Low Socioeconomic Status and Unhealthy Lifestyle Lead to High Morbidity in Young Roma of East Slovakia

Roma people constitute one of the oldest and largest minorities in Europe. In Slovakia, there are approximately 400,000 Roma, and represent 7.5% of total population. However, according to recent official census in 2010, only 105,738 (2% of total population) citizens declared themselves as Roma ethnic. Approximately one sixth of Roma people live in segregated settlements. This supplement contains results of the HepaMeta study, which has aimed to map the socioeconomic, lifestyle, selected anthropometric, and health-related aspects of young Roma people living in the settlements and their majority counterparts. This study was conducted in 2011 and its main goal was to explore the prevalence of hepatitis B and C and metabolic syndrome. A group of 452 Roma aged 18-55 years, living in settlements (mean age = 34.7; 35.2% men) was compared to a control group of 403 non-Roma randomly chosen (mean age = 33.5; 45.9% men) from the patient database of collaborating general practitioners. Data were obtained by questionnaire, anthropometric measures and analysed blood and urine samples.