BACKGROUND: Respiratory allergies mostly allergic rhinitis and asthma represent an important and increasing public health problem and one of the priorities for the European health systems. There is an increasing public concern regarding the persistence and severity of allergic diseases and many difficulties of health systems in providing prompt specialized medical assistance. Our study aims to highlight the main results of the Alliance 4Life project focused on the evaluation of the burden and management of respiratory allergies in primary care from Romania and comparative health-related data from four Central and Eastern European countries. METHOD: We developed a questionnaire focused on patients with allergic rhinitis and asthma directly addressed to general practitioner (GP) specialists from Romania who attended the annual national conference in Bucharest. RESULTS: The main results showed that patients with respiratory allergies are frequently encountered in primary care practice, only a few patients are evaluated by allergists and there is a clear need for education in this field. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study confirms that respiratory allergies represent a considerable burden in primary care and the questionnaire may be a useful tool in further studies considering the experience of other healthcare systems. More advanced studies integrating epidemiology with data on air pollution and environmental conditions should be envisaged.

• Klíčová slova
• Air Pollution, Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma, Environment and Public Health, Primary Healthcare, Respiratory Hypersensitivity,
• MeSH
• alergická rýma terapie   epidemiologie   MeSH
• bronchiální astma terapie   epidemiologie   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• osobní újma zaviněná nemocí MeSH
• primární zdravotní péče * MeSH
• průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
• respirační alergie epidemiologie   terapie   diagnóza   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• srovnávací studie MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Bulharsko epidemiologie   MeSH
• Česká republika epidemiologie   MeSH
• Polsko epidemiologie   MeSH
• Rumunsko epidemiologie   MeSH

INTRODUCTION: Sepsis is one of the most common causes of death in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). The development of sepsis is significantly influenced by genetic predisposition. In this study, we highlight a potential association between a variant of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene and risk of sepsis in children and adolescents. METHODS: We investigated a first-intron tagging FTO polymorphism (rs17817449) by comparing a severe condition (SC) group, comprising 598 paediatric patients (ages 0-19 years) admitted to an ICU with fever, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis, severe sepsis, septic shock, or multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), with a control group consisting of 616 healthy young adults. RESULTS: We observed a lower prevalence (p < 0.01; OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.39-0.87) of the FTO TT genotype in febrile and SIRS patients compared to patients with severe illness. There was a borderline trend towards a lower prevalence of the FTO TT genotype in the control group compared to the SC group (p < 0.09, OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.62-1.06). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that rs17817449, a common FTO polymorphism, may be a predictor of sepsis in paediatric patients, and that higher body weight is protective against this clinical complication.

• Klíčová slova
• child, genetic predisposition to the disease, genotype, obesity, sepsis,
• MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• gen pro FTO * genetika   MeSH
• genetická predispozice k nemoci MeSH
• genotyp MeSH
• jednonukleotidový polymorfismus MeSH
• kojenec MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• multiorgánové selhání genetika   MeSH
• novorozenec MeSH
• polymorfismus genetický MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• sepse * genetika   MeSH
• studie případů a kontrol MeSH
• syndrom systémové zánětlivé reakce genetika   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• kojenec MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• novorozenec MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• FTO protein, human MeSH Prohlížeč
• gen pro FTO * MeSH