Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “HUNGARY”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Childhood leukaemia incidence in Hungary, 1973-2002. Interpolation model for analysing the possible effects of the Chernobyl accident.

The incidence of childhood leukaemia in Hungary has yet to be reported, although data are available since the early 70s. The Hungarian data therefore cover the time before and after the Chernobyl nuclear accident (1986). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of the Chernobyl accident on childhood leukaemia incidence in Hungary. A population-based study was carried out using data of the National Paediatric Cancer Registry of Hungary from 1973 to 2002. The total number of cases was 2204. To test the effect of the Chernobyl accident the authors applied a new approach called 'Hypothesized Impact Period Interpolation'-model, which takes into account the increasing trend of childhood leukaemia incidence and the hypothesized exposure and latency times. The incidence of leukaemia in the age group 0-14 varied between 33.2 and 39.4 per million person-years along the observed 30 year period, and the incidence of childhood leukaemia showed a moderate increase of 0.71% annually (p = 0.0105). In the period of the hypothesized impact of the Chernobyl accident the incidence rate was elevated by 2.5% (95% CI: -8.1%; +14.3%), but this change was not statistically significant (p = 0.663). The age standardised incidence, the age distribution, the gender ratio, and the magnitude of increasing trend of childhood leukaemia incidence in Hungary were similar to other European countries. Applying the presented interpolation method the authors did not find a statistically significant increase in the leukaemia incidence in the period of the hypothesized impact of the Chernobyl accident.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Compulsory testing for HIV in Hungary.

Compulsory testing for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been a cornerstone of Hungary's AIDS prevention and care programme since 1988. This strategy is based on a two-fold public health rationale. Firstly, informing as many HIV positive people as possible of their serostatus is important for HIV prevention because infected people have a crucial role to play in preventing the further spread of the virus. Secondly, the earlier an HIV diagnosis can be provided the greater the opportunity for delaying the onset of symptoms and for maintaining as high a quality of life as possible for the affected individual. For these reasons, and because compulsory testing appears to be widely accepted within Hungary as part of a comprehensive social welfare system which places equal emphasis on citizens' rights and responsibilities, the country's public health establishment has continued to resist pressure from international agencies and other external bodies which have urged Hungary to abandon compulsory testing in favour of voluntary testing based on individual informed consent. Any changes to Hungary's HIV testing programme which occur in the coming years are more likely to be a response to the country's changing epidemiological, social and economic conditions rather than to pressure from outside.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed2005

Informal payment for health care: evidence from Hungary.

While there is a growing body of evidence that informal payments for health care are widespread and enduring in the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, evidence on the scale of the phenomenon is not only limited, but what is available is often conflicting. Hungary exemplifies this controversy, as the available literature provides conflicting figures, differing by an order of magnitude among various surveys, with a similarly large difference between survey findings and expert estimates. This study advances understanding of the methodological issues involved in researching informal payments by providing a systematic analysis of the methodology of available empirical research and official statistics on the scale of informal payments in Hungary. The paper explores the potential sources of differences, to assess the scope to reduce the differences between various estimates and to define the upper and lower boundaries within which the true magnitude of informal payments can be expected to lie. Our analysis suggests that in 2001 the overall magnitude of informal payments lay between 16.2 and 50.9 billion HUF (euro 64.8- euro 203.6 million, US dollars 77.1-242.4 million), which amounted to 1.5-4.6% of total health expenditures in Hungary. Looked at this way, informal payments do not seem to be an important source of health care financing. However, as informal payments are unequally distributed among health workers, with the bulk of the money going to physicians, with some not taking any informal payments, family doctors and some specialists may have earned between 60 and 236% of their net official income from this source in 2001. This suggests that it is not the overall amount of informal payment that makes it a policy concern, but the consequences of its unequal distribution among health workers. What is remarkable about informal payments in Hungary is that a relatively small amount of money can keep the system running, which gives rise to the hypothesis that, in certain cases, it is the hope of substantial informal payments in the future that motivates physicians to remain in the system. This is a difficult challenge for policy-makers as it would require a much larger amount of money to achieve equilibrium under any formal alternative.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2006

