Miglinė, Vilma

Background: Albuminuria and albumin excretion rate (AER) are important risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD) development. Despite the extensive evidence of the influence of sodium and potassium on cardiovascular health, the existing evidence regarding their impact on albuminuria and kidney disease is limited and inconsistent. Our study aimed to assess the correlation between urinary sodium and potassium excretion, and the sodium-to-potassium ratio (Na/K ratio) with impaired kidney function, particularly the AER and albuminuria. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from the Lithuanian NATRIJOD study. A total of 826 single 24-h urine samples from individuals aged 18 to 69 were collected and analyzed for their sodium and potassium levels, Na/K ratio, and AER. Albuminuria was defined as an AER exceeding 30 mg/24 h. Results: The participant mean age was 47.2 ± 12.1 years; 48.5% of the participants were male. The prevalence of albuminuria was 3%. Correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between AER and urinary sodium excretion (rs = 0.21; p < 0.001) and urinary potassium excretion (rs = 0.28; p < 0.001). In univariate linear regression analysis, sodium and potassium excretion and the Na/K ratio were significant AER predictors with β coefficients of 0.028 (95% CI: 0.015; 0.041; p < 0.001), 0.040 (95% CI: 0.003; 0.077; p = 0.035), and 1.234 (95% CI: 0.210; 2.259; p = 0.018), respectively. In the multivariable model, only urinary sodium excretion remained significant, with a β coefficient of 0.028 (95% CI: 0.016; 0.041). Potential albuminuria predictive factors identified via univariate logistic regression included urinary sodium excretion (OR 1.00; 95% CI: 1:00; 1.01) and the Na/K ratio (OR 1.53; 95% CI: 1.11; 2.05). However, these factors became statistically insignificant in the multivariate model. Conclusions: Urinary sodium and potassium excretion and the Na/K ratio are significantly associated with kidney damage, considering the assessed 24-h albumin excretion rate and presence of albuminuria content.

Hypertension is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular events and death. A reduction in salt intake is among the most cost-effective strategies to reduce blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Increasing potassium lowers blood pressure and is associated with lower cardiovascular risk. Adequate iodine intake is important to prevent iodine deficiency disorders. Salt iodization is a key strategy to prevent such deficiency. In Lithuania, no surveys have been performed to directly assess sodium, potassium and iodine consumption. The aim of the present study was to measure sodium, potassium and iodine intake in a randomly selected adult Lithuanian adult population using 24 h urine collections, and to assess knowledge, attitudes and behavior towards salt consumption. Salt and potassium intakes were estimated in 888 randomly selected participants by 24 h urine sodium and potassium excretion and 679 individuals provided suitable 24 h urine samples for the analysis of iodine excretion. Average salt intake was 10.0 (SD 5.3) g/24 h and average potassium intake was 3.3 (SD 1.3) g/24 h. Only 12.5% of participants consumed less than 5 g/24 h of salt. The median value of urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was 95.5 μg/L. Our study showed that average salt intake is twice as high as the maximum level recommended by the World Health Organization while potassium and iodine intakes in Lithuania are below the recommended levels.

In 2017, Lithuania joined the global May Measurement Month (MMM) campaign which aims at raising awareness of raised blood pressure worldwide. Presented here are the data arising from the 2017, 2018, and 2019 campaigns. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of individuals aged ≥18 years was carried out in Lithuania in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Two thousand nine hundred and nineteen participants were recruited in the MMM campaigns in response to the media engagement and interactions with the study team. The mean age of participants was 46.1 years (SD 16.3) years, 58.9% were females. Blood pressures were measured using electronic devices provided by Omron according to the MMM protocol. Of the 2919 screened participants, 1308 (44.8%) had hypertension. Of all hypertensive participants, the awareness rate, the treatment rate, and the control rates (<140/90 mmHg) were 79.5%, 41.0%, and 14.2%, respectively. Of those on antihypertensive medication, the control rate was 34.8%. The high percentage of participants with hypertension was either untreated (59.0%) or treated but uncontrolled (65.2%) suggests the usefulness of such screening programmes to improve awareness of hypertension control in Lithuania.

