SUMMARYBackground and Aim: Smoking before, during and after pregnancy leads to detrimental outcomes on maternal and foetal health and represents an important public health issue. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and correlates of smoking before and during pregnancy in a sample of Romanian women.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among mothers (N = 1,278) in three maternity hospitals in Tirgu-Mures, Romania, immediately after childbirth, in 2014. We evaluated the prevalence of smoking before and during pregnancy and used binary logistic regression to assess the influence of socio-demographics and other health behaviour factors in three groups of women: non-smoking pregnant women, women who continued smoking during pregnancy, and smokers who quit during pregnancy.Results: 30% of the interviewed mothers were smokers prior to pregnancy, of whom 43.3% continued smoking during pregnancy. Women with a family income of less than 100 Euro/month (OR = 3.01, 95% CI: 1.02-8.83) and those who were unemployed (OR = 13.2, 95% CI: 3.90-44.79) had increased odds of continued smoking versus quitting during pregancy in multivariable analyses. Women who continued smoking during pregnancy were also more likley to be of lower socioeconomic status than never smokers (OR = 14.1, 95% CI: 4.97-39.6).Conclusions: A high percentage of women of reproductive age smoke and continue to smoke despite their knowledge about risks of smoking during pregnancy. Smoking prior to and during pregnancy is predominantly associated with lower socioeconomic status. Women with limited economic means should be a high priority target group for smoking cessation interventions.

No abstract

Our study aimed to emphasize the high rates of maternal smoking during pregnancy and its importance in LBW outcomes in Romanian pregnant women. Moreover, the study highlights disparities in smoking status observed in ethnic minorities and those living in poverty.

Presently, the scientists recognize the health benefits of food fibers in the menu and also plant food sources are at high interest both for general population and food companies. The food companies are responsible for a clear nutrition labelling that will assist consumers to make informed and healthy choices and health providers has to inform the population about the benefits of fibers.The aim of our study was to evaluate the Romanian knowledge and attitudes regarding dietary fibers from food products. We made a qualitative survey based on a questionnaire applied in 2015, over a period of 6 months, over 670 Romanian consumers. It was focused on testing the attitudes and knowledge towards ingestion of foods rich in fibers. For all data analysis we used the software SPSS, from IBM Inc.Our results showed that the knowledge about dietary fibers and also the ingestion of food products rich in fibers were low, and most of the subjects didn't have any interest to read the nutritional information from food labels. The female participants ate more whole grains and fruits than males and pay more attention to food labelling. Romanian people prefer to stay and eat home than at restaurants especially in rural areas, and the knowledge about fibers benefits was significantly related to education and urban location. We underline the needs for more efficient community interventions and proper information about the importance of dietary fibers for our health and also to improve and disseminate nutritional standards and diet recommendation among population.

The human body is mostly made up of water. The largest proportion of the human body is water, hence the growing interest of specialists in defining the importance of water in the body and the risks of dehydration. This study determined the physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of the drinking water distributed in the public network in the area of operation of Water Distribution Operator in Mureș County and samples of bottled water existing on the market in Mureş County (mineral, spring or table). The water supplied to the network can be safely consumed. This is demonstrated both by the results of the analyses of the physico-chemical and microbiological parameters related to the legislative standards and by the values of the similar parameters analyzed for the bottled water.