Objective To describe the prevalence of intimate partner violence and associated factors among married women in Albania. Design Cross sectional study. Setting Tirana, the capital city of Albania. Participants A representative sample of 1039 married women aged 25-65 living in Tirana and recorded in the 2001 census. Methods Questionnaire on intimate partner violence and social and demographic characteristics of the women and their husbands. Main outcome measure Women's experience within the past year of being hit, slapped, kicked, or otherwise physically hurt by the husband. Results More than a third (37%, 384/1039) of women had experienced violence. Risk was greatest among women aged 25-34 (odds ratio 1.47, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.09), women with tertiary education (3.70, 2.04 to 6.67), women in white collar jobs (4.0, 1.59 to 10.0), women with least educated husbands (5.01, 2.91 to 8.64), and women married to men raised in rural areas (3.31, 2.29 to 4.80). Women were at higher risk if they were more educated than their husbands (4.76, 2.56 to 9.09). Conclusions In transitional Albania, the risk of spousal violence is high, and more empowered women are at greater risk.

Our aim was to assess the prevalence and demographic and socioeconomic correlates of chronic morbidity in the elderly population of transitional Kosovo.

Objective: Extensive financial losses caused by the collapse of pyramid savings schemes led to the 1997 turmoil in Albania. The authors' aim was to assess the association of financial loss and social mobility with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) 6–9 years after the precipitous collapse. Methods: A population-based case–control study was conducted in Tirana, the Albanian capital, in 2003–6. 467 non-fatal consecutive ACS patients were recruited (370 men aged 59.1 (SD 8.7) years and 97 women 63.3 (SD 7.1) years, 88% response). The control group comprised 469 men (53.1 (SD 10.4) years) and 268 women (54.0 (SD 10.9) years, 69% response). Information on the absolute financial loss (in US$), relative loss and subjective social mobility was obtained by a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Associations of financial loss and social mobility with ACS were assessed by multivariable-adjusted logistic regression. Results: Financial loss in pyramid scams was frequent in both ACS patients (55%) and controls (41%). Downward subjective social mobility was noted in 31% of patients and 12% of controls. Upon adjustment for sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics and conventional coronary risk factors, ACS was associated with both financial loss (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.6) and downward social mobility (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.4 to 3.3). Although the association with financial loss was partly mediated through subjective social mobility, both maintained independent associations with ACS. Conclusions: In the wake of a nationwide catastrophic collapse of savings that led to losses totalling about 40% of the Albanian gross domestic product, the authors detected apparent long-term deleterious health effects of financial loss and downward intragenerational subjective social mobility.

Background The health effects of emigration on relatives staying behind has received little attention in the recent literature. Our aim was to assess the association of spouse and offspring emigration with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Albania, a country which is undergoing a particularly rapid socio-economic transition accompanied by intensive emigration. Methods A population-based case–control study, conducted in Tirana, Albania, in 2003–06, included 467 non-fatal consecutive ACS patients (370 men, 97 women; 88% response) and 737 population-representative controls (469 men, 268 women; 69% response) aged 35–74 years. Information on emigration of family members and financial support, socio-demographic characteristics and conventional coronary risk factors was obtained by a structured questionnaire and examination. Associations of emigrational variables with ACS were assessed by logistic regression. Results Forty five percent of female and 25% of male patients, and 17 and 15% of controls, respectively, reported emigration of a close family member. These were younger and of lower education, income and social status than controls without emigrants. Forty nine percent of patient emigrants vs 76% of control emigrants remitted funds. Excess risk of ACS was confined to individuals whose emigrant relatives did not remit monies home [multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 10.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.6–44.8 in women, and OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 0.9–4.3 in men; P for sex-interaction = 0.03] and was attributable largely to spouse emigration. Conclusions Our findings, which require confirmation, suggest that emigration of close family, but especially of spouses, coupled with non-remittance of financial support is associated with marked health effects in the spouse or parent left behind, and that women are more vulnerable than men.