0.945, 0.950 and 0.905). According to the regression models, social support received from friends we have observed to have moderately positive correlation with intensive exercises (B = 0.205, beta = 0.096, p = 0.093). Logistic regression model revealed that health-connected social support does not correlate with smoking, only education variable was related with it strongly, statistically significantly (B = -1.284, OR = 0.277, p<0.001). Conclusion: Multidimensional Social Support Scale has satisfactory stability and consistency to measure health-related social support. Social support showed correlation with the measures of mental health (depression, stress-level, wellbeing), and moderate association with intense exercises. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(4): 129-138.