Introduction: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a growing public health concern worldwide, with varying patterns across regions and sexes. Understanding these regional and sex-specific trends is crucial for designing effective, targeted health policies and interventions to reduce disease burden.Aims: This study aimed to assess and compare regional and sex-specific disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) trends and patterns for the top six leading NCDs in Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and Europe & Central Asia (ECA) regions between 2000 and 2021.Methods: Utilizing the GBD 2021 database, we analyzed age-standardized DALY rates across MENA and ECA regions by calculating the annual percent change (APC) and average annual percent change (AAPC) from 2000 to 2021, stratified by region, sex, and disease groups.Results: Between 2000 and 2021, cardiovascular disease DALY rates decreased across regions and sexes, with the largest fall observed in ECA females (-2.71%, p <0.001) and males (-2.61%, p <0.001). Digestive disease DALY rates declined most among MENA females (-2.13%, p <0.001), while neoplasms decreased primarily in ECA males (-1.51%, p <0.001). In contrast, diabetes and kidney disease burden rose across regions and sexes, particularly in MENA, where males exhibited the highest AAPC increase (1.59%, p <0.001). The burden of mental disorders demonstrated a steady increase that spiked in 2019, and was more pronounced among females across regions, reflected in AAPC values of (0.82%, p <0.001) and (0.71%, p <0.001) in ECA and MENA, respectively. Musculoskeletal disease burden was observed to be significantly higher among females in both regions as well, however, the highest increase in AAPC was reported among males in the MENA region (0.2%, p <0.001).Conclusion: This study provides comparative insights into how disease burden patterns differ between geographically close yet socioeconomically and demographically distinct regions such as ECA and MENA. The observed disparities emphasize the importance of regional and sex-specific policies to tackle the rising burden of NCDs.

Témavezető: Dr. Vincze Ferenc

Introduction: Among non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic respiratory diseases, and mental disorders remain the leading contributors to mortality and disability in Europe. Despite overall epidemiological improvements, pronounced regional disparities persist across Europe. Objective: This research investigates temporal DALY trends and inequalities in the burden of CVDs, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental disorders across Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.Methods: Age-standardized disability-adjusted life year DALY rates for CVDs, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental disorders were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease dataset covering the period 2000-2021. Joinpoint regression analysis was applied to calculate annual and average annual percent change (APC, AAPC) values. Regional grouping followed the GBD classification of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, and analyses were stratified by sex.Results: Between 2000 and 2021, CVD and chronic respiratory disease burdens declined across Europe, whereas mental disorders showed little/no improvement. The steepest CVD reduction occurred in Western Europe/male AAPC = -2.99% (p<0.001). Central and Eastern Europe experienced slower progress; AAPC = -2.29% (p<0.001) in Central Europe/male and AAPC = -2.61% (p<0.001) in Eastern Europe/female. Chronic respiratory diseases burden fell more modestly, with narrowing gender gaps in Western Europe; female AAPC = -0.26% (p<0.001), male AAPC = -1.48% (p<0.001) but increasing female burden in the East; female AAPC = -2.98% (p<0.001) and male AAPC = -4.34% (p<0.001). Mental disorders exhibited stable or rising DALY rates, particularly among women after 2019. The largest rise observed in Western Europe/female AAPC = 0.81% (p<0.001) and the smallest rise in Central Europe/male AAPC = 0.53% (p<0.001).Conclusion: Europe has achieved substantial reductions in investigated disease burden but continues to face pronounced regional and gender disparities. Mental disorders remain a growing challenge all over Europe. Policies must prioritize equity-oriented non-communicable diseases prevention, strengthen primary care and mental health integration, and address structural determinants to ensure that health improvements are inclusive and sustainable across all European regions.

