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Background: Aging is accompanied by progression of depressive symptoms, which significantly impair the prognosis and quality of life of elderly men. Currently, there are no Polish reference values reflecting age-related changes in the intensity of depressive symptoms in healthy men., Aim: An assessment of the severity of depressive symptoms in a population of healthy Polish men, and an evaluation of the effects of age and education on the analyzed variables., Methods: We examined 341 healthy men, inhabitants of Wroclaw, aged 32-79, without any significant medical history. The intensity of depressive symptoms was assessed using the Polish version IA of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)., Results: We observed an increase in the severity of depressive symptoms in the subsequent age categories in the examined men, in all the analyzed symptoms (32-45, 46-55, 56-65, 66-79 years--4.1 +/- 4.4, 8.2 +/- 4.2, 10.4+/- 3.6, 13.4 +/- 3.4 points, respectively, r = 0.65, p < 0.0001), and in cognitive-affective symptoms (respectively--2.8 +/- 3.1, 5.0 +/- 2.8, 5.8 +/- 2.5, 7.3 +/- 2.6 points, r = 0.5 1, p < 0.0001) as well as in somatic symptoms related to mood changes (respectively - 1.3 +/- 1.5, 3.2 +/- 2.0, 4.6 +/- 1.5, 6.1 +/- 1.7 points r = 0.73, p < 0.0001). Mild (BDI > or = 10 and <20 points) and moderate depression (BDI > or = 20 and < 30 points) were found in 12.6% and 0%, 34.5% and 0.8%, 50.0% and 2.9%, 80.0% and 2.9% of men aged 32-45, 46-55, 56-65, 66-79 years, respectively (p < 0.0001). There were differences in the intensity of depressive symptoms in the examined men (p > 0.2)., Conclusions: In Poland, male aging is accompanied by an increase in the severity of depressive symptoms. Age, but not education, constitutes a major determinant of these symptoms. The presented data may be used as reference values for BDI scores of healthy Polish men in subsequent age categories.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death. Life satisfaction is a predictor of morbidity and mortality, irrespectively of objective measures of health status. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between life satisfaction (LS) and cardiovascular disease risk (CVD) assessed with the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) in Polish adults., Material and Methods: Past, present and projected LS were estimated. The FRS reflecting 10-year CVD risk was calculated from health indices and lifestyle parameters. Relationships between LS and FRS were tested by two-way analysis of variance in 489 men and 591 women, 40-50 years of age., Results: Subjects with a reduction in LS over time had a higher FRS compared to peers with an improvement in LS. The relationship between current LS and FRS had a J-shape in men; FRS was lowest in men with an LS of 5-7 (average LS), slightly higher in men with an LS of 8-10 (highest LS), and highest in men with an LS of 1-4 (lowest LS). Among women, there was an inverse linear relationship between LS and FRS: the higher the LS, the lower FRS. There was a strong linear relationship between predicted LS and CVD risk. Highest risk was evident in subjects with low LS in whom low LS was predicted over the next five years., Conclusions: Low LS (dissatisfaction) thus has a long-term negative effect on CVD risk in Polish adults of both sexes.

In the 1990s Poland began to make a transition to a free-market economy: a transition accompanied by a variety of negative socio-economic developments, most notably a rise in unemployment. The aim of this study is to shed light on the relationship between occupational status (including unemployment) and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), by examining the experience of 542 men and 572 women between the ages of 40 and 50 of the town of Wroclaw in 2006. The Framingham Risk Score (FRS), which uses certain health and life-style parameters to predict the risk of major coronary problems over a 10-year period, was calculated, and the effect of occupational status on the FRS was assessed. The results showed that the FRS varied according to sex and to occupational status, with the highest FRS rating among unemployed men. Thus governmental policies to counter the adverse effects of unemployment should be developed to remedy the problem., (2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In modern societies, there are regular social gradients in most health parameters, and also in the structure of morbidity and mortality. However, the significance of inter-generation social mobility for general health status still remains equivocal. This study was therefore performed in order to compare the effect of social mobility on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk between middle-aged Polish men and women. A total of 342 men and 458 women, aged 40 and 50 and inhabitants of Wrocław, were examined. Risk of CHD was estimated using the Framingham Risk Score (FRS), calculated for each individual. Social mobility was defined as an inter-generation change in social status expressed as educational level between the examined individual and his/her father. Using two-variable regression models, it was demonstrated that FRS in men was determined by both their father's education level (beta=0.33, p<0.0001) and inter-generation change in educational status (beta=0.18, p=0.008). In contrast, FRS in women was related only to their father's education level (beta=0.35, p<0.0001), but not to inter-generation social mobility (beta=0.35, p=0.25). In particular, an incremental change in educational level among those men whose father had finished primary school at the very most or among those whose father had finished basic trade school was accompanied by a significant decrease in FRS (F=4.12, p=0.009 and F=3.25, p=0.04, respectively). It is concluded that inter-generation social mobility modifies CHD risk (as estimated using FRS) in middle-aged Polish men, but not in women. The precise mechanisms responsible for the observed sex difference in this phenomenon need to be established in further studies.

