title: Measures for achieving recruits' enhanced fitness--a transversal study.
abstract: Because of 10.94% frequency in obese recruits in Rijeka in 2005 occupational medicine decided to study causality of that and other most frequent diagnoses: pedes plani, myopia and astigmatism, kyphosis and scoliosis, asthma, hypertension and branch block. Double monitoring of 1,311 recruits was carried out by a transversal study during 2005, 2000 and 1995 and within each year according to location: city, suburbs, islands. The differences in the three periods in the city were obesity (p < 0.05) with highest frequency in 2005, asthenia (p < 0.05) with lowest frequency 0.99% in 2005, and pedes plani (p < 0.05) with highest frequency in 1995. Suburbs showed (p < 0.05) forpedes plani, p = 0.054 for obesity, and the islands obesity (p < 0.05). Myopia and astigmatism frequency went up to 25%, kyphosis to 14.13% and asthma to 5.43%. Hypertension frequency was negligible. Occupational medicine decided to react by measures increasing recruit fitness cooperating with school medicine, teachers and parents, by check-ups, corrections, dieting and physical activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia. hlalic@inet.hr
authors.forename: Hrvoje
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lalić
authors.forename: Natasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kalebota
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kabalin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001247:Asthenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D009216:Myopia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010560:Personnel Selection; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population