Recently more attention has been focused on the impact of physical activity on modification of self-perceived heath status in adults. The objective of the study was to evaluate the level of occupational and non-occupational physical activities and their correlation with self-perceived heath status among economically productive individuals. Physical activity of the subjects studied was evaluated by the Seven Day Physical Activity Recall (SDPAR) questionnaire among randomly chosen residents of the city of Lódź (n = 598, including 299 women and 299 men). The examination of the subjective health assessment was conducted based on the analogue visual scale. The multifactorial logistic regression analysis indicated that weekly energy expenditure on occupational physical activity (kcal/week) did not play a significant role in self-perception of health status among men or women. Neither did the outcome of the study provide evidence for the significant effect of housework load on self-perceived health status among the study participants. However, a sufficient level of leisure-time physical activity in a beneficial way affects health-related self-perception of the examined subjects. In the group of men expending 1000 kcal/week or more on leisure-time physical activity, the risk for poor health-related self-report was significantly lower than among men declaring no energy expenditure on this activity (adjusted odds ratio (OR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.13-0.66). Among females not taking up any recreational physical activity, the risk of low self-perceived health status was also higher than in females reaching a satisfactory level of recreational physical activity (adjusted OR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.17-0.87). Preventive programs aimed at improving subjective health assessment through the increased leisure-time physical activity should be addressed to all economically productive individuals and particularly to people of older age groups and above all to females.

Aim: A growing body of literature documents associations between maternal stress in pregnancy and child development, but findings across studies are often inconsistent. The aim of this study was to estimate the association between exposure to different kinds of prenatal stress and child psychomotor development.Methods: The study population consisted of 372 mother‐child pairs from Polish Mother and Child Cohort. The analysis was restricted to the women who worked at least 1 month during pregnancy period. Maternal psychological stress during pregnancy was assessed based on: the Subjective Work Characteristics Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale and Social Readjustment Rating Scale. The level of satisfaction with family functioning and support was evaluated by APGAR Family Scale. Child psychomotor development was assessed at the 12th and 24th months of age by Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development.Results: Negative impact on child cognitive development at the age of two was observed for the Perceived Stress Scale (β = −0.8; P = 0.01) and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (β = −0.4; P = 0.03) after adjusting for the variety of confounders. Occupational stress, as well as satisfaction with family functioning, was not significantly associated with child psychomotor development (P > 0.05).Conclusions: The study supports the findings that prenatal exposure to maternal stress is significantly associated with decreased child cognitive functions. In order to further understand and quantify the effects of prenatal stress on child neurodevelopment further studies are needed. This will be important for developing interventions that provide more assistance to pregnant women, including emotional support or help to manage psychological stress.

In many countries around the world, negative changes in lifestyles are observed. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of selected lifestyle indicators on work ability among professionally active individuals. The study was performed in the randomly selected group of full-time employees (94 men and 93 women) living in the city of Lódź. Work ability was measured with the work ability index and lifestyle characteristic was assessed with the healthy lifestyle index. We analyzed four lifestyle indicators: non-smoking, healthy weight, fiber intake per day, and regular physical activity. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals to control the effects of lifestyle and work ability. The analysis of lifestyle index indicated that 27.7, 30.9, 27.7 and 11.7% of men and 15.1, 21.5, 35.5 and 26.9% of women scored 0, 1, 2, 3 points, respectively. Only 2.1% of men and 1.1% of women met the criteria for the healthy lifestyle (score 4). Work ability was excellent, good and moderate in 38.3, 46.8 and 14.9% of men, and in 39.8, 14.9 and 19.3% of women, respectively. Poor work ability was found in 9.7% women. Work ability was strongly associated with lifestyle in both men and women. Among men with index score = 0, the risk of moderate work ability was nearly seven times higher than in men whose lifestyle index score exceeded 1 or more points (OR = 6.67; 95% CI: 1.94-22.90). Among women with lifestyle index score = 0, the risk of moderate or lower work ability was also highly elevated as compared to those with lifestyle index = 1 or higher (OR = 14.44; 95% CI: 3.53-59.04). Prophylactic schedules associated with the improvement of lifestyles should be addressed to all adults. Future programs aimed at increasing work ability should consider work- and lifestyle-related factors.

Expanding the information on determinants of smoking cessation is crucial for developing and implementing more effective tobacco control measures at the national as well as European levels. Data on smoking cessation and its social correlates among adults from middle-income countries of Central and Eastern Europe are still poorly reported in the literature. The aim of the study was to analyze the association of socio-demographic indicators with long term tobacco smoking cessation (quit smoking for at least one year prior to interview) among adults. Moreover, we evaluated motives for giving up smoking from former smokers.

Shift work is considered a risk factor for some health problems. This study aimed to determine whether night shift work is a significant factor for breast cancer risk. The case–control study was conducted from 2015–2019 in the Łódź region. The case group included 494 women diagnosed with malignant breast cancer; the control group included 515 healthy women. The research tool was an anonymous questionnaire. In the case group, the percentage of women working shift work was 51.9%, whereas in the control group, it was 34.1% (OR = 2.08 (95% CI: 1.61; 2.69)). A more insightful examination of shift work showed that only night work has a significant impact on breast cancer (OR = 2.61 (95% CI: 1.94; 3.53)). Even after considering the effect of other possible cancer factors (like high BMI, smoking, early menstruation, late menopause, pregnancy history, age, place of living, education), the odds of developing cancer were twice as high in the group of shift workers (OR = 2.20 (95% CI: 1.57; 3.08)). Considering a significantly higher risk of cancer among people working at night and a high percentage of such employees in Poland, the government should consider special action in the prophylactic treatment of cancers.