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Changes in confidence in implementing smoking cessation support for pregnant women was assessed among Romanian General Practitioners (GPs) before and after a training program of evidence-based clinical practices to promote quitting. The total number of physicians participating in the study was 69. Before training, 51% of GPs felt somewhat/very confident asking pregnant women about tobacco use, 39% assisted smokers with a quit plan, 38% arranged follow-up for patients. After training, 85-90% found the training informative/very informative on: how to ask patients if they smoke (89%), advising patients to quit (88%), talking about the benefits of quitting (85%), assessing patients readiness to quit (87%), assisting patients in setting a quit date (87%).

Introduction and aim: With the rising consumer's health awareness, especially towards patients with celiac disease, gluten has become a food ingredient to be avoided by many people expecting various positive health effects. The strict adherence of diet requires serious abandonments and lifestyle changes that affect directly their quality of life. The aim of the present study was to recognise the quality of life of Hungarian and Romanian consumers following a gluten-free diet as well as to explore the negative effects on them. Method: An online questionnaire survey was conducted upon 1155 Hungarian and Romanian respondents. Results: For gluten-free consumers, self-control was relatively easy to overcome, but their lifestyle was negatively affected by social events and dining out. In addition, diet adherence was a burden from both lifestyle and financial point of view. For Hungarian consumers, external factors such as price, choice, taste and availability of products had become a major obstacle, while Romanian ones were more likely to be affected by internal factors (product information, diet knowledge, lifestyle, self-control). Mandatory labelling of substances and products causing allergies and intolerances has achieved its purpose, as it has made it easier for consumers on diet to choose food and increased their confidence. Conclusions: The study points out that dieters' quality of life can be enhanced not only by general actions (improving the preparedness of out-of-home meal services and rationalising the price of products), but also through country-specific community intervention. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(25): 980-986.

The Internet has become an important source of overall health information and seems to be the second common source of information used by patients in the process of decision-making before breast surgery. The goal of this study was to monitor Romanian breast cancer websites and their quality over a period of 5 years. We evaluated a sample of 20 websites selected from Google's first search results pages using specific rating scores for e-health quality, completeness, accuracy, and potential risk, in 2011 and 2016, respectively. Only 15 (75%) of the websites in the 2011 sample were accessible in 2016 and only two (10%) retained real-life visibility (Google PageRank < 20). The mean quality scores at baseline (2011) and follow-up (2016), respectively, were as follows: e-health quality 3.80 vs. 4.05; completeness 4.23 vs. 5.43; accuracy 5.74 vs. 6.35; and potential risk score 7.60 vs. 7.30. All quality scores were low or, at best, modest and did not improve significantly over the 5-year period. The results of the study draw attention to the need for programs aiming to improve the ability of breast cancer patients to screen the online health resources and to better regulate the medical Internet to safeguard the best interest of health information seekers.

Objective: To assess the educational impact and satisfaction of using Wellness Integrative Profile 10 both by specialists and clients in nutrition, health and fitness centres., Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at 42 wellness centres in Romania during March-November 2016, where Wellness Integrative Profile 10 was implemented with no less than 3 months before the beginning of the study. Data was gathered through a 15-item questionnaire related to the educational impact of integrating 10 parameters regarding the level of health, nutrition and fitness of the subjects.., Results: The questionnaire had a reliability Cronbach score of 0.777 for specialists and 0.705 for clients. The number of subjects who rated the satisfaction questionnaire WIP10 with maximum grade (5) were: 181.93(61.88%) specialists and 1,309.40(65.88%) clients., Conclusions: The implementation of Wellness Integrative Profile 10 will allow in the future to design customised and specialised programmes for health.

Background: There is an estimated birth rate of 9.27 births/1,000 population in Romania each year, with approximately 8.4% born with low birth weight (LBW). Our purpose was to evaluate the relationships between maternal smoking and LBW and preterm birth in Mureș County, Romania., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1,278 mothers who had given birth in Mureș County obstetrical wards in 2015, based on a lifestyle questionnaire of 109 items and personal and laboratory data from hospitals records., Results: The variables associated with smoking during pregnancy taken into account were: Rroma ethnicity, education <8 grades, income lower than 140 dollars (minimum wages in our country), and lack of facilities in their households. In a multivariable model, smoking during pregnancy was correlated with a low level of education (p = .02), coffee and alcohol use (p = .0001), and lack of interest in potential environmental and behavioral risks during pregnancy (including smoking and diet). The newborn baby's weight was associated with smoker status of the mother (OR 1.71, 95%CI 1.09-2.66, p = .01), by the lack of ownership of a household (OR 3.52, 95%CI 2.27-5.47, p = .0001), and by the pregnant woman not receiving proper information regarding a healthy behavior and diet during pregnancy (OR 1.91, 95%CI 1.33-2.74, p = .0005)., Conclusion: Our study aimed to emphasize the high rates of maternal smoking during pregnancy and its importance in LBW outcomes in Romanian pregnant women. Moreover, the study highlights disparities in smoking status observed in ethnic minorities and those living in poverty., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Aim: Romania ranks first in Europe in terms of mortality from cervical cancer, recording 6.3 times more deaths than the mean in EU countries. Although vaccination campaigns were launched by health officials in Romania, the acceptance rate remained insignificant and programmes were discontinued. A successful vaccination programme requires a high rate of acceptance and accurate information for health professionals and parents. The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of parental knowledge about human papilomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV vaccination including the information obtained from general practitioners and identification of barriers in implementing a vaccination strategy., Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire for the parents of pupils in grades 5-8, in three randomly selected secondary schools in Tîrgu Mureş, Romania., Results: We surveyed 918 parents. Of the respondents, 85.8% have heard of HPV infection. Most reported an average level of knowledge about HPV infection and HPV vaccination. The two main sources of information were specialized healthcare professionals (42.8% for HPV infection, 39.1% for HPV vaccination) and the Internet browsing (42.3% and 42.9%, respectively). Based on current knowledge, only one third of parents would have their child vaccinated against HPV infection. According to most parents surveyed, the main reasons for not wanting to have their child vaccinated is the fear of side effects; the vaccine is new and insufficiently studied; or parents do not know details about the vaccine., Conclusions: The parents showed the average level of knowledge about HPV infection and HPV vaccination. The implementation of an effective programme to increase the acceptance rate of HPV vaccination requires educational strategies aimed at involving parents and their children and supported by general practitioners and public health professionals., (Copyright© by the National Institute of Public Health, Prague 2015.)

