Halina Kolodziej, PhD
Scientific interests
<!--[if !supportLists]--> o <!--[endif]-->Biological aspects of social inequality.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> o <!--[endif]-->Impact of the socioeconomic factors and lifestyle on some biological fitness indicators and premature mortality of adults.
Selected international publications
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 1. <!--[endif]-->Kolodziej H, Lopuszańska M, Jankowska EA, 2008. Decrease in sex differences in premature mortality during systemic transformation in Poland. Journal of Biosocial Science, 40(2): 297-312.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 2. <!--[endif]-->Kolodziej H, Lopuszańska M, Bielicki T, Jankowska EA, 2007. Social inequality in premature mortality among Polish urban adults during economic transition. American Journal of Human Biology, 19: 878-885.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 3. <!--[endif]-->Kolodziej H, Koziel S, 2002. Recent trend in stature in 14-year-old boys from Wrocław, Poland. Anthropological Review, 65: 57-63.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 4. <!--[endif]-->Koziel S, Kolodziej H, Ulijaszek S, 2001. Body size, fat distribution, menarcheal age and blood pressure in 14-year-old girls. European Journal of Epidemiology, 17: 1111-1115.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 5. <!--[endif]-->Kolodziej H, Szklarska A, Malina R, 2001. Young adult height of offspring born to rural-to-urban migrant parents and urban-born parents. American Journal of Human Biology, 13,1: 30-34.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 6. <!--[endif]-->Koziel S, Kolodziej H, 2001. Birth order and BMI in teenage girls. Collegium Antropologicum, 25, 2: 555-560.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 7. <!--[endif]-->Koziel S, Kolodziej H, 1999. BMI i frakcje wzglednie otylych chlopcow i dziewczat w wieku 13-15 lat. Pediatria Polska, LXXIV, 10: 1-7.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 8. <!--[endif]-->Kolodziej H, 1998. The Impact of Social and Ecological Factors on Biological Fitness of Adults. Central European Journal of Public Health, Nr 2, Vol. 6: 103-107.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> 9. <!--[endif]-->Kolodziej H, 1994. The Impact of the Some Aspects of Lifestyle on the Biological Fitness of Adults. International Journal of Anthropology, vol. 9, 3: 211.
Recent scientific projects
Social inequality in premature mortality among Polish urban adults during economic transition.
Rates of premature mortality among adults are important measures of the economic and psycho-social well-being of human populations. In many countries, such rates are, as a rule, inversely related to the level of attained education. We examined changes in educational group-specific mortality rates among urban adults in Poland during the country’s rapid transition in the 1990s from a socialist command economy to a free market system. Two census-based analyses of individual death records of urban dwellers aged 35-64 years were compared. We utilized all records of death which occurred during the 2-year periods 1988-89 and 2001-02. Population denominators were taken from the censuses of 1988 and 2002. The age-specific mortality rates were used to evaluate absolute differences in mortality. To assess relative differences between educational levels, mortality rate ratios with 95% CI (confidence interval) were calculated using Poisson regression.
A regular educational gradient in mortality persisted in each 10-year age group throughout the period covered by our data. Moreover, age-specific mortality rates declined steadily in all educational groups, and this decline was most marked in the two oldest age groups (45-54 and 55-64 years). The trend was accompanied by widening of educational differences in mortality as expressed by mortality rate ratios.
Systemic political transformation in Poland has brought a mixture of beneficial and detrimental effects on the well-being of society. With regard to the changes in rates of premature mortality among adults, the benefits have prevailed, although individuals with the lowest educational level benefited less than those with the highest education.
Decrease in sex difference in premature mortality during system transformation in Poland.
In recent years, sex differences in mortality have followed diverse patterns of changes in developed countries. As there is no analogous evidence from Poland, was performed the study in order to describe a pattern of changes in excess male mortality in Polish inhabitants aged 35-64 during 1995-2002, when the major socio-economic transformation occurred, and compare it to sex difference in mortality observed in the late 80s. During the study period, excess male mortality significantly decreased, independently of age and educational level. The reduction in mortality was observed in both sexes, but its magnitude was greater in men. These changes resulted mainly from a reduction in mortality rates due to cardiovascular disease and lung cancer in men and a concomitant increase in mortality rates due to lung cancer and suicides in women. Although in general, excess male mortality decreased, social gradients related to this phenomenon increased. Subjects (in particularly men) who had graduated from university benefited the most, as in these groups the magnitude of reduction in mortality rates was the greatest. Changes in social environment during the transformation period in Poland are suggested as major determinants of these changes, but further studies are needed.
Polski
English
