Aim To investigate the prevalence of burnout syndrome among health care workers in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in May and June 2021 using an online survey based on Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. The questionnaire underwent forward and backward translation, preliminary pilot testing, and was assessed for reliability and validity. Personal burnout, work-related burnout, and patient-related burnout were assessed. The survey was sent to the members of the Union of Physicians and Dentists in FBIH, who were asked to forward the link to their medical technicians and nurses. Results A total of 77% of participants experienced some form of burnout. As many as 32% experienced all three forms of burnout. Those actively involved in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic more often experienced burnout. In personal and work-related burnout domains, higher level of burnout was reported among female respondents. Higher work-related and patient-related burnout was reported by physicians compared with medical technicians/nurses. Higher level of patient-related burnout was reported in health care workers aged 30-39 and 50-59 years, among respondents working in primary care, and among physicians. Conclusion The majority of health care workers showed moderate or high levels of personal and work-related burnout, with a lower level of patient-related burnout. There is a need for further research into the causes of burnout, as well as for the implementation of organizational interventions aimed to minimize workplace burnout.

Abstract Background Accumulated evidence on risk factors for adverse COVID-19 outcomes revealed that old age and male sex are main associates, next to pre-existing comorbidities, as analysed from scattered single cohorts of hospitalised COVID-19 patients of accessible electronic medical records. Hence, evidence from federated analyses is called for to provide a more comprehensive and robust analyses of risk factors. Methods Using the unCoVer network, i.e., a research platform of 29 partners for the expert use of patient data as routinely gathered in real-world healthcare settings, present analyses restricted to available data of four hospitals from Spain, Slovakia, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina covering 8,287 hospitalised COVID-19 patients. In-hospital death after COVID-19 diagnosis was examined in relation to common pre-existing comorbidities using virtual pooling of logistic regression models adjusted for age and sex. Results Patients were on average 60.1 (± 20.9) years, 50.7% were male, almost half (43.3%) had at least one pre-existing comorbidity (17.4% having obesity, 21.9% hypertension, 18.0% diabetes and 13.7% cardiovascular diseases (CVD)), and 12.6% died during hospitalisation. Patients with comorbidities had a higher risk of mortality that was increasing with the number of comorbidities: from a virtual pooled odds ratio of 1.16 (95%CI: 0.96, 1.40) for one vs none to 1.30 (1.04, 1.64) and 2.14 (1.64, 2.79) for two and three or more comorbidities, respectively. Of the comorbidities, highest risk was seen for CVD (1.68; 1.40, 2.01), followed by hypertension (1.40; 1.19, 1.64) and diabetes (1.27; 1.07, 1.50), and the lowest for obesity (1.13; 0.94, 1.37). Conclusions By federated analyses, this study confirmed that the number of comorbidities was a strong risk factor for in-hospital death after COVID-19, in particular CVD. The unCoVer platform pursues using scattered data sources by innovative computational resources and integrated information for enhanced impact. Key messages Federated analyses, capable of streamlining ethical and legal aspects, provide unique opportunities for robust results to inform public health. Higher COVID-19 in-hospital mortality risk with increasing number of comorbidities.

STUDY OBJECTIVE Ischemic electrocardiogram (ECG) changes are subtle and transient in patients with suspected non-ST-segment elevation (NSTE)-acute coronary syndrome. However, the out-of-hospital ECG is not routinely used during subsequent evaluation at the emergency department. Therefore, we sought to compare the diagnostic performance of out-of-hospital and ED ECG and evaluate the incremental gain of artificial intelligence-augmented ECG analysis. METHODS This prospective observational cohort study recruited patients with out-of-hospital chest pain. We retrieved out-of-hospital-ECG obtained by paramedics in the field and the first ED ECG obtained by nurses during inhospital evaluation. Two independent and blinded reviewers interpreted ECG dyads in mixed order per practice recommendations. Using 179 morphological ECG features, we trained, cross-validated, and tested a random forest classifier to augment non ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) diagnosis. RESULTS Our sample included 2,122 patients (age 59 [16]; 53% women; 44% Black, 13.5% confirmed acute coronary syndrome). The rate of diagnostic ST elevation and ST depression were 5.9% and 16.2% on out-of-hospital-ECG and 6.1% and 12.4% on ED ECG, with ∼40% of changes seen on out-of-hospital-ECG persisting and ∼60% resolving. Using expert interpretation of out-of-hospital-ECG alone gave poor baseline performance with area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC), sensitivity, and negative predictive values of 0.69, 0.50, and 0.92. Using expert interpretation of serial ECG changes enhanced this performance (AUC 0.80, sensitivity 0.61, and specificity 0.93). Interestingly, augmenting the out-of-hospital-ECG alone with artificial intelligence algorithms boosted its performance (AUC 0.83, sensitivity 0.75, and specificity 0.95), yielding a net reclassification improvement of 29.5% against expert ECG interpretation. CONCLUSION In this study, 60% of diagnostic ST changes resolved prior to hospital arrival, making the ED ECG suboptimal for the inhospital evaluation of NSTE-ACS. Using serial ECG changes or incorporating artificial intelligence-augmented analyses would allow correctly reclassifying one in 4 patients with suspected NSTE-ACS.