A simple spatial model to explain the distribution of human tick-borne encephalitis cases in hungary.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a common medical problem in Hungary and throughout much of Europe and Asia. This paper develops a geographic model that helps to predict the distribution of human tick-borne encephalitis cases in Hungary. The model is tested on a dataset of serologically confirmed TBE cases mapped by patients' residences. Case densities (incidence rates) are compared to predicted distributions of TBE derived from digital land-cover data. Maps are analyzed at the county level and on a smaller spatial scale. The analyses identified three major factors that shape the geographic distribution of human TBE cases in Hungary. The most important component is the distribution of forest habitat. TBE incidence correlates positively with the amount of forested habitat in each county. On a finer scale, the amount of forests within a 2500-meter radius of each town and village correlated significantly with TBE incidence rate. Based on these data, about 30% of the variation in TBE incidence is accounted for by the specific distribution of forest habitats in Hungary. Besides the distribution of forests, differences in human land-use practices among regions also affect the distribution of TBE cases. Additionally, because of the low transmission rate of the virus to humans, the perceived distribution of TBE cases is affected by random stochastic events. As a consequence of stochastic variation, meaningful patterns in the distribution of TBE cases can be only recognized when data are analyzed over broader temporal and spatial scales.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Problem drinking among hospitalized patients in Hungary.

Alcohol is an important determinant of the overall burden of disease in Eastern Europe. It is a particularly important problem in Hungary, where death rates from cirrhosis have increased rapidly to levels much higher than in neighbouring countries. This study sought to describe the prevalence of problem drinking among the hospitalized population in Hungary by means of a survey of self-reported alcohol consumption and of the prevalence of current or lifetime problem drinking among hospitalized patients in the four teaching hospitals in Hungary. A survey was conducted of all patients (n = 3140) admitted to medical, surgical, trauma, psychiatric and neurological wards over a 2-week period in 1997 who stayed in hospital for at least 24 h, using a survey instrument based on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Luebeck Alcoholism Screening Test (LAST) instruments designed to screen for current and lifetime problem drinking respectively. In all, 23.5% of men and over 53.5% of women reported never drinking alcohol. Of those who did drink, about one in eight men and less than 1% of women reported drinking 5 or more drinks on a day when they drank. Whether defined by LAST or AUDIT, the prevalence of problem drinking was approximately 19% among men and 2% among women, although this rose to 32-35% among men aged 35-44 years. The rate did not vary significantly with employment or education, but was higher among those who were divorced. These high rates of problem drinking indicate the need for coherent policies on alcohol in Hungary.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

A preliminary evaluation of a health monitoring programme in Hungary.

BACKGROUND: In 1998 a joint initiative of the Hungarian School of Public Health and the National Public Health Service created a network of sentinel stations based in primary care facilities in four Hungarian counties. The aim was to establish a system that will provide valid data on morbidity of selected diseases in Hungary. METHODS: Based on standardized protocols, the participating centres have continuously reported data on the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, liver cirrhosis, and some malignant diseases, as well as supplying denominator data. The four counties represent both eastern and western parts of Hungary, reflecting the known geographical disparities in health. Each county office enrolled general practitioners maintaining representation in terms of both geography and distribution of settlement size. RESULTS: A total of 73 general practitioners agreed to participate, providing care for 15.6% (138,088 people) of the population in the counties. The population registered with the practices were representative in terms of age and sex of both the participating counties and the entire country. The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and liver cirrhosis is high in each county but varies considerably, with higher levels in the western counties, especially among older age groups of both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: The establishment of sentinel stations to collect morbidity data is feasible and sustainable in Hungarian primary care. The data that have been generated provide a valid and comprehensive picture of important aspects of the Hungarian population's health, with important implications for health policy and health service planning. In regions where low prevalence rates of diseases and high mortality rates simultaneously exist special attention is required to explore the background of this caveat. KEY POINTS: Till the end of 1998 no program operated in Hungary engaged with non-communicable disease morbidity data collection, except some hospital-based registries, which failed to produce reliable information. The establishment of sentinel stations to collect morbidity data is feasible and sustainable in Hungarian primary care, the valid morbidity data can be built into the decision making process in health service planning. Regular training, quality control and feedback are important contributors to the success of the program. The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and liver cirrhosis is high in each county but varies considerably, with higher levels in the western counties, especially among older age groups of both sexes. More research needed to determine the possible contribution of unknown morbidity and health service utilisation to the different prevalence values in the two parts of Hungary.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Antibiotic susceptibility and serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from Hungary.

