BACKGROUND:In Slovenia, coverage of rotavirus vaccines (Rotarix (RV1) and RotaTeq (RV5)) remains low, and the vaccines are not included in the National Vaccination Programme (NVP). We aimed to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) against rotavirus-related hospitalization among children aged 6 weeks to 5 years to inform national vaccination policy. METHODS:We linked Slovenian population registry with vaccination, surveillance, and hospitalization databases for 2019-2023 birth cohorts. We defined fully vaccinated as those receiving all recommended doses with the last dose ≥14 days before the end date (disease onset or hospitalization date, death, or study end) and partially vaccinated those receiving ≥1 dose ≥14 days before the end date. We estimated VE using quasi-Poisson regression, adjusting for age, healthcare access, socioeconomic status, and calendar time, with person-time at risk included as an offset. We also examined the relationship between full vaccination coverage and hospitalization rates across municipalities using Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS:Among 89,994 children, 4% were partially, and 25% fully vaccinated. A total of 1272 rotavirus hospitalizations occurred, 94% among unvaccinated children. VE against hospitalization was 84% (95% CI: 73%-91%) for full and 81% (95% CI: 42%-94%) for partial vaccination. VE was 85% (95% CI: 74%-91%) for RV1 and 78% (95% CI: -29%-96%) for RV5. VE was 73% (95% CI: 30%-89%) among children aged <11 months and 88% (95% CI: 76%-94%) among those aged 11 to 23 months, with sustained high effectiveness through 5 years of age (84%, 95% CI: 63%-93%). We observed a negative correlation between full vaccination coverage and hospitalization rates across municipalities (r = -0.155, p = 0.024). CONCLUSION:Both full and partial rotavirus vaccination significantly reduced rotavirus-related hospitalizations among children in Slovenia. These findings support efforts to improve vaccine uptake and consideration of rotavirus vaccination inclusion in the NVP to reduce disease burden.

BACKGROUND:By March, 2023, 54 countries, areas, and territories (hereafter CAT) in the WHO European Region had reported more than 2·2 million COVID-19-related deaths to the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Here, we estimated how many lives were directly saved by vaccinating adults in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023. METHODS:In this retrospective surveillance study, we estimated the number of lives directly saved by age group, vaccine dose, and circulating variant-of-concern (VOC) period, regionally and nationally, using weekly data on COVID-19 mortality and infection, COVID-19 vaccination uptake, and SARS-CoV-2 virus characterisations by lineage downloaded from The European Surveillance System on June 11, 2023, as well as vaccine effectiveness data from the literature. We included data for six age groups (25-49 years, 50-59 years, ≥60 years, 60-69 years, 70-79 years, and ≥80 years). To be included in the analysis, CAT needed to have reported both COVID-19 vaccination and mortality data for at least one of the four older age groups. Only CAT that reported weekly data for both COVID-19 vaccination and mortality by age group for 90% of study weeks or more in the full study period were included. We calculated the percentage reduction in the number of expected and reported deaths. FINDINGS:Between December, 2020, and March, 2023, in 34 of 54 CAT included in the analysis, COVID-19 vaccines reduced deaths by 59% overall (CAT range 17-82%), representing approximately 1·6 million lives saved (range 1·5-1·7 million) in those aged 25 years or older: 96% of lives saved were aged 60 years or older and 52% were aged 80 years or older; first boosters saved 51% of lives, and 60% were saved during the Omicron period. INTERPRETATION:Over nearly 2·5 years, most lives saved by COVID-19 vaccination were in older adults by first booster dose and during the Omicron period, reinforcing the importance of up-to-date vaccination among the most at-risk individuals. Further modelling work should evaluate indirect effects of vaccination and public health and social measures. FUNDING:US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the post-pandemic period, an endemic circulation of respiratory viruses has been re-established. Respiratory viruses are co-circulating with SARS-CoV-2. We performed a retrospective analysis of co-infections in primary care patients with medically attended acute respiratory infections (MAARI) who consulted from week 40/2022 to week 39/2023 and were tested for a panel of respiratory viruses. Out of 2099 samples tested, 1260 (60.0%) were positive for one virus. In 340 samples, co-infection was detected: two viruses in 281 (13.4%), three viruses in 51 (2.4%), and four viruses in eight (0.4%) samples. Respiratory viruses co-infected the patients with MAARI at very different rates. The lowest rates of co-infections were confirmed for influenza B (13.8%) and influenza A (22.9%) and the highest for human bocaviruses (84.0%) and human parechoviruses (82.1%). Co-infections were detected in 28.2% of SARS-CoV-2 positive samples. SARS-CoV-2 has never been co-infected with influenza B virus, enterovirus or adenovirus, although the latter was found as a co-infecting virus with all other respiratory viruses tested. The rate of co-infections decreased significantly with increasing age (p-value 0.000), and no difference was found regarding gender (p-value 0.672). It is important to understand the epidemiology of respiratory co-infections for prevention and management decisions in patients with MAARI.

