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Childhood obesity is a major public health problem, especially in developed countries, since it exerts a negative effect on the physical and mental health of the children, and in their adult life it increases their morbidity and causes premature death. During the last 50 years, the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased dramatically. Documented determinants of childhood obesity are demographic characteristics, life style and eating habits, family attitudes and genetic characteristics. Increased body mass index (BMI) of parents, lower educational level of parents, lower socio-economic level and lower age of mothers are all associated with an increase in childhood obesity. Among the life style characteristics, more time spent television watching and using personal computer and video games consoles are also associated with childhood obesity. Conversely, eating breakfast daily, an increase in the daily number of meals and meals taken with the family and a decreased in the number of beverages with sugar are associated with decreased childhood obesity. Increased physical activity and increased sleeping time are associated with decreased obesity. Negative comments of family members about style and weight are associated with an increase in eating disorders, especially in girls. The investigation on the determinants of childhood obesity is essential for the design and application of appropriate health policies, so that children and their families realize the importance of the issue and adopt more healthy behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of obesity in children aged 10-15 years and investigate its determinants. METHOD A cross-sectional study was conducted on 306 children aged 10-15 years in elementary and secondary schools in Larissa. Data collection took place during May 2015. The response rate was 86.9% (306/352). The children were classified as underweight, normal (healthy weight), overweight and obese according to body mass index (BMI), age and gender. The determinants studied were demographic characteristics, TV watching, personal computer use, internet use, physical activity, nutritional habits, sleeping habits and attitudes towards diet issues. Data analysis included x2 test, x2 trend test, t test, Mann-Whitney test and multivariate logistic regression analysis and was performed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS), version 21.0. RESULTS Of the study children 50% were females and their mean age was 12.68 years and mean BMI 18.51 kg/m2; 77.5% of the children were classified as normal, 12.1% overweight, 10.1% underweight and 0.3% obese. Specifically, 19.6% of the males and 4.6% of the females were overweight, while 0.6% of the females and none of males were obese. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified a greater likelihood of being overweight/obese among males (odds ratio [OR]=3.54, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.51 to 8.31, p=0.004), children with a TV set in their room (OR=2.73, 95% CI=1.26 to 5.92, p=0.011) and children who used personal computer/video games machines/mobiles/tablet (OR=3.24, 95% CI=1.42 to 7.37, p=0.005). CONCLUSIONS Gender, TV in the child's room and increased use of personal computer/video games machines/mobiles/ tablet was associated with overweight/obesity in schoolchildren. Identification of the determinants of obesity in childhood is necessary for the development and application of appropriate health policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research articles are the most common kind of publications in scientific journals and they are about the publication of studies that are conducted by health scientists. Almost all journals in health sciences have adopted and applied a uniform structure for research articles, that is these articles are consisted of the following parts: (a) introduction, (b) methods and material, (c) results and (d) discussion. In this article, certain fundamental guidelines are presented in order to improve (a) authors' ability to writing and (b) the quality of publications in scientific journals in health sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As research articles include statistical methods and terms, knowledge of at least the fundamental principles of statistics is essential for writing and evaluating research articles. Particular attention must be paid to the statistical methods and terms used in articles, in order to avoid misinterpretation and confusion. In the methods section certain things should be declared with clarity, including (a) the predetermined level of statistical significance (alpha value), (b) the management of quantitative variables and (c) the methodology for checking the normality of quantitative variables. In the results section, confidence intervals should be presented. The exact values of statistical significance (p values) should be reported, and not just whether they are greater or less than 0.05. With regard to quantitative variables that follow a normal distribution, the mean value is used, with standard deviation to describe the variability, while for those that do not follow a normal distribution the median value, with range or interquartile range is used. Both absolute and relative frequencies need to be used in order to reach a safe conclusion. It should be remembered that in Greek, decimal numbers are reported with a comma, while in English with a period (full stop). The reverse applies to numbers in thousands, which in English are indicated with a comma, while in Greek they are indicated reported with a period (full stop). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the theoretically universal coverage of the population by the public healthcare system, a high level of private health expenditure is reported in Greece. Payments are made by citizens who hope to achieve access to higher quality services than those provided by the public health sector. Aim: The investigation of factors influencing patient choice of hospital (public/private) in the regions of Central Greece and Thessaly and the evaluation of patient satisfaction with the hospital services chosen. Method: The study was conducted between May and July 2009 with a random sample of 141 participants aged over 18 years, discharged from one public and two private hospitals in the regions of Central Greece and Thessaly. Data collection was made using a questionnaire developed for the purposes of the study after extensive literature review. The statistical package SPSS 17.0 was used for statistical analysis, which included the Mann-Whitney test, x² test and logistic regression. The level of significance was considered to be p=0.05. Results: Females and patients from wealthy families preferred private hospital services. Individual savings had a significant positive effect on the decision to seek private hospital care. Of those treated in the public hospital, 70.4% reported that the main criterion for their choice was the low cost of hospitalization. Of the patients treated in private hospitals, 91.7% reported the intention to choose the same hospital in the event of another hospitalization, while the respective percentage for the patients admitted to the public hospital was 72.8%. Conclusions: Patients of higher socioeconomic status seek inpatient services from the private more often than from the public health sector. Patients hospitalized in private hospitals were more satisfied than those hospitalized in the public hospital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The intensive and stressful working environment of hospitals, which employ staff from many different professional groups with various educational levels, may contribute to a large extent to the creation of conflict. Aim: Determination of the key factors which lead to conflicts in the hospital workplace environment, and identification of strategies for handling such conflicts. Method: The study population consisted of 180 nurses and nursing assistants and 106 physicians from a full range of specialties, employed at 4 Greek public paediatric hospitals. A questionnaire designed specifically for examining conflicts in hospitals was distributed to the health professionals for self-completion, and participation in the study was voluntary. The Chi-square test was used to find relationships between categorical variables. The level of statistical significance was p=0.05. Results: The response rate was 66%, and of the participants 37% were medical staff, 47% were nurses (university or technological education) and 16% were nursing assistants. The majority of participants reported that they encounter conflicts with colleagues in their own ward, but only 17% with members of another professional group. The physicians reported more conflicts with their colleagues (73.3%). Avoidance was the most commonly implemented strategy of dealing with conflict reported by the medical/nursing staff (61% of physicians and 64.2% of nursing staff), while acceptance was the least utilized policy. The highest job satisfaction was reported by health professionals who were aware of these issues, but 77% of the participants had not trained in conflict management. Some of the key issues identified by these health professionals are organizational, given the finding that approximately 1 in 2 nurses and physicians agreed that receiving directions from more than one manager may lead to conflicts. The majority of the participants (95.8%) claimed that the statutory regulations do not provide a clear definition of their duties and do not help them to fulfil their duties efficiently. The nursing staff mentioned more frequently than the physicians that educational differences constitute an obstacle to communication between different professional groups (p=0.006). The majority of the participants (96.3%) were not satisfied with their wage in relation with their work-load. Conclusions: Major operational changes are needed with respect to employee motivation, the organizational structure of hospitals and human resources management and training, with the aim of mitigating the conflicts in the working environment of Greek public hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]