(adjusted OR = 1.94;. The study highlighted the relevance of community violence as a risk factor for asthma and the need for further research to elucidate methodological issues.

Introduction Asthma and violence are two complex, multi-factorial phenomena strongly present in Latin America and Brazil. Studies about asthma demonstrate that there are a number of risk factors for the development of the disease; among these are: poverty, diet and psycho-social factors. Violence, in particular community violence, is a significant psycho-social factor. Objective To identify the degree of community violence reported by carers of children between 4 and 12 years old and the influence of this exposure on the occurrence of asthma symptoms in childhood. Methods A transversal study was undertaken with 1232 carers resident in 24 areas of the city of Salvador. We investigated asthma symptoms in children and acts of violence in the community. Results More than 75% of carers had been victims of community violence over the last year, with 20% indicating high degrees of coexistence with this phenomenon. Children exposed to the maximum degree of violence presented greater prevalence of asthma symptoms, peaking at 28.4%, compared to 16.4% in non-exposed children. Children whose carers are exposed to the maximum degree of violence were almost twice as likely to present with these symptoms (OR ajs * 1.94 95% CI 1.12 to 3.36). Conclusion Exposure to community violence demonstrated a strong association with increase in the prevalence of asthma symptoms, highlighting the importance of this psychosocial risk factor in the manifestation of this disease. Background The epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) in Romania highlights the need for early detection and directly observed therapy. This study analysed the evolution of the TB epidemic in Romania from 1990 to 2008 in order to evaluate the TB control strategy. Methods A retrospective study describing the evolution of the main epidemiological indicators for TB in Romania, 1990e2008 was carried out. Incident TB cases were obtained from "Marius Nasta" Institute of Pulmonology from Bucharest, Ministry of Public Health Report 2008. Comparative European data were obtained from the European Health for All Database (HFA-DB) 2010 and WHO TB Report 2010. Results The overall incidence of TB in Romania steadily declined from 142.2 per 100 000 in 2002 to 107.8 per 100 000 in 2008 at which time it was almost eight times higher than EU average (14.1 per 100 000); the fourth highest national incidence of TB in the WHO Europe Region. Of the 21 724 registered TB cases (incident and relapses) in 2008, 61% were smear-positive; of these 9511 were incident cases. The incidence in the paediatric population was 12.7 per 100 000 in 1990, peaking at 42 per 100 000 in 2000 before falling to 28.7 per 100 000 in 2008. Mortality from TB has progressively fallen from 12 per 100 000 in 1990 to 7.2 per 100 000 in 2008. In total 2.8% of all incident and 11% of all re-treatment cases in Romania were MDR TB cases in 2007, compared to 10% and 43% respectively in Europe. In 2008, 816 MDR TB cases were registered; 130 incident and 686 re-treatment cases. Introduction Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of th...