Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

Abstract: BackgroundDiet-related diseases remain leading causes of death in most developed countries around the world. The aim of the study was to compare opinions of patients and family physicians on receiving and providing recommendations about physical activity, diet and use of medication. Methods: The questionnaire study was conducted among patients of 36 primary health care clinics in Poland between September 2018 and February 2019. Patients and physicians were interviewed separately by trained researchers. Data from 509 patients and 167 family doctors were analyzed. Results: The median age of patients was 44 years (interquartile range: 29–55) and 70% were women. The majority of physicians were women (59%) and the median age was 37 years (IQR: 31–50). There was a significant difference between physicians’ declarations on providing recommendations on diet (92% vs. 39%) and activity (90% vs. 37%) versus patients’ declarations on receiving them. Conclusions: The results indicate that there is significant room for improvement in providing patients with proper recommendations on diet and physical activity by their family physicians. Primary care physicians should put more emphasis on clear communication of recommendations on diet and physical activity.

diet

Introduction. To investigate the public interest in cancer screening before, during and after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic, in relation to the number of cases and deaths caused by the coronavirus. Material and methods. Google Trends (GT) was used to obtain data on online interest in screening for the most common cancer types during COVID-19 pandemic. Results. It was found that although online interest in screening collapsed during the early stages of the pandemic, it managed to gradually return to its pre-pandemic levels six months later despite a growing number of COVID-19 related deaths. Nevertheless, some data and reports suggest that this unprecedented crisis may result in increased mortality and incidence rates. Conclusions. The study raises the importance of continuous and active actions aimed at raising cancer awareness which appears to be crucially important during a public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

cancer screening

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is commonly used for assessing arterial stiffness and it is a useful and accurate cardiovascular mortality predictor. Currently, many techniques and devices for PWV measurement are known, but they are usually expensive and require operator experience. One possible solution for PWV measurement is photoplethysmography (PPG), which is convenient, inexpensive and provides continuous PWV results. The aim of this paper is validation of a new device for PPG sensor-based measurement of multi-site arterial PWV using a SphygmoCor XCEL (as the reference device) according to the recommendations of the Artery Society Guidelines (ASG). In this study, 108 subjects (56 men and 52 women, 20–91 years in 3 required age groups) were enrolled. The multi-site PWV was simultaneous measured by 7 PPG sensors commonly used in pulse oximetry in clinical settings. These sensors were placed on the forehead, and right and left earlobes, fingers and toes. Pulse transit time (PTT) was measured offline as the difference of time delay between two onsets of the pulse wave determined by the intersecting tangent method. The PWV was calculated by dividing the distance between PPG sensors by PTT. During PPG signals measurement, reference carotid to femoral PWV (cfPWV) was performed with a SphygmoCor XCEL system. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between the obtained PWV results was calculated. The Bland-Altman method was used to establish the level of agreement between the two devices. Mean difference (md) and standard deviation (SD) were also calculated. The multi-site PWV was highly correlated with accuracy at the ASG-defined level of “Acceptable” (md < 1.0 m/s and SD ≤ 1.5 m/s) with cfPWV: forehead - right toe (r = 0.75, md = 0.20, SD = 0.97), forehead - left toe (r = 0.79, md = 0.18, SD = 0.91), right ear - right toe (r = 0.79, md = 0.11, SD = 0.96), left ear - left toe (r = 0.75, md = 0.43, SD = 0.99), right ear - left toe (r = 0.78, md = 0.40, SD = 0.93), left ear - right toe (r = 0.78, md = 0.11, SD = 0.96), right finger - right toe (r = 0.66, md = 0.95, SD = 1.29), left finger - left toe (r = 0.67, md = 0.68, SD = 1.35). This study showed that PWV measured with the multi-site PPG system, in relation to the obtained numerical values, correlated very well with that measured using the commonly known applanation tonometry method. However, it should be noted, that the measured PWV concerns the central and muscular part of the arterial tree while the cfPWV is only for the central one. The best results were obtained when the proximal PPG sensor was placed on the head (ear or forehead) and the distal PPG sensor on the toe. PPG sensors can be placed in many sites at the same time, which provides greater freedom of their configuration. Multi-site photoplethysmography is an alternative method for PWV measurement and creates new possibilities for the diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases.

photoplethysmography, pulse wave velocity, multi-site pulse wave velocity, pulse transmit time, arterial stiffness, cardiovascular diseases

Objective: To analyze accuracy of articles about COVID-19 prevention most frequently shared through social media platforms. Methods: Identifying, using the Buzzsumo analytic tool, 30 most frequently shared articles in April 2020 about COVID-19 prevention and classifying them according to number of shares, accuracy, topic and sharing platform. Calculations were made using descriptive statistics tools and chi-square test. Results: The top 30 articles about coronavirus prevention were shared 4904 160 times over a period of one month with 96.8% of all shares through Facebook. Most of the articles (80%) was found to be accurate, however they accounted for only 64% of shares. The inaccuracies referred mostly to handwashing. The most shared articles were about medications followed by masks and hand washing. Conclusions: Articles about coronavirus prevention are usually accurate, yet relatively less likely to be shared than inaccurate ones. Facebook remains a dominant social media platform for sharing content. Buzzsumo could be considered a tool in certain situations such as pandemic for health authorities to quickly investigate different health topics popular on social media. Lay Summary: Most of the articles about COVID-19 prevention, identified as most frequently shared through social media platform during the pandemic, was found to be accurate. However, inaccurate content was more likely to be shared than by Facebook users compared with accurate content. This suggests the need for health authorities to monitor content shared on social media in extraordinary situations such as pandemics.

coronavirus, COVID-19, social media, misinformation, public health

The aim of this study was to analyse knowledge on colon cancer prevention among patients of primary care and identify their sources of information. The questionnaire study was conducted among patients of 36 primary healthcare clinics in Poland between September 2018 and February 2019. Patients were interviewed separately by trained researchers. Over 39% of the primary health patients declared that their knowledge about colon cancer prevention is unsatisfactory. Information about colon cancer prevention varied according to sex, age and BMI. Men declared lower level of knowledge than women: 46% of men thought it was unsatisfactory compared with 36%of women (p = 0.003). Preventive recommendations weremore often provided to patients over 60 years old (p < 0.01). Overweight and obese patients were more likely to receive recommendations on diet (p < 0.001) and physical activity (p < 0.001) than patients with normal weight. Themost common source of information on colon cancer prevention was Internet (68%) and medical doctors (60%). There is a need for developing colon cancer prevention policy. Crucial aspect includes educational programs aimed at improving patient’s knowledge and involving medical staff. The policymakers should pay greater attention to cancer prevention policies and medical staff involved in prevention to quality of communication to make sure patients thoroughly understand information they are provided.

colon cancer, prevention, primary healthcare, education, communication