OBJECTIVE: Hungary has reported one of the highest incidences of penicillin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae in Europe since the 1970s and is still cited accordingly. However, since the end of the 1990s the resistance of pneumococci in Hungary has not been investigated. In this study we assessed the current situation, particularly to establish whether the incidence of resistance is increasing and if this could be related to the spread of specific strain types. METHODS: Isolates of S. pneumoniae (n = 304) were collected by five diagnostic laboratories in Hungary in 2000-2002. Their identity was confirmed and their susceptibilities to 16 antibiotics were determined by the agar dilution method according to NCCLS guidelines. Representative strains were serotyped (n = 112). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We found significantly lower resistance rates for penicillin compared with the data previously reported from Hungary, but the intermediate resistance was high, at 37%. Macrolide resistance was a bigger problem ( approximately 40% for erythromycin), although there was full susceptibility to telithromycin. The strains with the highest MICs were isolated from carriers and young children. The fluoroquinolones were very effective, especially moxifloxacin and gatifloxacin. There was full susceptibility to vancomycin and linezolid. We found inconsistencies with previous reports in the survey of the resistance and identification of S. pneumoniae in the country. The serotype distribution of the isolates showed a much greater diversity than had previously been reported; however, there was correlation between serotype and resistance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Birthweight of single livebirths and weight specific early neonatal mortality in Hungary and Norway.

Comparisons of birthweights of single livebirths in Hungary and Norway reveal distributions to have similar shapes; however, in the case of Hungary the distribution is shifted to the left, i.e. towards lower weights. In the registration of pregnancy outcomes, almost identical definitions are applied in the two countries, and the observed difference in distributions of birthweights is taken to reflect that Norwegian livebirths, are on average about 300 g heavier than Hungarian livebirths. Employing the method of analysis of birthweight and perinatal mortality suggested by Wilcox & Russell, it can be demonstrated that the proportions of births in the residual distributions of birthweights in the two countries are of the same magnitude and that the relative differences in first week mortality risks are similar for all birthweights. These results are taken to support the conclusion that to use a cut-off point of 2500 g in defining low birthweight, which will result in a two fold higher proportion of such infants in Hungary compared to Norway, is unwarranted, as it will falsely convey the impression of relatively more obstetric and paediatric problems in Hungary.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed2004

Social capital and collective efficacy in Hungary: cross sectional associations with middle aged female and male mortality rates.

OBJECTIVES: Social capital, collective efficacy, and religious involvement have each been linked to population health. This study examined the relations between these measures and male/female mortality rates in Hungary. DESIGN: Cross sectional, ecological study. SETTING: 150 sub-regions of Hungary. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: 12643 people were interviewed in 2002 (the "Hungarostudy 2002" survey). Social capital was measured by lack of social trust, reciprocity between citizens, and membership in civil organisations. Collective efficacy was measured by survey items from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Religious involvement was measured by church attendance. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Gender specific all cause mortality rates for the middle aged population (45-64 years) in the 150 sub-regions of Hungary, provided by the Central Statistical Office (CSO). RESULTS: Social capital, collective efficacy, as well as religious involvement were each significantly associated with middle age mortality. After education, collective efficacy showed the strongest association with mortality in both men and women. Among men, socioeconomic status, collective efficacy, social distrust, competitive attitude, reciprocity, and membership of civic organisations explained 68.0% of the sub-regional variations in mortality rates. Among women the same variables explained only 29.3% of the variance in mortality rates. Religious involvement was protective among women. CONCLUSION: Collective efficacy and social capital are significant predictors of mortality rates in both men and women across sub-regions of Hungary. Gender differences in the relative importance of social factors may help to explain the differential impact of economic transformation on mortality rates for men and women in Central-Eastern European countries.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed2006

Psychosocial determinants of premature cardiovascular mortality differences within Hungary.