Témavezető: Dr. Vincze Ferenc

This research explores the digital conversations of Filipino social media users about HIV, safe sex, and prevention. The goal is to uncover common sentiment, dominant emotions, and key thematics that show how stigma, perceived risks, or searches for info come up in digital discussions.This study collected a dataset containing ~3500 public comments from Reddit and YouTube, gathered between 2018 and 2025, was compiled via PRAW alongside the YouTube Data API. Texts underwent cleaning processes before being translated into English through established methods. For sentiment analysis, the cardiffnlp/twitter-roberta-base-sentiment tool was applied; meanwhile, emotional categorization relied on j-hartmann/emotion-english-distilroberta-base from HuggingFace furthermore, Five key topics emerged using Latent Dirichlet Allocation. Relationships linking sentiment and emotion were tested statistically.After processing the data, the results showed that neutral tonality is the frequent sentiment on both sites Reddit at 45.16%, YouTube at 40.78%. followed by, negative sentiments; Reddit had 41.17%, YouTube reached 43.91%. Positive reactions appeared less often: 13.36% there, 15.18% here. Emotional neutrality dominates the data spread with 58% on Reddit, 52% on YouTube. Other main emotions included disgust, ranging from 8.96% to 11.79%, anger between 7.64% and 8.53%, alongside fear and curiosity, which varied from 6.44% to 9.16%. statistical analysis showed a clear relationship between sentiment and emotion on Reddit: χ²=1189.45, V=0.947; on YouTube: χ²=268.92, V=0.822. Lastly, LDA pulled out five main themes, most notably Personal Stories and discussions about safe sex or HIV prevention.Findings indicate HIV online discourse in the Philippines remains commonly neutral this may indicate that the discussions are mostly informative, factual or just fighting misinformation. However, negative sentimentality is the next prevailing sentimentality which also often brings negative emotions of Disgust, Fear and Anger which could indicate that Filipinos still show stigma when it comes to the talk of Safe Sex and HIV Prevention. Which could mirror the conservative and predominantly Christian catholic roots of the country.Overall, This study reveals that it is integral that future campaigns should raise awareness and encourage people to subscribe to the government initiatives, while also addressing misinformation and stigmatization against HIV.

Témavezető: Dr. Bányai-Márton Gábor

Influenza vaccination is an essential preventive method for reducing morbidity and mortality among elderlies, yet vaccination coverage remains low across Europe for this vulnerable group. This might suggest that uptake may depend not only on health system performance but also on broader socioeconomic conditions. Therefore, understanding the role of economic development is essential in explaining differences in vaccination rates. Hence, the main aim of our study was to investigate the association between the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the influenza vaccination coverage of the elderly, considering the relationship of other contributing factors. Secondary data from publicly available sources was used in this study. Data regarding GDP was collected from the World Bank Open database. The data related to influenza vaccination coverage of the elderly was obtained from the European Health for All database. Data analysis was conducted using STATA statistical software V.13. Spearman rank correlation was performed to identify the relationship between GDP and influenza vaccination coverage of the elderly. The study sample consisted of 56 countries, from 2008 to 2018. The median value of the influenza vaccination coverage of the elderly was 38.4% with an interquartile range between 13.7% – 56.9%. Considering the overall low vaccination uptake observed across all countries, this wide variability further highlights substantial inequalities in access and utilization. Furthermore, a significant positive association was found between GDP and influenza vaccination coverage of the elderly (rho = 0.577, p-value < 0.001).These findings suggest that higher levels of economic development may be associated with increased influenza vaccination uptake among elderly populations. Therefore, strengthening economic capacity and investing in public health resources may therefore contribute to improved vaccination coverage in this high-risk group.

