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This article analyses the long term incidence of cancer disease in the vicinity of nuclear power plant at Jaslovské Bohunice. The data on the incidence of cancer were summarized by year and by regional district for men and women separately. The main study region was the district Trnava with the districts Nitra and Levice used as a reference teritory. The actual figures are from 1968 till 1990 with a trend calculated up to the year 2000. Mortality was evaluated from the point of view of the percentage of premature deaths and the potentially lost years of life. This analysis was made for a period from 1980 till 1990 for men and women separately for each municipality in the Tmava district. Neither a higher incidence of cancer nor an accelerated dynamics of cancer formation was found in the vicinity of nuclear power plant. Mortality is therefore uniform within the whole Trnava district and no exceptional situation was found within the regional continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All livebirths resulting from singleton pregnancies reported to the Czech (n = 380,633) and Swedish (n = 351,775) birth registries in 1989-91 were studied with respect to social variation in birthweight, ponderal index (weight/length at birth3) and preterm delivery. The mean birthweight was significantly lower in the Czech population (3310 g vs. 3522 g, P < 0.001). The mean difference in birthweight between children of mothers with primary and university education was 197 g [95% CI 190, 205] in the Czech and 136 g [95% CI 128, 144] in the Swedish population, adjusted for maternal age, parity and sex of the infant. Mean birthweight was significantly higher in mothers who were married or lived with partners in both countries; the difference was 167 g [95% CI 161, 173] in the Czech Republic (CR) and 86 g [95% CI 78, 94] in Sweden, adjusted for age, parity and sex. The extent of social variation in ponderal index and frequency of preterm birth was also greater in the CR. Between 1989 and 1991, mean birthweight in the CR fell from 3323 g to 3292 g (P < 0.001) and the social differences increased, largely as a result of more rapid worsening in the lower socio-economic groups. There did not appear to be such a decline in birthweight in Sweden. We suggest that the fall in mean birthweight and the increasing social variation in birth outcome in the CR is related to decline and divergence in living standards in 1989-91. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]