OBJECTIVES: The life expectancy gap between Central-Eastern European (CEE) countries, including Hungary, and Western Europe (WE) is mainly attributable to excess cardiovascular (CV) mortality in midlife. This study explores the contribution of socioeconomic, work related, psychosocial, and behavioural variables to explaining variations of middle aged male and female CV mortality across 150 sub-regions in Hungary. DESIGN: Cross sectional, ecological analyses. SETTING: 150 sub-regions of Hungary. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: 12 643 people were interviewed in Hungarostudy 2002 survey, representing the Hungarian population according to sex, age, and sub-regions. Independent variables were income, education, control in work, job insecurity, weekend working hours, social support, depression, hostility, anomie, smoking, body mass index, and alcohol misuse. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Gender specific standardised premature (45-64 years) total CV, ischaemic heart disease, and cerebrovascular mortality rates in 150 sub-regions of Hungary. RESULTS: Low education and income were the most important determinants of mid-aged CV mortality differences across sub-regions. High weekend workload, low social support at work, and low control at work account for a large part of variation in male premature CV mortality rates, whereas job insecurity, high weekend workload, and low control at work contribute most noticeably to variations in premature CV mortality rates among women. Low social support from friends, depression, anomie, hostility, alcohol misuse and cigarette smoking can also explain a considerable part of variations of premature CV mortality differences. CONCLUSION: Variations in middle aged CV mortality rates in a rapidly changing society in CEE are largely accounted for by distinct unfavourable working and other psychosocial stress conditions.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed2006

Innovations: Alcohol & drug abuse: Methadone maintenance in Europe and Hungary: degrees of sociocultural resistance.

Opiate substitution treatment, commonly referred to as maintenance treatment, was introduced in the United States and Europe in the 1960s. This column discusses approaches to opioid maintenance treatment in Europe and focuses on the introduction of methadone maintenance treatment in Hungary. Although persons have received methadone maintenance in Hungary since 1987, consensus guidelines were not adopted until 1998 and were not confirmed by the Hungarian parliament until 2000. Hungary encountered initial difficulties in introducing methadone maintenance, and it is hoped that Hungary's joining the European Union in 2004 will help to make opiate substitution treatment more widely available.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2005

[Experiences with Langerhans' cell histiocytosis in children in Hungary].

BACKGROUND: Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) in children is relatively rare, and the long-term analysis of therapy results has not been done yet in Hungary. PURPOSE: In this review we summarise the incidence, clinical features, prognostic risk factors and treatment results of children's LCH in Hungary, using data from the National Childhood Cancer Registry in Hungary in a 20-year period between 1981 and 2000. RESULTS: From January 1981 to December 2000, 111 children under 18 years of age were newly diagnosed with LCH in Hungary. The male-female ratio was 1.36:1, the mean age: 4 years 11 months. The minimal and median follow-up time was 3.48 years and 10.98 years respectively. 38 children had single-system disease, while in 73 cases we found systemic dissemination already at the time of diagnosis. Twenty-two patients were treated only by local surgery, 7 by surgery with local irradiation and 5 children received only local irradiation. In two cases remission was obtained with local steroid administration. 75 patient received chemotherapy. During the twenty years 14 children died, 9 due to the progression of the disease. Sixteen of the 111 patients had relapse with a mean of 2.16+/-1.29 years after the first diagnosis. Three patients with relapse got chemotherapy generally used in lymphoma and remission was achieved. The overall survival of all patients (n=111) was 88.3+/-3.1% at 5 years and 87.3+/-3.2% at 10 and 20 years. CONCLUSION: Childhood LCH is a well treatable disease and the survival rate is high. Even disseminated diseases have a quite good prognosis in childhood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

[Animal protection during transport in Hungary].

To assess animal welfare during transport in Hungary, a questionnaire study was carried out in 1998. The questionnaire consisted of 39 questions addressing some general characteristics as well as specific ones regarding means of transport, fulfillment of the animals' needs on board and others. Three-hundred and ninety-one questionnaires were analysed representing about 0.1% of all yearly transports in Hungary. The most significant problems encountered were with conditions of transport that are more relevant for longer transports, especially those exceeding eight hours. Such are, inter alia, weather protection, ventilation, means to tie or separate animals and the provision of food and water. Even though there are several different types of vehicle available for transporting animals in Hungary, vehicles that are not appropriate for the species, distance or other conditions of the transport are sometimes used. Our results apply to the preparatory phase before the introduction of new, EU conform legislation on the protection of animals during transport. They enable more specific investigations or corrective measures to be undertaken by the competent authority responsible for the enforcement of such regulations in Hungary.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed2003

[Ethical regulation of biomedical research in Hungary].

