Background: In the last decade there has been a progressive increase in the use of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) that are not yet under international control. In particular, novel synthetic opioids (NSOs) have reappeared on the recreational drug market in the last few years. As a result, the use of NSOs has increased rapidly. This poses an emerging and demanding challenge to public health. Aim: To raise awareness among clinicians and other professionals about NPSs, especially NSOs, to summarize current knowledge about pharmacological properties, forms of NSO on the market, pattern of use, effects and consequences of use. Methods: An electronic search was carried out on the Medline/PubMed and Google Scholar databases to find selected search terms. Results: Some NPSs are already controlled, while others can be legally sold directly on the drug market (mainly via internet, less so by drug dealers) or be used as precursors for the synthesis of other designer drugs that mimic the psychoactive effects of controlled substances. Potential side-effects of NSOs include miosis, sedation, respiratory depression, hypothermia, inhibition of gastrointestinal propulsion, death (from opioid overdose). Conclusions: The severity of the opioid crisis has intensified with the introduction of highly potent NSOs on the drug market. As long as addicts are dying from overdose or similar causes, there is something more constructive to do than waiting for addicts to overdose on heroin at a place located near a remedy, as if to say, within reach of naloxone.

Background: Binge drinking and other forms of ethanol abuse are, when present, a serious problem in preteens and adolescents worldwide. Aim: The present study has analyzed the trend in alcohol-related intoxications requiring the hospitalization of children, adolescents and young adults aged less than 21 years in Slovenia in the 1999–2018 period. Methods: We performed a retrospective study on patients discharged after hospitalizations due to mental and behavioral disorders due to acute alcohol intoxication (MBDAAI) or hospitalizations due to the toxic effects of alcohol (TEA We considered three groups: children (aged 10–14), adolescents (aged 15–19) and young adults (20–21 years old). Hospitalization rates and time trends were analyzed using joinpoint regression to obtain the annually calculated age- and sex-specific rates and the annual percentage of change (APC). Results: Considering a total of 2912 MBDAAI-hospitalizations, 15–19-year-old subjects showed a significantly higher hospitalization rate compared to the immediately younger and older age groups and a significant increase in hospitalization rates in the period 1999–2011, followed by a significant decrease. Considering 1143 TEA-hospitalizations, we observed a continuous decrease in the hospitalization rates for children and young adults and, conversely, a continuous even if less than significant increase for adolescents aged 15–19. Conclusions: Alcohol consumption in Slovenian children and adolescents is a highly important health concern. Special attention to public health problem of severe alcohol abuse requiring hospitalization in children and adolescents is needed, especially with possible crisis of SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 situation.

Background/Objectives: Intoxication by psychoactive substances (PASs) in children, adolescents, and young adults is a growing public health concern, with evolving patterns of use and hospital presentation. This study aimed to analyze the trends in hospital admissions for PASs among children and youth aged 10 to 24 years in Slovenia during the 2013–2023 period. Methods: We performed a retrospective observational study on patients discharged after hospitalization due to poisoning by PASs, according to ICD 10 AM. We considered four groups: children (aged 10–14), adolescents (aged 15–19) and young adults (20–21 and 22–24 years old). Annual hospitalization rates were stratified by sex, age group, and PAS category. The joinpoint regression model was used to estimate the average annual percentage change (AAPC) and annual percentage change (APC) response time trend. Results: Of those hospitalized, 52% were male and 65% were adolescents, followed by children (13%). A statistically significant decrease in alcohol-related hospitalizations was observed in the 10–14 and 15–19 age groups for both sexes in the period 2013–2023, while a statistically significant increasing trend was observed for alcohol in 22–24-year-old males during the period 2019–2023, and in multiple drug/other/unspecified PASs in the 15–19 age group in the period 2015–2023. Conclusions: Slovenia has some peculiarities in the abuse of PASs. Sex reversal phenomena are present already among children (especially for alcohol), and there are shifting risks in polydrug use in adolescents and emerging threats, as well as an increase in sedative or hypnotic poisoning in female adolescents since 2017.

SZO je demenco razglasila za svetovno javnozdravstveno prioriteto 21-tega stoletja, med pandemijo je demenca postala javnozdravstvena kriza. Namen raziskave je bil ugotoviti ali pojavnost demence po obdobju covid 19 upada. Metode: Izračunali smo stopnje prevalence demence za Slovenijo, standardizirane na starost in spol, po posameznih letih 2018-2021. Primerjali smo stopnje prevalence demence pred in po obdobju covid 19. Izračunali smo projekcije demence za 2030 in 2050. Rezultati: Delež prebivalcev Slovenije z demenco konstantno narašča, 2019 je znašal 1,71%, 2020 1,74%, 2021 1,75%, ocena za 2030 je 2,15% in za 2050 3,25%. Razprava: Med pandemijo je bila najvišja umrljivost med starejšimi prebivalci, še posebej med ljudmi z demenco. Najvišjo presežno umrljivost Slovenija beleži v novembru 2020, ko je umrlo za 92 % več prebivalcev kot povprečno v istem obdobju 2015 - 2019. Kljub temu izsledki naše raziskave potrjujejo, da tudi po pandemiji covid 19 problematika demence narašča. Vlada RS je julija 2023 sprejela Strategijo obvladovanja demence v Sloveniji do leta 2030, ki naslavlja številne izzive v zdravstvenem in socialnem varstvu.