In the case of various emergencies, especially pandemics, healthcare workers are faced with disproportionate pressures. Organizational support plays a significant role in protecting the psychological and physical health of healthcare workers. This interdisciplinary research aims to determine how changes in the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown are related to work organization factors that support safety and stability. A quantitative research strategy was applied in the research. Data from an electronic survey assessed the changes in the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers during the lockdown period and the organizational factors supporting safety and stability. The sample of the quantitative research consisted of 967 employees of healthcare institutions and pharmacies in Lithuania. This research broadens the concept of organizational factors and provides data on their interaction with the changes of employee well-being indicators in a pandemic situation. It was found that positive changes in the evaluation of physical as well as psychological well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown could be consistently predicted by all the analyzed safety and stability supporting organizational factors that were found to be associated with subjective physical well-being and psychological well-being even when adjusting for the effect of socio-demographic factors (gender, age, work field, and specialty). The identification and proper management of organizational factors was significant for the psychological and physical well-being of healthcare workers during the lockdown period. It was found that all estimates of safety and stability supporting organizational factors during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown were positively related and could act as protective factors to the subjective physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers.

In the setting of disasters, people seek information as they hope that knowledge will provide security. This makes the media a critical source of crisis exposure. The aim of the study described in this article was to analyze COVID-19 pandemic-related psychological aspects of media use by healthcare and pharmacy workers in Lithuania and to reveal the subjective effects of media consumption on their psychological well-being. 967 healthcare workers and pharmacists in Lithuania completed an electronic survey, which consisted of questions about the changes in well-being experienced since the beginning of the lockdown and media use in the search for information on COVID-19. It was found that communication might have ambiguous effects on psychological well-being. Excessive, unreliable, misleading, contradictory information and “catastrophizing” were subjectively related to impaired psychological well-being. Objective and reliable, relevant, clear, timely, hopeful and supportive information had a subjective positive effect. Seeking COVID-19-related information many times a day was associated with increased fear of becoming infected with COVID-19, feeling unable to control the risk of contracting COVID-19, fear of infecting relatives with COVID-19 and feeling that other people would avoid interaction with healthcare workers and pharmacists because of their job. General browsing was not consistently associated with COVID-19-related fears

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more pressure for health care workers and pharmacy specialists. These specialists have experienced significantly increased workload, higher risk of infection, and rapidly changing working environment. [1-2] World Health Organization and other international agencies emphasize the urgent need of providing psychological support for these front-line specialists. Therefore, the aim of this research is to evaluate the COVID-19 outbreak related work challenges, psychological well-being need of help among health care workers and pharmacy specialists. Materials and methods. Quantitative and qualitative research approaches have been used. On-line questionnaire were distributed to health care workers and pharmacy specialists. Intermediate results suggest, that questionnaire was filled-in by 228 pharmacists (27.2%), 216 nursing specialists (25.8%), 198 physicians (23.6%), 62 administration staff of health institutions (12.9%), 108 other health specialists (7.4%) and 26 non-identified (3.1%). Age of respondents ranged from 21 to 79 years (mean 43 years). Results. Findings of our study have revealed that almost a quarter of respondents (24%) had to work with COVID-19 infected people. A larger proportion (68%) of interviewed specialists had worked on–site during the lockdown. 66% of respondents agreed, that period of lockdown was a most difficult. The most common reasons for anxiety were fear to transmit infection to relatives (62%) and to be infected (40%). The most common symptoms of psychological distress were: tension (36%), pain (25%), and depressive mood (23%). Our study has identified, that some risk factors for burnout were not controlled or managed. Also we noticed, that organizational factors were significantly associated with psychological well-being. Conclusions: The COVID-19 caused lockdown raised many challenges for health care workers and pharmacy specialists, [...].