Unlabelled: The aim of this study is analysis of tuberculosis prevalence in Mures county for a period of three years (2006-2008)., Material and Method: We monitored the prevalence of tuberculosis cases in the Mureş area recorded at Tg. Mureş TB Dispensary, the new cases and readmitted cases, chronic or abandonment, separately for children and adults, evolving for 2006-2008, data compared with national registration., Results: From 2006 to 2008, frequency of TB illness in our area decreased instead of the share of patients with positive results (BK+) which have increased, associated with an amplified risk. In our study the assessment during the three years showed a decrease of the total number of TB cases, instead of increased frequency of new cases of acute than those of chronic, increased cases of adults against children and cases of failed healing. Number of new cases of TB in Mureş urban areas, by years, showed the same decreasing trend for cities monitored, except Tg. Mureş where the number of new cases recorded in 2008 was higher than in 2006., Conclusion: TB control programs in order to be effective, must be conducted throughout the all country, to be permanent, to the satisfaction of the population and to integrated structure of community health.

Unlabelled: We evaluated the main aspects of the management of emergency cases, hospitalized in Romania in 2007, by following the frequency of main diagnosis, their distribution by place and hospital and hospital indicators., Material and Method: We collected our data from the Insurance Houses and National Institute of Statistics., Results: Emergency cases represented in 2007 half of total cases hospitalized in Romania. Women are more frequent hospitalized then man or children. The Romanian South-East area had the highest frequency of emergency cases hospitalized. From all types of deceased cases, the emergency cases had the highest frequency. In emergency, the main category of diagnosis by frequency is "pregnancy, birth and recently given birth", much higher than non-emergency cases registered, also at the Obstretics-Gynecology and Emergency Hospitals. The medium period of days hospitalized for emergency cases was one week time. Most of the emergency cases are healed comparing to non-emergency ones., Conclusions: The main problem of hospitals in Romania is related to health services financing, costs for health care are still growing but also did the quality of health services and number of cases coming in emergency rooms.

Aim: To compare the underground water mineral composition in iron, fluorine and iodine from different sources, with variable locations in Romania., Methods: It is a lab study based on Hanna Instruments C99 colorimeter used for our tests, that follows the levels of mineral parameters from water samples from several underground water supplie sources from 10 different romanian counties., Results: It were significant differences between sources from different counties, and also from different sources in the same county, regarding minerals levels in water and also comparing to admitted levels. The most various data were related to fluorine and iodine levels in water samples and risk of exposure by deficiency., Conclusion: It is important to know the importance of supply water monitoring, to evaluate both the drinking water quality parameters and mineral composition, in order to estimate the influence on health status of long shut consumer population.

Aim: We studied tuberculosis drug-resistance cases related to risk factors involved, in Mureş district., Methods: We used clinical files of 91 patients with tuberculosis drug resistance from 2006 at all, diagnosed during 2002-2006 at the Ambulatory department of Tuberculosis Clinic in Tg. Mureş town and cities nearby. RESULTS. Mycobacterium drug resistance is more frequent at men (96.8%), because of multiple tuberculosis risk factors involved, also is more frequent in rural areas (52.8%) because of low access to medical services. Drug resistance rate have a direct growing related to number of treatments made before, at patients with therapeutic failure and chronic cases. In our study, first year was dominated by single drug resistance to NIH, with a decrease in 2004 and no cases in 2006; and also multi-drug resistance was placed on the first place by frequency in 2006., Conclusions: We sustain the needs to intensify the general efforts on tuberculosis early diagnosis, also to increase the medical education on all levels, government financial support and trained staff a good monitoring program during tuberculosis evolution in specific centers of diagnostic and treatment of multi-drug resistance cases in Mureş district.