The publication is distinguished by a multidisciplinary treatment of the topics and is intended for both the lay and the professional public. The publication highlights current public health selected topics - from new estimates of the prevalence of dementia at national level and new projections of dementia cases among the population of Slovenia in the future, characteristics of knowledge of dementia among the general public and long-term care of people with dementia (from research into needs to development of services), the economic burden of dementia in Slovenia according to routine health care databases, dynamics of neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with dementia associated with pandemic and covid-19, characteristics of long-term covid-19/postcovidal syndrome and cognitive impairment, mental health of informal family carers of people with dementia during stress and stress-coping strategies, mental health and interventions, the burdens of informal family carers of people with dementia during covid-19 to falls in the elderly and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization has declared dementia for public health priority of the 21st century before the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID 19 pandemic, which affected the elderly population the most. Dementia is a disease that affects the individual, his relatives, caregivers and wider society. A person with dementia is increasingly dependent on the help of others over time, so dementia increases the health, economic, emotional, psychological and physical burden on the person with dementia and his caregivers. This year's multi-authors monograph of scientific papers represents a logical continuation of the scientific monograph entitled Spremljanje demence v Sloveniji. Epidemiološki in drugi vidiki ('Monitoring dementia in Slovenia: Epidemiological and other aspects'). Publikacijo odlikuje večdisciplinarna obravnava tematik in je namenjena tako laični kakor strokovni javnosti. V publikaciji izpostavljamo aktualne javnozdravstvene izbrane teme - od novih ocen prevalence demence na nacionalni ravni in nove projekcije primerov demence med prebivalstvom Slovenije v prihodnje, značilnosti poznavanja demence med splošno javnostjo in dolgotrajne oskrbe oseb z demenco (od raziskovanja potreb do razvoja storitev), ekonomskega bremena demence v Sloveniji glede na rutinske podatkovne zbirke zdravstvenega varstva, dinamike nevropsihiatričnih simptomov pri osebah z demenco v povezavi s pandemijo in covidom-19, značilnosti dolgotrajnega covida-19/postcovidnega sindroma in kognitivnih motenj, duševnega zdravja neformalnih družinskih oskrbovalcev oseb z demenco med stresom in strategijami soočanja s stresom, duševnim zdravjem in intervencijami, bremena neformalnih oskrbovalcev oseb z demenco v času covida-19 do padcev pri starejših in vpliva pandemije covida-19. Svetovna zdravstvena organizacija je demenco razglasila za javnozdravstveno prioriteto 21. stoletja že pred pojavom pandemije SARS- CoV-2/COVID 19, ki je najbolj prizadela prav starejšo populacijo. Demenca je bolezen, ki prizadene posameznika, njegove bližnje ter širšo družbo. Oseba z demenco je sčasoma vse bolj odvisna od pomoči drugih, tako demenca povečuje zdravstveno, ekonomsko, čustveno, psihično in telesno breme za obolelega in njegove skrbnike. Tokratna večavtorska monografija znanstvenih prispevkov predstavlja logično nadaljevanje znanstvene monografije z naslovom Spremljanje demence v Sloveniji: Epidemiološki in drugi vidiki.

Alzheimerjeva bolezen in druge demence predstavljajo najdražjo kronično bolezensko stanje, ki prizadene bolnika, svojce in širšo družbo, bolniki so vse bolj odvisni od pomoči drugih, največkrat za bolnike skrbijo svojci. Metode: Opravili smo sistematičen pregled znanstvene literature glede ocen ekonomskih stroškov demence, pregledali smo metodologijo ocen in strukturo stroškov. Rezultati: Na osnovi izbrane metodologije smo izračunali stopnjo prevalence demence v Sloveniji za leto 2019, standardizirano na starost in spol, ter ekonomske stroške demence. Izsledki naše raziskave presegajo dosedanje ocene ekonomskega bremena demence v Sloveniji. Razprava: Breme demence je visoko in predstavlja pomemben delež BDP. Demenca je pomemben javnozdravstveni in socialnovarstveni problem, ki se je tekom pandemije covid 19 poglabljal, tako v zdravstvenem kot socialnovarstvenem sistemu. Zaradi demografskih sprememb in podaljševanja življenjske dobe narašča število oseb z demenco. Med letoma 2000 in 2019 je umrljivost zaradi demence v svetu porastla za 145%. Leta 2019 se je vrh G20 z deklaracijo zavezal k skupnemu pristopu za obvladovanje demence. V Sloveniji je potrebno upoštevati dodatne posebnosti. Ustrezen informacijski sistem bi omogočil rutinsko spremljanje stroškov.