Visame pasaulyje didėja susirūpinimas ne tik dėl klimato kaitos pasekmių, kurios pasireiškia dažnėjančiomis ir aštrėjančiomis gamtinėmis ekstremaliosiomis situacijomis. Didžiulį susirūpinimą kelia ir kintama geopolitinė situacija, todėl dažnėja kariniai konfliktai, teroristiniai išpuoliai, didėja pabėgėlių srautas į Europos šalis. Šiame kontekste per ateinančius metus ir dešimtmečius svarbiausia bus gebėti efektyviai prisitaikyti prie greitai kintančio pasaulio ir tinkamai pasirengti grėsmėms, galimai kylančioms valstybei ir žmonėms. Tyrimai rodo, kad galimai traumuojamieji įvykiai, tokie kaip, karai, gamtinės ir technologinės katastrofos bei ekonominės krizės turi neigiamų psichologinių pasekmių. Traumuojamųjų įvykių poveikis turi savybę kauptis. Užsitęsę traumuojamieji įvykiai sukelia ypač neigiamas pasekmes tiek fizinei, tiek psichinei sveikatai. Todėl siektinas tikslas – sustiprinti visuomenės socialinį atsparumą, kad tokios visuomenės gebėtų neutralizuoti bet kokio sukrėtimo poveikį ir laiku atsigauti po jo. Šio straipsnio tikslas – atlikus mokslinės literatūros ir praktinių pavyzdžių analizę, pagrįsti pirmosios psichologinės pagalbos teikimo principų svarbą ir pateikti siūlymus siekiant didinti socialinį atsparumą ekstremalių įvykių kontekste. Atlikta analizė patvirtina, kad įvairios psichologinės intervencijos yra efektyvios siekiant išvengti psichikos sveikatos sutrikimų ir gydant ankstyvąsias trauminio streso reakcijas. Kaip priimtiniausia intervencijos forma po traumuojamųjų įvykių rekomendauojama pirmoji psichologinė pagalba. Pagrindiniai šios intervencijos tikslai yra saugumo, komforto, stabilumo, socialinės paramos ir informacijos suteikimas, kurie ir atsispindi penkiuose pirmosios psichologinės pagalbos teikimo principuose. Kvalifikuotos pirmosios psichologinės pagalbos teikimo organizavimas ir suteikimas laikantis šiuolaikinių, moksliškai pagrįstų principų, žymiai prisideda prie psichosocialinio atsparumo stiprinimo.

Straipsnyje analizuojamos su nepaprastųjų situacijų valdymu susijusios kultūrinės problemos. Straipsnio tikslas – įvertinti kultūrinius veiksnius kaip nepaprastųjų situacijų valdymo iššūkį. Keliami šie uždaviniai: aptarti kultūros sampratą nepaprastųjų situacijų kontekste; įvertinti nepaprastųjų situacijų valdymo iššūkius skirtingose kultūrose; pabrėžti etninių ir kultūrinių veiksnių įtaką nukentėjusiųjų psichikos sveikatai. Atlikdami tyrimą, autoriai naudojo literatūros analizės, sintezės ir apibendrinimo metodus. Įvertinus tarpkultūrinę nepaprastųjų situacijų valdymo patirtį teigiama, kad kultūriniai veiksniai gali būti vertinami ir negatyviai, ir pozityviai. Didžiausiais iššūkiais nepaprastųjų situacijų valdymo procese tampa tokie kultūriniai aspektai kaip religiniai įsitikinimai, kalba ir individų požiūris į lyties ir socialinės klasės vaidmenis. Prie pozityvių kultūrinių veiksnių galima priskirti individų gebėjimą greičiau adaptuotis, susitaikyti su netektimis, savanoriškai įsitraukti į nepaprastųjų situacijų valdymo sistemą. Labai svarbu atkreipti dėmesį į tai, kad nepaprastosios situacijos gali išbalansuoti ekstremalius išgyvenimus patyrusias bendruomenes, sutrikdyti jų socialinę struktūrą, nulemti psichikos sveikatos sutrikimų atsiradimą. Pažymima, kad skirtingose kultūrose minėti sutrikimai pasireiškia nevienodai, todėl, teikiant pagalbą nukentėjusiems nuo katastrofų žmonėms, būtina išmanyti kultūrinį kontekstą.