Objectives: The health of the Roma population is relatively poor and indicators on municipal level are needed to inform authorities to improve it. The aim of this study was to compare the rate of low birthweights (LBW) and mean birthweight (BW) in municipalities with minor Roma population (MMR) and municipalities with large Roma population (MLR) in Slovakia.Methods: A population-wide, ecological level, cross-sectional study was conducted using data from 2009-2013. Data on proportions of newborns with LBW, on mean birthweight of newborns and on mean ages of mothers at birth were obtained from the National Health Information Centre of Slovakia. Rates of LBW and mean BW were compared between the MMR and MLR groups. Mean age of mothers and rates of unemployment were considered possible confounders.Results: The mean BW was by 183 g higher in the MMR group compared to MLR; the rates of LBW were 4.2% and 8.9%, respectively. Increasing proportions of Roma were significantly associated with increasing rates of LBW and decreasing mean BW, one percent increase in the proportion of Roma was associated with an increase in LBW rate of 0.15% and a decrease in mean LBW of −4.9 grams.Conclusions: Our findings could be used as a proxy for the purposes of policy making, replacing individual level studies with more resourcedemanding design.

Children and adolescents are at high risk of traumatic brain injuries (TBI). To identify those most at risk across Europe, a comprehensive epidemiological study on the burden of TBI is needed. Our aim was to estimate the burden of TBI in the pediatric and adolescent population of Europe by calculating rates of hospital-based incidence, death and years of life lost (YLL) due to TBI in 33 countries of Europe in 2014 (most recent available data). We conducted a cross-sectional observational, population-based study. All cases with TBI in the age range 0 to 19, registered in the causes of death databases or hospital discharge databases of 33 European countries were included. Crude and age-standardized rates of hospital discharges, deaths and YLLs due to TBI; and pooled estimates for all countries combined were calculated. TBI caused 2303 deaths (71% in boys), 154,282 YLLs (68% in boys) and 441,368 hospital discharges (61% in boys) in the population of 0–19 year-olds. We estimated pooled age-standardized rates of death (2.8, 95% CI: 2.4–3.3), YLLs (184.4, 95% CI: 151.6–217.2) and hospital discharges (344.6, 95% CI: 250.3–438.9) for the analyzed countries in 2014. The population of 15–19 year-olds had the highest rates of deaths and YLLs, and the population of 0–4 year-olds had the highest rate of hospital discharges. Detailed estimates of hospital discharge, death and YLL rates based on high-quality, standardized data may be used to develop health policies, aid decision-making and plan prevention.

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Purpose The association of TBI with socioeconomic characteristics of patients has not been studied extensively. The objective of this study was to analyse the differences in injury characteristics and outcome in TBI patients based on their occupational status. Methods Data on patients from 13 centres based in Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia were included in the analysis. Demographic characteristics, injury characteristics, treatment and outcome at various post-injury stages were compared according to occupational status. Logistic regression was used to adjust for the effect of co-variates. ICU mortality, hospital mortality, 6 months mortality, and outcome at 6 months were used as dependent variables. Results Overall, 886 patients were analysed with a mean age of 45.5 years. High-level falls were most prevalent in the bluecollar group (19%), most low-level falls occurred in the retired group. Traffic accidents were most common in students. The injuries were most severe in the blue-collar group and students. Highest mortalities and unfavourable outcomes were in the retired, students and white-collar workers had the best outcomes. Compared to retired patients, all groups had higher odds of favourable outcome at 6 months after adjusting for co-variates-OR from 2.2 (95% CI 1.1-4.6) for entrepreneurs to 3.6 (95% CI 1.8-7.2) for the blue-collar group. Conclusion Our paper provides clues pertaining specifically to variations in patterns and outcomes of TBI according to occupational status which can inform prevention and planning of services and can serve to plan priorities for further research.

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