In recent years, sex differences in mortality have followed diverse patterns of change in developed countries. As there is no analogous evidence from Poland, the aim of this study was to describe the pattern of change in excess male mortality among Polish inhabitants aged 35-64 during 1995-2002, when the major socioeconomic transformation occurred, and compare it with sex differences in mortality observed in the late 1980s. During the study period, excess male mortality decreased significantly, independently of age and educational level. The reduction in mortality was observed in both sexes, but its magnitude was greater in men. These changes resulted mainly from a reduction in mortality rates due to cardiovascular disease and lung cancer in males and a concomitant increase in mortality rates due to lung cancer and suicides in females. Although, in general, excess male mortality decreased, social gradients related to this phenomenon increased. Subjects (in particularly men) who had graduated from university benefited the most, their magnitude of reduction in mortality rates being the greatest. Changes in social environment during the transformation period in Poland are suggested as major determinants of these changes, but further studies are needed.

Rates of premature mortality among adults are important measures of the economic and psychosocial well-being of human populations. In many countries, such rates are, as a rule, inversely related to the level of attained education. We examined changes in educational group-specific mortality rates among urban adults in Poland during the country's rapid transition in the 1990s from a socialist command economy to a free market system. Two census-based analyses of individual death records of urban dwellers aged 35-64 years were compared. We utilized all records of death, which occurred during the 2-year periods 1988-89 and 2001-02. Population denominators were taken from the censuses of 1988 and 2002. The age-specific mortality rates were used to evaluate absolute differences in mortality. To assess relative differences between educational levels, mortality rate ratios (MRRs) with 95% CI (confidence interval) were calculated using Poisson regression. A regular educational gradient in mortality persisted in each 10-year age group throughout the period covered by our data. Moreover, age-specific mortality rates declined steadily in all educational groups, and this decline was most marked in the two oldest age groups (45-54 and 55-64 years). The trend was accompanied by widening of educational differences in mortality as expressed by MRRs. Systemic political transformation in Poland has brought a mixture of beneficial and detrimental effects on the well-being of society. With regard to the changes in rates of premature mortality among adults, the benefits have prevailed, although individuals with the lowest educational level benefited less than those with the highest education., (Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

The involutionary processes in gonadal and adrenal glands are significant for male aging. The dynamics of hormonal changes in aging men seems to be individually differentiated and vary in distinct populations. Currently there are no data on social differences in hormonal parameters in men. The study was carried out in order to evaluate the age-related changes of hormonal parameters considered as indices of andropause and analyze the social gradients in these variables in healthy Polish men. Material comprised the data of 414 healthy men, inhabitants of Wrocław, aged 32-79, examined in 2000 in DOLMED (Wrocław, Lower Silesia). Serum levels of the following hormones were assessed using radioimmunological assays: free testosterone (FT), total testosterone (TT), estradiol (E2), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), luteinizing hormone (LH), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). The following indices were calculated: FAI (Free Androgen Index), TT/E2 and TT/LH. Among Polish men there were negative correlations between age and serum levels of FT, DHEAS, IGF-1, E2, and between age and FAI, TT/LH. The correlation between the DHEAS level and age was the strongest among all relationships here. The male aging was accompanied by the serum reduction, during 5 years: FT level of 4.8%, DHEAS--8.6% and IGF-1--5.0%. The reduction in serum DHEAS and IGF-1 levels reached 77.3% and 44.9% (respectively) between men aged 32-34 and the oldest subjects aged 75-79. The decrease in serum FT level between men aged 32-34 and those aged 70-74 was 38.2%. The relationships between age and E2 level and between age and TT/LH were not strong (respectively, beta = -0.10, p < 0.05 and beta = -0. 17, p < 0.001). The male aging was also accompanied by the increase in serum SHBG (11.7%/5 years) and LH levels (13.5%/5 years). Among male there were no age-related changes in the serum TT level and TT/E2. The results of a two-way ANOVA revealed that education significantly differentiated serum IGF-1 levels (independently on age). The highest IGF-1 levels were observed in men who had graduated from university, the lowest--in those who had finished the trade school at the very most. In contrast, there were no social differences in other analysed hormonal parameters.