Témavezető: Dr. Szőllősi Gergő József

Introduction: Environmental variability is recognized as a major threat to global health. Exposure to air pollution, rising temperature, and unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing (WASH) practices play a critical role in disease risk. Objective: This study investigates diarrheal and chronic respiratory diseases’ age-standardized disability-adjusted life DALY and death rates attributable to environmental risk factors and assess their relationship with the sociodemographic index (SDI) in tropical and subtropical countries; Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, India, Brazil, and Haiti.Methods: This study was conducted using GBD dataset from 1999-2023 to analyze DALY and death rates of diarrheal disease burden due to unsafe WASH and air pollution, and chronic respiratory disease due to high temperature and air pollution. Linear regression, Kruskal-Wallis test and Joinpoint regression were used to assess trends and compare burden across SDI categories.Results: DALY and death rates revealed significant variations by risk factor and country. From 1999-2023, global trends showed decline in diarrheal diseases in both DALYs and deaths in all countries due to air pollution, in Brazil (APC= -7.8% after 2010), India (APC= -9.5% after 2015), Yemen (APC= -14.15% after 2018), diarrheal due to unsafe WASH also declined except for Brazil showed small, insignificant increase (DALYs APC= 1.03; deaths 4.3% after 2020). Chronic respiratory diseases due to air pollution has declined but recent upturns occurred in India (DALYs APC= 8.07%; deaths 10.90% after 2021) and Sudan (DALYs APC=3.91%; deaths 4.61% after 2021), while temperature trends was generally stable except for Yemen showed recent increase (DALYs APC= 20.01%; deaths 19.40% after 2021).Conclusion: Environmental risks attributable DALY and death rates from diarrheal and chronic respiratory diseases remain disproportionately high in tropical and subtropical countries. Supporting evidence-based policymaking to strengthen environmental health intervention, socioeconomic capacity, WASH conditions, air quality and resilience to temperature, is significant to reducing disease burden.

Témavezető: Ghanem Amr Sayed

Introduction: AI is rapidly transforming healthcare systems globally; however, its application in dental practice management remains underexplored. In many regions, particularly in developing countries, healthcare systems still lack the digital literacy necessary for effective AI integration. Understanding the perceptions, preparedness, and barriers among dental professionals is essential for designing context-appropriate strategies for implementation. Aims: This study aimed to explore the perceived potential, barriers, and facilitators of integrating AI into dental practice management, with a focus on administrative and back-end operations rather than clinical decision-making. Methods: A qualitative descriptive research design was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with dental practitioners and administrators from Pakistan and Hungary, representing diverse institutional settings. The interviews were transcribed, anonymized, and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s Thematic Analysis approach. NVivo software was utilized to code responses, generate thematic maps, and conduct matrix queries for comparative insights between the two contexts. Results: Five major themes emerged: (1) Operational inefficiencies in current systems, (2) Structural barriers to technological integration, (3) AI as a system-strengthening tool, (4) Workforce digital skill gaps, and (5) Ethical, safety, and human oversight concerns. Participants acknowledged that despite concerns regarding data security, AI holds significant potential for enhancing workflow efficiency and data-driven decision-making. Both countries, however, faced challenges like limited infrastructure and digital literacy. Conclusions: AI has the potential to revolutionize dental practice management. Successful implementation requires phased digital transformation and ethical safeguards. These findings can inform policymakers and administrators seeking to foster sustainable digital transformation in dental healthcare systems.

Témavezető: Gábor Bányai-Márton

Introduction: Child undernutrition and emerging overweight remain major public health challenges in Kenya, affecting child growth and development. Improving child health requires understanding factors that may reduce the burden of malnutrition.Objective: This study investigates whether maternal healthcare service utilization (MHCSU), which includes adequate antenatal care visits (ANC), skilled birth attendance (SBA), and maternal iron supplementation, reduces the risk of undernutrition and overweight in children under five in Kenya.Methods: The study uses pooled data from Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS) conducted in 2008–2009, 2014, and 2022, applying weighted descriptive statistics and survey-adjusted logistic regression models to estimate the association of ANC visits, SBA, and iron supplementation with four child nutrition outcomes: stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight. Models were adjusted for child characteristics (sex, age, birth order), maternal characteristics, household factors, and geographic location. Features of survey design including sampling weights, clustering, and stratification were used. Associations are shown as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.Results: SBA and maternal iron supplementation were significantly associated with lower odds of stunting (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.93 and OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.78 to 0.98, respectively) and wasting (SBA OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.95). Adequate ANC visits showed borderline association with lower odds of wasting (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.02, p=0.088), but no significant association with any outcome. Maternal iron supplementation also had no significant effect on underweight. SBA presented a borderline protective effect against underweight (OR 0.82, p=0.064). No healthcare variables were significantly associated with overweight. Female children had consistently lower odds of undernutrition, and higher birth order and older child age increased stunting risk. Maternal education and household wealth were protective, while urban residence was associated with increased underweight.Conclusion: Improving child nutrition in Kenya requires strengthening SBA and MHCSU and maternal iron supplementation, alongside enhancing maternal education and household living conditions. These strategies can help reduce undernutrition and promote healthier child development.