Hungary joined the Ovideo Treaty (a bioethical health agreement signed by EU countries in 1997), as declared by Law Nr. VI in 2002. In July 1 2002 two departmental orders were enacted: departmental order Nr. [23/2002 (V. 9.)] about the biomedical research in humans and departmental order Nr. [24/2002 (V. 9.)] about the human use and clinical trials of investigational products and the adaptation of Good Clinical Practice (GCP). Both were based on the Health Law. The departmental order on the Medical Research Council [(16/2001 (IV. 28.)] together with these two orders contains the national rules of biomedical research performed in Hungary and also the Hungarian adaptation of various, bioethical principles and directives published by EU or other internationally accepted organisations. According to these regulations from 2002 biomedical research in Hungary could be in agreement with the Oviedo Treaty. Ethical approval and supervision can be obtained from research ethical committees of three types: central, regional and local superimposed upon one another. There are three, central, ethical committees within the frames of the Medical Research Council with national responsibility: Scientific and Research Ethical Committee, Clinical Pharmacological Ethical Committee, Human Reproduction Committee. In some cases regional research ethical committees are entitled to hand out ethical approval and ethical supervision. In those research sites, where the regional research ethical committee is not existent a local committee should be organized for the local ethical control of the research investigations and experiments. This way the ethical requirements and clinical practice by the GCP can be performed in clinical research in Hungary with a special respect to the vulnerable persons possibly involved. The paper gives an overview on recent developments and major ethical principles of the Hungarian biomedical research.

Bioethics↗
PubMed2003

[New data for the public health importance of hantaviruses in Hungary].

INTRODUCTION: The authors present recent results in the Hungarian hantavirus ecology and epidemiology. Most of the research was done between 1992-2000. AIM: To determine the presence and geographic distribution of hantaviruses and to get more detailed information of human and small-mammal infection with these viruses in Hungary. METHODS: For diagnostic purposes (patients' sera), serosurvey of healthy persons and serological investigations of small mammals, the following tests were used: indirect fluorescent antibody, high density particle agglutination and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Virus isolation, antigen-, and nucleic acid detection were conducted for ecological investigations. RESULTS: 235 of 831 patients proved to be seropositive. 2257 sera of age matched Hungarian citizens above 20 years were tested in 2000. The average seropositivity proved to be about 10% using two different methods. Sera of 1512 individuals of nearly 20 different mammalian species were tested. Serological results revealed the prevalence of antibodies to human pathogen hantaviruses among rodents of about 7.25 percent. Molecular analysis of viral nucleic acid isolates from organs of four rodents proved directly the presence of viruses belonging to Puumala and Dobrava/Belgrade species in Hungary. Sequences corresponding to the Dobrava/Belgrade type viruses were found in two different rodent species. This suggests the existence of two hosts with different living preferences. CONCLUSIONS: At least two different human pathogen hantaviruses are circulating in Hungary. It has to be considered, that viruses belonging to the Dobrava/Belgrade species could emerge not only in the forested areas, but in the agricultural areas as well. Commercially available kits are not perfectly suitable for the detection of antibodies rised to domestic hantaviruses. It is necessary to built an appropriate laboratory for the hantavirus research in Hungary.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

[History of homeopathy in Hungary 1820-1990].