BackgroundDespite decreasing COVID-19 disease severity during the Omicron waves, a proportion of patients still require hospitalization and intensive care.ObjectiveTo compare demographic characteristics, comorbidities, vaccination status, and previous infections in patients hospitalized for community-associated COVID-19 (CAC) in predominantly Delta, Omicron BA.1 and BA.4/5 SARS-CoV-2 waves.MethodsData were extracted from three national databases—the National COVID-19 Database, National Vaccination Registry and National Registry of Hospitalizations.ResultsAmong the hospitalized CAC patients analyzed in this study, 5,512 were infected with Delta, 1,120 with Omicron BA.1, and 1,143 with the Omicron BA.4/5 variant. The age and sex structure changed from Delta to BA.4/5, with the proportion of women (9.5% increase), children and adolescents (10.4% increase), and octa- and nonagenarians increasing significantly (24.5% increase). Significantly more patients had comorbidities (measured by the Charlson Comorbidity Index), 30.3% in Delta and 43% in BA.4/5 period. The need for non-invasive ventilatory support (NiVS), ICU admission, mechanical ventilation (MV), and in-hospital mortality (IHM) decreased from Delta to Omicron BA.4/5 period for 12.6, 13.5, 11.5, and 6.3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed significantly lower odds for ICU admission (OR 0.68, CI 0.54–0.84, p < 0.001) and IHM (OR 0.74, CI 0.58–0.93, p = 0.011) during the Delta period in patients who had been fully vaccinated or boosted with a COVID-19 vaccine within the previous 6 months. In the BA.1 variant period, patients who had less than 6 months elapsed between the last vaccine dose and SARS-CoV-2 positivity had lower odds for MV (OR 0.38, CI 0.18-0.72, p = 0.005) and IHM (OR 0.56, CI 0.37- 0.83, p = 0.005), but not for NIVS or ICU admission.ConclusionThe likelihood of developing severe CAC in hospitalized patients was higher in those with the Delta and Omicron BA.1 variant compared to BA.4/5.

We conducted a seroprevalence study using convenient residual sera samples from the Slovenian population collected after the end of the Omicron BA.1 pandemic wave. Serum samples were tested for spike glycoprotein (anti-S) and nucleocapsid protein (anti-N) antibodies. Participants’ data regarding confirmed infection and vaccination was obtained from national registries. Anti-S antibodies were detected in 2439 (84.1%) of 2899 sera from persons aged 0–90 years, with the lowest prevalence in the 0–17 age group. The proportion of anti-N positives was the lowest in the ≥70 age group. The proportion of anti-N positives was significantly higher among participants with confirmed past infection and among those who had never been vaccinated. In participants who had not been notified as infected and who had never been vaccinated, the seroprevalence of anti-S and anti-N antibodies was 53% and 35.5%, respectively. From the time of serum collection to mid-November 2022, 445 participants (15.3%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, with higher odds in seronegative participants, participants in the 40–59 age group, and those without notified previous infection. Vaccination status and gender had no significant effects on infection risk. This study underlines the importance of serosurveys in understanding the development of the pandemic.

