Faculty of Medicine

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    CLINICAL OUTCOMES FROM COVID-19 INFECTION IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE: 5 YEARS LATER
    (Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, 2025-12-16)
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    Atanasovska, Aneta
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    Introduction: Evidence of impact of COVID-19 infection on course of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still limited. Aim: To assess clinical outcomes of moderate COVID-19 infection in patients with moderate COPD by comparison of disease control, i.e., the frequency and severity of symptoms, level of health status impairment, values of spirometrc parameters and exacerbation risk, registered at two points in time: 2020 and 2025. Material and methods: We performed a cross-sectional study including 74 patients with moderate COPD divided in two groups. The first group (COVID-19 group) included 37 COPD patients who had COVID-19 infection of moderate severity in 2020. The second group (non-COVID-19 group) included patients with COPD who did not have coronavirus disease in the period 2020-2025. The frequency and severity of symptoms and level of health impairment were assessed by COPD Assessment Test (CAT): lung function was assessed by spirometric measurements, and exacerbation risk was predicted by exacerbation rate registered in the previous year. Conclusion: Our findings indicated significant impact of the COVID-19 infection on symptoms, patient’s health and daily life, as well as on the lung function and exacerbation risk emphasizing a need of careful monitoring of these patients upon recovery from COVID-19 infection in order to minimize the impact of infection on COPD progression.
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    PREVALENCE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CHRONIC RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS AND LUNG FUNCTION AMONG VINEYARD WORKERS
    (Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, 2025-12-16)
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    Atanasovska, Aneta
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    Bislimovska, Dragana
    Aim: To determine the frequency of chronic respiratory symptoms and ventilatory function in a group of vineyard workers. Results: Most of the vineyard workers believe that they are sufficiently informed about the health risks related to their work activities and the necessary measures needed for health protection. Also, most of them use the mandatory personal protective equipment, while almost all workers during their work, to a greater or lesser extent, were exposed to occupational respiratory hazards: dust, smoke, fumes, gases and pesticides. About 45% of subjects had one or more respiratory symptoms, and the most common symptoms were cough (40%), cough with phlegm (31.1%), as well as dyspnea and wheezing (22.2%). The frequency of chronic respiratory symptoms was higher in workers with more than 15 years of exposure, with a statistically significant difference in frequency of cough, cough with phlegm, and dyspnea. The risk of respiratory symptoms was about 3 times higher in active smokers and about 2 times higher in vineyard workers with exposure duration longer than 15 years. The mean values of all spirometric parameters were within the reference values, while lung function impairment of obstructive, restrictive and combined pattern was registered in about 20% of them. The mean values of spirometric parameters in vineyard workers with exposure duration longer than 15 years were lower than those with less than 15 years of experience, with a significant difference for small airways flow indices. Conclusion: The obtained results indicate the need to improve preventive measures.</jats:p>
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    Emerging topics in occupational medicine in south-eastern European (SEE) countries
    (Croatian Society on Occupational Health, 2024-11-07)
    The South-East European Network on Workers’ Health (SEENWH) is a network of experts in the field of occupational health from nine countries in the SEE subregion (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, R.N. Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Türkiye). It was established in 2006, aimed at strengthening occupational health systems in the SEE subregion through strong collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The objectives of the SEENWH as a sustainable and international framework are: improvement of workers’ health and well-being; strengthening of OH systems, policies, and services; and building of human/ institutional capacities in the SEE subregion. SEENWH provides a forum for exchanging information and knowledge, developing training programmes in the field of occupational health, promoting research, developing and sharing good practices, and collaboration through joint projects. The emerging issues on which the SEENWH experts are focused involve, among others, occupational health system and policy, universal health coverage, verification and reporting of occupational diseases, vulnerable groups of workers (including persons with disabilities), health and well-being of health workers, mental health at work, occupational skin diseases, work-related musculo-skeletal disorders, new and emerging occupational risks, climate change and workers’ health, and evidence syntheses in occupational health. During the COVID-19 pandemic (October-December 2021), more than 1,600 health workers from SEENWH countries have been trained in occupational health and safety in the context of COVID-19 through a project supported by WHO/Europe. In addition, the SEENWH conducted an online survey on job stress in health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic (over 4,600 respondents), and found significant differences between SEENWH countries related to burnout, job engagement, as well as job demands and job resources. As a conclusion, SEENWH should be continuously used as a platform for collaboration at subregional level, to work together towards workers’ health, and to translate research into practice.
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    Association between occupational exposure and cancer in developing countries: a systematic review
    (2025-10-08)
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    Petrovska, Ekaterina
    Objective: This systematic review aims to identify, evaluate, and synthesize existing evidence about the association between occupational exposure and cancer in developing countries, to conduct risk of bias assessment (RBA), and to identify knowledge gaps to guide future research. Material and Methods: A systematic review is currently conducted across three major databases—MEDLINE (via PubMed), EBSCO, and DynaMed—including studies published between 1990 and 2025. The search strategy was developed in accordance with the PICOs framework, using a combination of search terms, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to identify relevant studies. The ongoing first phase of this systematic review (MEDLINE database) initially identified a total of 1,759 records which were screened based on title and abstract. For the resulting 41 records, the full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. Following the exclusion criteria, four articles without an existing abstract and 28 review articles were removed. In accordance with the inclusion criteria, only original research articles were considered, resulting in 9 full-text articles being included for qualitative synthesis. Screening of EBSCO and DynaMed databases will be conducted in the next phase of the review. RBA was based on the criteria proposed by Shamliyana et al. Results: Preliminary data showed that the most frequently analysed occupational carcinogens in developing countries were: asbestos, silica dust, pesticides, arsenic, and particulate matters. Mostly investigated cancer sites were: lung cancer, melanoma, leukaemia, and colo-rectal cancer. The RBA showed external and internal validity issues for most of the studies. Conclusion: There is a clear need to improve evidence synthesis on occupational exposure and cancer in developing countries, where the burden could be greater but research is limited. Acknowledgements: The authors declare no funding or conflicts of interest.