This article tells the story of homeopathy in Hungary. After Hahnemann's discovery the theory found enthusiastic followers even in Hungary. The first generation of homeopathic physicians (Pál Almási Balogh, József Bakody, György Forgó and others) established a successful practice, although the doctrine had been banned in the Habsburg Empire from 1819 onwards. Thanks to the activity of the so-called second generation (Ferenc Hausmann, István Vezekényi Horner) Hahnemann's main work, the Organon was translated into Hungarian (1830) and the first homeopathic hospitals were founded in Köszeg (1833) and in Gyöngynös (1838). In 1837 the order banning homeopathical practice was removed, and in 1844 the Hungarian Parliament decided to establish a homeopathic department at the University of Pest. In 1847 Döme Argenti published his extradinarily successful homeopathic book Homeopathic Treatment of Various Illnesses". In the 1860s a new generation of physicians (Tihamér Almási Balogh, Lóránt Hausmann, Abrahám Szontagh and others) published the first Hungarian homeopathic periodicals the Hasonszenvi Közlöny and the Hasonszenvi Lapok and, at the same time, they founded the Society of Hungarian Homeopathic Physicians (1865), too. In 1870 the first homeopathic hospital, the Elisabethinum, opened its gates, and at the University of Pest two different homeopathic departments began to operate. At the end of the century however, homeopathy entered into a period of decline, due to the resistance of the conventional physicians and the successes of conventional medicine. Between the two World Wars only Gusztáv Schimert and his circle substained the theory and practice in Hungary, so successfully that in 1935 the International League of Homeopathy held its congress in Budapest. After the Second World War Schimert emigrated, and homeopathy was informally banned in Hungary (although the practice itself survived in secrecy). The Society of Hungarian Homeopathical Physicians was re-established only in 1991.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed2003

[Eugenics in neurology and psychiatry in Hungary between the two World Wars].

Eugenics became an organized movement in Hungary in 1914 with the establishment of the Section of Eugenics within the Association of Social Sciences (Társádalomtudományi Egyesület). Its secretary, the prominent biologist István Apáthy jr., defined the aims and the place of eugenics within the sanitation as well as the necessary steps of organization which should be taken in Hungary. It was especially some Hungarian psychiatrists: Márk Goldberger, Lajos Naményi, Gyula Donáth and László Benedek, the Hungarian Representative of the Committee of International Eugenical Organisations who after World War I urged eugenical law which envisaged voluntary sterilization. According to the opponents of eliminative eugenics--like Károly Csörsz, one of the first distinguished medical geneticists in Hungary--sterilization had not been scientifically based yet, because the ways and the probability of heredity of nervous and mental diseases, except for Huntington chorea, had not been explored yet. The outstanding neurologist, Karl Schaffer also opposed the sterilization bill worked out by Professor Benedek, so it was rejected by the National Council of Public Health in 1932 and was not discussed by the Hungarian Parliament either. In spite of its illegality, some sterilizations were executed, for example with the consent and the request of parents in the case of mentally retarded female to stop her reproduction. Only positive eugenics was legally supported by the marriage advisory bureau in the capital, but the interest in it was rather limited in interwar Hungary.

Castration↗
PubMed2004

Species composition of leaf beetle assemblages in the canopies of apple and pear orchards in Hungary and Great Britain (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

The species richness and species composition of Coleoptera assemblages were investigated in the canopies of apple and pear orchards in Hungary and in the apple orchards in Great Britain. The investigations were carried out in Hungary (Nagykovácsi: 3 plots, Kecskemét: 5 plots, Sárospatak: 4 plots) between 1990-94, and in Great Britain in Kent (East Malling, Marden and Robertsbridge) in 2001 and 2002. Former investigations in Hungary revealed that the diversity of Coleoptera assemblages in the canopy of apple and pear orchard were surprisingly high. As a result of our investigations it was found that altogether 324 species, almost 3% of the Hungarian beetle fauna were represented: 253 species in apple orchards and 188 species in pear orchards. Similar results were obtained in the investigations carried out in Great Britain between 2001-2002. In Hungary, the majority of the species belonged to the families Curculionidae, Chrysomelidae and Coccinelidae. The proportion of leaf beetles varied between 15 and 20%. The most common leaf beetle species in the canopy of the commercial orchards were Phyllotreta vittula, Phyllotreta atra, Phyllotreta nigripes, Oulemta melanopus, and Aphthona euphorbiae. In the abandoned orchards the most common species were Luperus xanthopoda, Smaragdina salicina and Orsodacne liieola. In Great Britain 44 leaf beetle species were found in the canopies of the investigated orchards. The species with higher abundance were Aphthona euphorbiae. Chaetocnema concinna and Longitarsus parvulus. We concluded, that leaf beetles give high part of the orchard canopy biodiversity and sometimes occur with high species richness and abundance. However, the reasons of their occurrence and their potential role are poorly known.

Animals↗