Témavezető: Dr. Bányai-Márton Gábor

Alzheimer's disease shows a global contradiction. It is the 4th leading cause of death in rich countries, but it does not even make the top 10 in low-income nations. This "diagnostic divide" covers more than 10 ranking spots between regions, raising an important question. We aim to investigate whether this gap reflects real disease patterns or just differences in who gets diagnosed.This study looks at the link between the Socio-Demographic Index (SDI) and age-standardized Alzheimer's mortality in 204 countries from 1990 to 2023, using Global Burden of Disease 2023 data. We used linear regression, Kruskal-Wallis testing with Dunn's post-hoc comparisons, and joinpoint regression to find trend changes. We visualized country-level patterns using choropleth maps, and our 2030 forecasts included 95% confidence intervals. We focused on Hungary within the context of Central Europe.Our results show a significant positive relationship between SDI and mortality (β=6.30, p<0.001), with major differences across SDI groups (χ²=682.03, p<0.001). The most notable finding was a sharp increase after 2020 (APC=0.91%, p<0.05), which aligned with healthcare disruptions during the pandemic. Geographic mapping revealed substantial variation—mortality differed by more than five times among countries in the same SDI group, indicating that SDI alone cannot explain these trends. Global rates are expected to reach 25.8 (95% CI: 24.2–27.4) per 100,000 by 2030.The "SDI Paradox," where more development links to higher reported mortality, mainly reflects diagnostic capacity rather than actual prevalence. The rise post-2020 calls for an immediate investigation into how the pandemic affected dementia care. Looking at country-level analysis rather than just regional averages shows that focused national strategies are crucial to address both the diagnostic gap and the increasing global burden.

Témavezető: Dr. Toth Agnes és Dr. Ghanem Amr Sayed

Introduction: The massification of higher education and labour market demands for skilled graduates has increased the need for effective assessments to evaluate student knowledgeand maintain quality as the class sizes grow. This has led towards a shift to continuous assessment which has created a significant burden for educators to produce large volumes of valid test items. presenting an opportunity to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) in generating psychometrically sound questions.AimsThis study aimed to evaluate the quality of test questions by analysing student performance data to assess the quality of test items, and to compare the quality of AI-generated and human-authored questions used in the final exams.MethodsThis study analysed the quality of single-choice questions using data from a Moodle-based system. Data from 45 medical students included 454 pre/post-test questionsfrom semester lectures and a separate set of AI and human-authored questions from final exams. The Difficulty Index, Relative Achievement Ratio (RAR), and Differentiation Index for each item were calculated. Non-parametric statistical tests were used to compare index values, including a comparison between AI and human-authored items.ResultsAnalysis revealed a significant increase in scores from pre- to post-tests (p < 0.05), demonstrating the effectiveness of the continuous assessment. Most of the items were easy (45.2%) and had poor discriminatory power (59.2%). The comparison of AI-generated and human-authored questions found no statistically significant difference in their Difficulty Index, Relative Achievement Ratio, or Differentiation Index (p > 0.05).ConclusionsBased on the findings, the study concludes that the continuous assessment system effectively improved learning outcomes, but the overall discriminatory power of the test items was poor. The AI-generated questions demonstrated comparable psychometric quality to human-authored ones, validating their potential as a scalable resource for future assessments.