Abstract The article discusses figurative use of expressions from the domains of INVASION and HOUSE in media discourse on the European migrant crisis. The conceptual metaphors MIGRATION AS AN INVASION and the COMMON EUROPEAN HOUSE, which are inextricably related in the segments of the real discourse on migration, have strong rhetorical power and serve as a means of promoting antimigrant ideologies. The aim of this paper is to identify the instances of deliberate use of the aforementioned metaphors in British and Bosnian-Herzegovinian papers and describe their use in the media with the aim of changing addressees’ perspectives on an important issue such as migration.

Premature ventricular contraction (PVC) is a frequent kind of arrhythmia that affects around 1% of the general population. While PVC most frequently impairs ventricular function in structurally normal heart, retrograde ventriculo‐atrial conduction can occur in people with PVC. These retrograde atrial activations may mimic pulmonary vein‐derived atrial ectopies. As a result, PVC may raise the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) by retrograde ventriculo‐atrial conduction. The Four‐Dimensional Automated Left Atrial Quantification (4D Auto LAQ) tool is a left atrial analytical approach that utilizes three‐dimensional volume data to quantify the volume, as well as LA longitudinal and circumferential strains. The purpose of this study was to determine if clinical diagnosis of PVC is connected with abnormal LA function as determined by LA strain evaluation utilizing a 4D Auto LAQ compared to the healthy population.

Premature ventricular complex (PVC) is common in general population. The atrial conduction time (ACT) represents the interval between electrocardiographic P wave and atrial mechanical contraction, and the prolongation of ACT called atrial electromechanical delay (EMD). In the present study, we investigated atrial conduction parameters through echocardiography in patients with frequent PVC. The study involved 54 patients with PVC and 54 healthy volunteers as a control group. A comprehensive echocardiographic examination was done. The time difference between the onset of the p wave and septal Am wave was the PA septal, the time difference between the onset of the p wave and the lateral Am wave was the PA lateral, and the time difference between the onset of the p wave and the tricuspid annulus Am wave was the PA tricuspid. The interatrial EMD was the time difference between the PA lateral and the PA tricuspid, the left atrial (LA) intraatrial delay was the time difference between the PA lateral and the PA septal and the right atrial (RA) intraatrial delay was the time difference between the PA septal and the PA tricuspid. LA anterior-posterior dimension and LA maximum volume were significantly larger in the patient group. Left intraatrial EMD, right intraatrial EMD, and interatrial EMD were significantly longer in the patient group. PA lateral, PA septal, PA tricuspid durations were significantly prolonged in the patient group. Atrial conduction times were prolonged in patients with frequent PVC. Type of funding sources: None.

Abstract Background Analysis of years of life lost (YLL) due to premature deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic can direct decision-makers towards specific public health recommendations in order to improve health and lives of people. Our study aimed to examine the existence of age- and sex-specific patterns of the three most common causes of premature death in Belgrade during the first year of the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods Mortality data disaggregated by age, sex and cause of death, as well as the estimated number of inhabitants and remaining life-expectancy by age-groups for Belgrade was provided by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. YLLs were calculated using the methods of the Global Burden of Disease Study, without garbage code redistribution. Mortality rates were standardized according to the European Standard Population. We acknowledge the support from the COST Action 18218 - European Burden of Disease Network. Results In 2020 in Belgrade, according to the share in all-cause YLLs, cardiovascular diseases ranked first (36.2%), followed by neoplasms (25.7%) and COVID-19 (11.1%). However, on average, COVID-19 generated higher number of YLLs per death case (11.9) than cardiovascular diseases (9.2), but fewer than neoplasms (13.9). In total of 31,943 YLLs due to COVID-19, men had 1.7 times more YLLs than women. By age groups, the highest YLL share due to COVID-19 was among men aged 45-49 (16%) and 70-74 (16%) and among women aged 20-25 (33%) and 25-29. years (29%). In men, COVID-19 YLL rate was 2,488 per 100,000 and was higher after standardization (2,714). In women, COVID-19 YLL rate was 1346 per 100,000 and was lower after standardization (1,245). Conclusions In Belgrade, COVID-19 was the third cause of premature mortality in 2020. The difference between COVID-19 YLL rates in men and women were even more prominent after standardization. Future research is needed to determine the synergistic impact of COVID-19 and other causes of premature death. Key messages • In 2020, COVID-19 was among the top three causes of premature mortality among male and female contingents of the Belgrade population. • Assessing the causes of premature mortality is important for determining community health priorities.