Dragana Stanojevic

Impact of riders’ lifestyle on their risky behavior and road traffic accident risk

Abstract Previous studies have identified several factors that contribute to the accident risk of motorcyclists: sex, age, experience, personality traits, and so on. It is for sure that motorcycling represents more than just a mode of motor transportation or sport. It could be a part of riders` personal lifestyle that with other components can contribute to their risk behavior and greater involvement in traffic accidents. The main aim of the study was to determine how lifestyle dimensions of male motorcyclists influence the risky behavior of motorcyclists and their involvement in traffic accidents. The set of questionnaires about lifestyle, risky behavior, and demographic data were sent by mail to 300 motorcyclists and 206 participants completed material and sent it back. Results showed that there is a significant correlation between lifestyle and risky behavior of the riders and their involvement in traffic accidents. Also, lifestyle predicts the large amount of the variance of risky behavior and traffic accidents of motorcyclists. Authors can conclude that lifestyle has an important impact on motorcyclists` risky behavior and traffic accidents involvement.

A Risk Stratification Model for Cardiovascular Complications during the 3-Month Period after Major Elective Vascular Surgery

Introduction The Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI) is an extensively used simple risk stratification tool advocated by the European Society of Cardiology and European Society of Anesthesiology (ESC/ESA). Purpose The aim of this study was to find the best model for predicting 3-month cardiovascular complications in elective major vascular surgical patients using preoperative clinical assessment, calculation of the RCRI and Vascular Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (V-POSSUM) scores, and the preoperative levels of N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT pro-BNP), high-sensitivity troponin I (hs TnI), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs CRP). Materials and Methods We included 122 participants in a prospective, single-center, observational study. The levels of NT pro-BNP, hs CRP, and hs TnI were measured 48 hours prior to surgery. During the perioperative period and 90 days after surgery the following adverse cardiac events were recorded: myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, pulmonary edema, acute decompensated heart failure, and cardiac arrest. Results During the first 3 months after surgery 29 participants (23.8%) had 50 cardiac complications. There was a statistically significant difference in the RCRI score between participants with and without cardiac complications. ROC analysis showed that a combination of RCRI with hs TnI has good discriminatory power (AUC 0.909, p<0,001). By adding NT pro-BNP concentrations to the RCRI+hs TnI+V-POSSSUM combination we obtained the model with the best predictive power for 3-month cardiac complications (AUC 0.963, p<0,001). Conclusion We need to improve preoperative risk assessment in participants scheduled for major vascular surgery by combining their clinical scores with biomarkers. Therefore, it is possible to identify patients at risk of cardiovascular complications who need adequate preoperative diagnosis and treatment.

The impact of police presence on angry and aggressive driving

An extensive body of research has found that angry and aggressive driving are both significantly related to crash involvement. There has also been a large body of research investigating the situational factors related to angry and aggressive driving, but one interesting question that has not yet been answered is whether the enforcement of traffic laws causes or reduces angry and aggressive driving. The independent region of Northern Kosovo represents a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of a lack of traffic enforcement on driving behaviour. Therefore, the present study set out to investigate whether the presence of traffic enforcement has a significant impact on the level of driver anger and aggressive driving. Registered owners of motor vehicles in Northern Kosovo and Serbia were both sent a questionnaire which contained the 28-item Dula Dangerous Driving Index (DDDI) and the 21-item UK Driving Anger Scale (UKDAS). This found that anger was higher in two of the four driving anger factors (direct hostility and progress impeded) and two of the three DDDI factors (risky driving & aggressive driving). Furthermore, the present study found that the lack of police enforcement was a significant predictor of both aggressive and risky driving, even after the driving anger and demographic variables had been partialled out. Therefore, it appears that introducing or increasing traffic enforcement may be one method of reducing aggressive and risky driving behaviour.

Socio-demographic characteristics as determinants of quality of life and depression of older people in Serbia

Studying the process of aging and old age is an important question in social sciences. The quality of life at this age, among other things, is being enriched with new life opportunities and challenges, as well as developmental tasks every single individual has to face with. Therefore the focus of this research is the correlation of the quality of life and depressiveness with different demographic characteristics of older people in Serbia. The demographic variables included: gender, age, education, marital status and monthly income of the respondents. The quality of life is measured using the Older Peoples Quality of Life Questionnaire - OPQOL (Bowling, 2009), as well as several questions on life domain satisfaction and chronical disease, while depressiveness was measured using Geriatric Depression Scale - GDS (Greenberg, 2007). The sample was a convenience one, consisted of 497 respondents, 50,35% of men and 49,7% of women, 65-92 years old. The final results show that the quality of life of older people in Serbia is within the average range, and depressiveness belongs to the -category with the level of mild occurence. Men are more satisfied with a job they have or used to have, while women better estimate their independence and control over their life. The age of respondents positively correlates with marital satisfaction, satisfaction with job, with parental role, health, social relations, independence and monthly incomes. The amount of monthly income positively correlates with job satisfaction and well-being, while it is negatively correlated with health, social relations, independence, home and neighbourhood, financial status and the depressiveness of the respondents. The level of education is significantly correlated with marital satisfaction, job, whole life, health, social relations and activities, satisfaction with home and neighbourhood, emotional and psychic well-being, financial status and the level of depressiveness of the respondents. The persons who are still married are more satisfied with marriage and their own parenthood, with well-being, have a higher level of satisfaction with their religious and cultural life, while there is a lower level of depressiveness in regard to the persons who are not married. The respondents who have some kind of a chronic disease are less satisfied with life, generally speaking, because of poor health; they have a lower level of independence and satisfaction with their own home and neighbourhood, a lower level of well-being and less satisfaction with their monthly income. However, they showed a lower level of depressiveness in regard to the ones who have no chronic diseases. Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, as well as somatic chronic disease and depressiveness are significant indicators of the quality of life of older people. Being aware of the already known quality of life of older people can point out some practical implications important for creating and implementing the programmes intended for older people, while being focused on the improvement of the quality of life and standards.