For the first time, this article will provide a cross-national profile of adolescents who provide unpaid care to their ill or disabled family members in six European countries with varied levels of awareness, policy and service provision regarding adolescent young carers. Utilising an online survey, 2,099 adolescent young carers were identified in Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. This article focuses on the impact of unpaid care on their mental health, well-being, physical health and education. Their preferences for informal and formal support were also examined. These groundbreaking findings help promote a ‘rights’ approach to adolescent young carers, which can serve as a critical driver for supportive policy creation on both a country-specific and pan-European level.

We estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against severe COVID-19 during October 2021, using Slovenian surveillance data. For people fully vaccinated with any vaccine in age groups 18–49, 50–64, ≥ 65 years, VE was 86% (95% CI: 79–90), 89% (85–91), and 77% (74–81). Among ≥ 65 year-olds fully vaccinated with mRNA vaccines, VE decreased from 93% (95% CI: 88–96) in those vaccinated ≤ 3 months ago to 43% (95% CI: 30–54) in those vaccinated ≥ 6 months ago, suggesting the need for early boosters.

Enterobius vermicularis is a prevalent intestinal nematode. The objective of the research was to study enterobiasis prevalence in symptomatic children < 15 years of age attending community health center in North - Western part of Slovenia in years 2017 - 2022. Perianal tape tests were performed on three consecutive days. The overall prevalence was 34.2 % (296 out of 864 children included). The mean age of children positive for E. vermicularis was 5.77 (95 % CI: 5.51 - 6.04) and 4.74 (95 % CI: 4.54 - 4.95), p < 0.001 for children with negative test results. The positivity rate was not significantly different for boys compared to girls (boys 37.0 %, 95 % CI: 32.4 % - 41.8 %, girls 31.8 %, 95 % CI: 27.6 % - 36.2 %, p=0.107). The number of boys with all three samples positive in a sample set was higher compared to girls (p - value 0.002). Family size affected the positivity rate - the mean number of siblings was higher in positive children. Significant association with E. vermicularis infection was proven by the presence of anal pruritus and absence of abdominal discomfort. High E. vermicularis warrants careful monitoring of trends and public health response. It is necessary to encourage the use of hygiene measures in schools and empower parents to recognize enterobiasis timely.

For the period of predominance of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Slovenia, February to March 2022, we estimated mRNA vaccine effectiveness (VE) against severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) COVID-19 using surveillance data. In the most vulnerable age group comprising individuals aged 65 years and more, VE against SARI COVID-19 was 95% (95% CI: 95–96%) for those vaccinated with three doses, in comparison to 82% (95% CI: 79–84%) for those vaccinated with two doses. Such levels of protection were maintained for at least 6 months.

We monitored trends of severe COVID-19 morbidity in Slovenia during weeks 13 to 37 2021. National weekly rates of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at admission in all hospitals varied between 0.2 and 16.3 cases per 100,000 population. Of those without previous COVID-19 diagnosis, SARI COVID-19 admission rates ranged between 0.3 and 17.5 per 100,000 unvaccinated, and 0.0 and 7.3 per 100,000 fully vaccinated individuals. National SARI COVID-19 surveillance is essential in informing COVID-19 response.

In recent years many cross-national comparative surveys, such as Gender and Generation Programme, International Social Survey Programme, European Quality of Life Survey, or General Social Survey, have included assessment of social support networks. Generally, two approaches were used; the name generator approach and the role relation approach. As more cross-country surveys are conducted every year, it may seem reasonable to use such data sets, since they provide high quality comparisons across countries. However, one should pay close attention to the measurement instruments, as these may cause unintentional but systematic variability in the observed data. While the data from each survey can be of high quality “per se”, we claim that results from these surveys are not comparable, owing to their different measurement approaches and survey instruments. In this paper we present data from several experiments which show that scientific findings from these surveys depend significantly on questionnaire design.

