Objectives: To investigate the aspects of return to work, socio-economic and quality of life aspects in 145 employed patients under 60 years of age treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Material and Methods: During hospital treatment demographic and clinical data was collected. Data about major adverse cardiovascular events, rehabilitation, sick leave, discharge from job and retirement, salary, major life events and estimation of quality of life after myocardial infarction were obtained after follow-up (mean: 836±242 days). Results: Average sick leave was 126±125 days. Following myocardial infarction, 3.4% of patients were discharged from their jobs while 31.7% retired. Lower salary was reported in 17.9% patients, major life events in 9.7%, while 40.7% estimated quality of life as worse following the event. Longer hospitalization was reported in patients transferred from surrounding counties, those with inferior myocardial wall and right coronary artery affected. Age, hyperlipoproteinemia and lower education degree were connected to permanent working cessation. Significant salary decrease was observed in male patients. Employer type was related to sick leave duration. Impaired quality of life was observed in patients who underwent in-hospital rehabilitation and those from surrounding counties. Longer sick leave was observed in patients with lower income before and after myocardial infarction. These patients reported lower quality of life after myocardial infarction. Conclusions: Inadequate health policy and delayed cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction may lead to prolonged hospitalization and sick leave as well as lower quality of life after the event, regardless of optimal treatment in acute phase of disease.

The aim of the study was to analyze positional differences in anthropometric characteristics of 48 Croatian selected female handball juniors (average age 18.43 years) who played in three positions: backs (B; n=19), wings (W; n=7) and pivots (P; n=6). Twenty-four anthropometric measures, defining the four latent morphological dimensions, were used. Globally, significant differences were revealed by means of ANOVA in 11 morphological measures (7 at p≤.01 and 4 at p≤.05) between the three groups of female juniors with no significant differences in longitudinal dimensions. Only one significant positional difference was found between pivots and backs (in the lower leg skinfold in favour of pivots suggesting a higher body fat percentage. Between wings and pivots no significant differences were found in longitudinal body dimensions; however, the measures of skeletal transversality, voluminosity and partially of fatty tissue (two variables) corroborated the fundamental difference between these two positions: pivotsʼ body built was more robust. No significant differences were found in longitudinal and almost all transversal measures between backs and wings; however, the differences in body voluminosity (all in favour of backs) were probably due to the selection process. In the juniorsʼ somatotype (3.72‒3.49‒2.32), endomorph and mesomorph components were predominant over the ectomorph component, in which the lowest values were obtained from the players in all the three positions. It is of outmost importance that handball practitioners should work on the reduction of players’ percentage of subcutaneous fatty tissue and on the enhancement of the portion of active muscle mass in their body composition by the implementation of quality sports training programmes and changes in dietary habits if better game performance and sports achievements of the Croatian junior female handball players are expected.

Starenje populacije je dominantno demografsko obilježje razvijenih zemalja. Stogodišnjaci su selekcionirana skupina i samo jedna od 7.000 do 10.000 osoba dosegne tu dob. Čimbenici dugovječnosti vjerojatno su brojni i uključuju gensko predodređenje (lokus na 4. kromosomu), zdrav okoliš i zdrave životne navike (prehrana s malo kalorija), redovita tjelesna i psihička aktivnost, kao i dostupnost te učinkovitost zdravstvene zaštite s primjenom geroprofi lakse. Stogodišnjaci se adaptiraju na novi život i na gubitak tjelesnih funkcija koji bivaju postupno sve izraženiji kako se dob povisuje. Granice ljudskog života produžuju se -do sada najstarija poznata osoba doživjela je 128 godina. Pojedina zemljopisna područja bilježe izrazito veći broj stogodišnjaka. Navedene su i neke dugovječne osobe s više od 100 godina u svijetu i na području Republike Hrvatske i nekih susjednih zemalja. Iako se uglavnom smatra da se granica trajanja života čovjeka ne može produžiti iznad 120 godina, za sada je ipak teško predvidjeti gdje su njezine granice. Starost i starenje sigurna su budućnost svakog čovjeka (1, 2). Proces starenja i dugovječnost oduvijek su budili pozornost. Starenje kao univerzalni proces počelo je početkom života prije oko 3,5 milijarda godina (3).Važnost starenja svjetskog pučanstva prepoznata je tek prije nekoliko desetljeća. Danas je starenje stvarna činjenica mnogih razvijenih zemalja, posebice europskih, a postaje izraženije i u manje razvijenim zemljama kao posljedica socijalno-ekonomskog razvoja i unapređenja zdravlja. Tablica 1 prikazuje duljinu životnog vijeka čovjeka prema razdobljima.Istraživanja upućuju na to da će do 2050. godine trajanje života iznositi 120 i više godina (4). Ujedinjeni narodi procjenjuju da će najstarija skupina pučanstva u dubokoj starosti do 2025. godine na svjetskoj razini doseći 19 % udjela starije populacije. Broj stogodišnjaka povećat će se 15 puta i od 210 tisuća dugovječnih osoba koliko živi danas u svijetu predviđa se porast na 3,2 milijuna do 2050. godine (5, 6). Međutim, postavlja se i pitanje značenja duljega

Background:Our aim was to analyze the prevalence and causes of sudden death due to recreational swimming in the elderly in Croatia in a 15-year period and to analyze what complications could we determine due to recreational swimming in elders, compared to other age groups.