Témavezető: Prof. Dr. János Sándor

IntroductionStunting remains one of the most impactful public health issues and a main determinant of malnutrition in rural Upper Egypt. A prevalence of 13.5% was reported for children under the age of five residing in rural areas in Egypt in 2021, in contrary to only 11.8% for the urban population. For Minya governorate (urban and rural populations), a prevalence of 15.0% is reported for the same year. Nutritional campaigns targeting stunting reduction are usually multidimensional with varying components; however, identifying the appropriate approach is essential for an effective intervention that is tailored for the targeted population. We therefore aimed to report on the Forsa Oula (A First Chance) campaign against childhood stunting in Minya Governorate in Egypt by the non-governmental organization The Egyptian Food Bank (EFB), by evaluating its outcomes and reflecting on the interventions employed for this objective.MethodsThis was a non-interventional study utilizing quasi-experimental techniques. We analyzed data collected by the EFB as part of the campaign between December 2024 and July 2025. The campaign comprised two models of intervention, one with integrated nutrition-sensitive interventions in addition to a nutrition-specific intervention, and the other with the nutrition-specific intervention only. The difference in height-for-age Z (HAZ) scores and prevalence of stunting between the two models at six months of age were employed as study outcomes.ResultsAt six months of age, the integrated intervention was associated with a statistically significant improvement in HAZ scores in comparison to the nutrition-specific model (-0.36 vs -0.79, respectively; p= 0.0001), while there was no statistical difference in the prevalence of stunting between both intervention models (14.9% vs 14.36%, respectively; p= 0.918). A distribution of HAZ scores showed that the observed benefit for the first model was confined to infants with relatively lower stunting risk. ConclusionsThe integrated approach had favorable outcomes in improving childhood linear growth; however, the intervention model failed to achieve a population-level reduction in stunting levels and contributed to increasing inequality in the targeted population. The causes behind this phenomenon should be identified, and the campaign strategies should be refined accordingly to ensure that the most vulnerable population receives the intended benefit.

Témavezető: Prof. Dr. Sándor János

Bevezetés: Az informatika az elmúlt 25 évben az egészségügyi ellátásban megkerülhetetlen lett. A dolgozók életkora széles skálán mozog, illetve az egészségügyben is sokféle munkaterület van, ahol különféle programokat, alkalmazásokat használnak a munkafolyamatok során. Célkitűzés: A Debreceni Egyetem Klinikai Központjában dolgozó egészségügyi személyzeten keresztül felmérni a dolgozók informatikával kapcsolatos előzetes tudását, illetve a használt programokról alkotott véleményét. Ahhoz, hogy a dolgozók a számukra ideális formában jussanak hozzá az informatikai ismeretekhez, megvizsgáltam, melyek azok az oktatási formák, amelyek a munkavállalók számára a legmegfelelőbbek. Végezetül felmértem a dolgozók egészségügyi szervezőkkel kapcsolatos ismereteit.Módszerek: Papír alapú kérdőívek kiosztásával, anonim kényelmi mintavétel történt a Debreceni Egyetem Klinikai Központ Kenézy Gyula Campus dolgozói között. Eredmények: A beérkezett válaszok (n=371) elemzése, illetve kereszttáblás összehasonlítása után nem derült fény összefüggésre a dolgozók életkora, munkahelyének típusa és a használt programokra adott értékelések között, azonban az előzetes informatikai tudás, illetve a preferált oktatási formák között igen. A dolgozók egészségügyi szervezőkkel kapcsolatos ismerete változó. Következtetések: Az egészségügyi dolgozók nagy része pozitívan viszonyul a mindennapi számítástechnikával kapcsolatos feladataihoz, életkortól, munkaterülettől függetlenül. Ha informatikai programmal kapcsolatban segítségre van szükségük, leggyakrabban a közvetlen kollégájukhoz fordulnak. Az egészségügyi szervezők szerepe felértékelődik, mivel nem csak a mindennapi munkavégzés során, de az informatikai újdonságok bevezetésében közreműködve a munkatársaik számára támogatást tudnak nyújtani. Ez azért is lényeges, mert a kitöltők 47%-a az X generációhoz tartozik, akik a személyes oktatást értékelik leginkább.

Témavezető: Paulikné Varga Barbara