Some studies (e.g., Kogovšek & Hlebec, 2008, 2009) have shown that the name generator and the role relation approaches to measuring social networks are to some extent comparable, but less so the name generator and the event-related approaches (Hlebec, Mrzel, & Kogovšek, 2009). In this chapter, the composition of the social support network assessed by both the general social support approach and the event-related approach (support during 15 major life events) is analyzed and compared. In both cases, the role relation approach is used. In addition, in both approaches a more elaborate (16 possible categories ranging from partner, mother, father, friend to no one) and a more simple (6 possible categories ranging from family member, friend, neighbor to no one) response format is applied and compared. The aim of the chapter is to establish, in a controlled quasi-experiment setting, whether the different approaches (i.e. the general social support and the event-related approach) produce similar social networks regardless of the response format (long vs. short).

Social network indicators (e.g., network size, network structure and network composition) and the quality of their measurement may be affected by different factors such as measurement method, type of social support, limitation of the number of alters, context of the questionnaire, question wording, personal characteristics of respondents such as age, gender or personality traits and others. In this paper we focus on the effect of limiting the number of alters on network composition indicators (e.g., percentage of kin, friends etc.), which are often used in substantive studies on social support, epidemiological studies and so on. Often social networks are only one among many topics measured in such large studies; therefore, limitation of the number of alters that can be named is often used directly (e.g., International Social Survey Programme) or indirectly (e.g., General Social Survey) in the network items. The analysis was done on two comparable data sets from different years. Data were collected by the name generator approach by students of the University of Ljubljana as part of various social science methodology courses. Network composition on the basis of direct use (i.e., already in the question wording) of limitation on the number of alters is compared to network composition on full network data (i.e.,collected without any limitations).

The Intergenerational Solidarity in Slovenia research focused on the sources of intergenerational solidarity in social support networks. In the paper we presented the methodological problems that we faced as we used data that was not collected for this specific research, i.e. the study of intergenerational solidarity. First of all the article presents the conceptual and opera- tional definition of intergenerational solidarity. This is followed by a description of the survey, data and the solutions to the methodological problems at implement- ing the concept of intergenerational solidarity. In the descriptive overview of the basic results we show that the approaches used for the operational definition of intergenerational solidarity lead to an appropriate esti- mate of intergenerational solidarity in social support

Social network indicators (e.g., network size, netw ork structure and network composition) and the quality of their measu rement may be affected by different factors such as measurement method, ty pe of social support, limitation of the number of alters, context of the questionnaire, question wording, personal characteristics of respondents su ch as age, gender or personality traits and others. In this paper we focus on the effect of limiting th e number of alters on network composition indicators (e.g., percentage of kin, friends etc.), which are often used in substantive studies on social sup port, epidemiological studies and so on. Often social networks are only o ne among many topics measured in such large studies; therefore, limitati on of the number of alters that can be named is often used directly (e.g., Int ernational Social Survey Programme) or indirectly (e.g., General Social Surv ey) in the network items. The analysis was done on two comparable data sets f rom different years. Data were collected by the name generator approach by students of the University of Ljubljana as part of various social s cience methodology courses. Network composition on the basis of direct use (i.e., already in the question wording) of limitation on the number of al ters is compared to network composition on full network data (i.e.,coll ected without any limitations).

Many studies in the field of social support (e.g., Hobfoll, 1985; Thoits, 1985; Cutrona and Russell, 1990; Kienan, 1997) show that the effectiveness of a certain type of provided support and mechanisms by which the support works are often highly dependent on a specific situation, where support is needed. For instance, emotional support may be provided in a situation (e.g., an accident), where an affected person needs or expects help of a more practical kind. The provided unsuitable type of support may thus cause additional stress, dissatisfaction, feelings of being misunderstood, controlled or alienated. The context of a specific situation therefore conditions how effective a certain type of support can be. When selecting a measurement instrument presumed to be the best for assessing social support networks and social support functions we have to consider whether to ask a lot of questions about the social support network, the received social support and the perception of social support using complex items, such as name generators, or whether there are simpler ways at our disposal to correctly assess the social support provision, such as role relationship items. We should also decide whether to measure only the perception of social support or the actually received support at particular occasions as well. In this paper we compare and analyze the composition of the social support network assessed by the Antonucci's hierarchical approach, the perceived social support within social support network, and the role relation approach based on received support during 15 major life changes as they have occurred within the last three years. The composition of the social support network (overall and partial across four types of social support) is compared to the overall composition of received support.