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    Artificial Intelligence-Generated Answers to Patients' Questions on Asthma: The Artificial Intelligence Responses on Asthma Study
    (Elsevier BV, 2025-09)
    Nigro, Mattia
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    Aliverti, Andrea
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    Angelucci, Alessandra
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    Braido, Fulvio
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    Canonica, Giorgio W
    Asthma is a prevalent chronic respiratory disease requiring ongoing patient education and individualized management. The increasing reliance on digital tools, particularly generative artificial intelligence (AI), to answer health-related questions has raised concerns about the accuracy, reliability, and comprehensibility of AI-generated information for people living with asthma.
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    Data from the Researcher Mental Health Observatory STAIRCASE survey
    (Center for Open Science, 2025-05-24)
    Lasser, Jana
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    Mol, Stefan Thomas
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    Čontala, Alja
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    Slavec, Ana
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    de Swarte, Andreja Zulim
    The data presented here derives from the STAIRCASE survey on researcher mental health. The survey reached 4,296 researchers predominantly from European countries who completed an online questionnaire about mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, and well-being, as well as working conditions and leadership behaviour. Data and materials of the study are available at https://doi.org/10.21249/DZHW:remo:1.0.0 as a fully anonymised downloadable Campus Use File and a pseudonymised Scientific Use File, accessible in a secure remote analysis environment. Data can be reused for secondary analyses, educational purposes, or combined with similar data sets.
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    The Prevalence of Symptomatic Dermographism: Results of the International UCARE PREVALENCE-D Study
    (Wiley, 2025-09-13)
    Kulthanan, Kanokvalai
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    Bernstein, Jonathan A
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    Rudenko, Michael
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    Salameh, Pascale
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    Komoltri, Chulaluk
    The prevalence of symptomatic dermographism (SD) in the general population remains unclear. This study aimed to internationally estimate the prevalence of SD and two other dermographic subtypes-physiological red dermographism and simple urticarial dermographism-among adults worldwide.
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    Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders as occupational health problem among dental professionals
    (Македонско лекарско друштво = Macedonian medical association, 2024-11-02)
    Stavreva, Natasha
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    Bajraktarova Valjakova, Emilija
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    Elenchevski, Sasho
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    Objective: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) have been identified as a significant occupational health problem among dental professionals. MSDs can be defined as any injury to the human support system, including the bones, cartilage, muscles, ligaments, tendons, blood vessels, nerves due to exposure to hazards at the workplace. For dental professionals they occur commonly in the neck, shoulder, lower back and wrists. They are significant work-related occupational health problem. Sufferers of MSDs may experience numbness, tingling, pain, decreased strength or swelling of the affected area. Ergonomics helps in designing jobs, equipment and workplaces to fit dental workers in prevention of MSD. The aims of the study are to define the significant risk factors to dental professionals’ health which lead to injuries and prevention of MSDs as occupational health problem. Material and methods: Risk factors of MSDs with specific reference to dentistry include stress, poor flexibility, improper positioning, infrequent breaks, repetitive movements, weak postural muscles, prolonged awkward postures and improper adjustment of equipment. This article includes MSDs and the signs, symptoms and risk factors and the influence of the ergonomics in prevention of these types of injuries Some authors have found symptoms of discomfort for dental workers occurred in the wrist/hands (69.5%), neck (68.5%), upper back (67.4%), low back (56.8%) and shoulders (60.0%). Results: Major health problems for dental professionals are musculoskeletal pain, especially back pain. Early symptoms of MSDs include pan, swelling, tenderness, numbness and loss of strength. Preventive measures for MSD are proper sitting posture, ergonomic equipment such as chairs, arm rests, workstation layout, dentist micro breaks, magnification systems and others. Conclusion: Ergonomic equipment, regular exercises, relaxation techniques and good scheduling assure high productivity, avoidance of illnesses and injuries and reduce the possible MSDs and increase productivity of dental professionals.
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    Development of research agenda in occupational health in R.N. Macedonia through international cooperation
    (Македонско лекарско друштво = Macedonian medical association, 2024-11-01)
    Networking in occupational health (OH) helps to advance knowledge and strengthen research and development. International organizations (ILO, WHO, ICOH) and EC put focus on different aspects of OH. This paper aims to elaborate development of research agenda in OH in R.N. Macedonia through international cooperation. Material and methods. Online search strategy revealed that UN Agenda 2030 addresses OH within Sustainable Development Goal 8 - to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all; and to protect labor rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers. ICOH aims to foster scientific progress, knowledge, and development of OH in all aspects. Moreover, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (EU funding organization COST) helps researchers and innovators to create networks, to offer open space for collaboration among scientists across Europe, and to give impetus to address scientific, technological and societal challenges. Results. Researchers from the Institute of Occupational Health in Skopje participated in COST Action TD 1206 (StanDerm), bringing together experts from 28 countries to set common standards on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of occupational skin diseases. COST Action CA16216 (OMEGA-NET) had a concept to create network to harmonize occupational, industrial, and population cohorts in Europe. Researcher Mental Health Observatory (ReMO) guidelines were used to develop actions to improve researcher mental health in R.N. Macedonia. To strengthen resilience of health workers in South-eastern Europe in response to COVID-19 and beyond, WHO/ILO guidance were implemented. ICOH was used as a platform for training and education of experts in order to face the rapidly changing world of work. Conclusions. Networking in OH has to provide an enhanced evidence base for identification of health risks related to occupation to foster safe and healthy preventive strategies.