Every cockroach is beautiful to his mother's eyes"? A multicentric study on the perception of child's health status according to the parent.

Introduction: Childhood obesity is a social health problem in the Western World and an important goal is to analyze and correct risk factors. However, part of the problem could be determined by a different perception of the weight. Material and methods: In October 2019, we conducted a cross-sectional study in which a questionnaire was administered to the parents of primary and secondary school children in South-East Tuscany, Italy. The aim was to determine the association between children's Body Mass Index (BMI) and the parent's perception. Results: Analysis was carried out on 1,405 complete questionnaires. We found that most parents wrongly perceive the weight of their children. 88.3% of parents with obese children believe that their children are of normal weight or only "a little overweight". 67.6% of parents who have overweight children think that their children are of normal weight (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results show a misperception of the weight of the children in the parents eyes. The acquisition of healthy behaviour during childhood is extremely important for health in adulthood and for avoiding the onset of associated diseases. Therefore, food education becomes a crucial objective. Children and parents need to increase consciousness of the correct weight and diseases resulting from bad nutrition.

[Emergency department overuse amongst urban and rural areas: a retrospective descriptive analysis in Southern Tuscany.] / Differenze di ricorso al pronto soccorso tra aree urbane e rurali: analisi retrospettiva nella Toscana meridionale.

BACKGROUND: The phenomenon of repeated accesses to the emergency department (ED) by users, the so-called frequent users, is frequent and documented. The totality of the EDs often have to deal with patients who come several times in short periods of time. In this study we try to analyze the characteristics of these users and the differences between the emergency department in rural, zonal or urban areas. METHODS: A retrospective observational multicentre analysis was conducted using the access data in 2018 in the EDs of Southern Tuscany. The EDs have been classified into three different categories based on the urbanization of the considered areas. The data were processed using Microsoft Excel and R Project software. A statistical analysis was carried out by calculating the Chi square (χ2). RESULTS: The results show that frequent users have a higher average age, longer stay times in the emergency rooms, an increase in higher priority access codes (yellow and red) and a higher percentage of hospitalizations and transfers; there are not significant differences with respect to the dropout rates. Among the diagnoses, pregnancy and fever are among the most frequent found among frequent users under-65, while among the over-65 there is a significant presence of diagnoses of congestive heart failure. The characterization of frequent users provided basic information on their peculiarities and on the most frequent problems. CONCLUSIONS: In order to reduce this phenomenon it is important to study the reasons for access and re-access in the EDs so as to optimally plan the territorial Health Services, develop proper interventions and follow the chronical illness.

The seroprevalence of the hepatitis B virus in Italian medical students after 3 decades since the introduction of universal vaccination.

OBJECTIVES: Since 1991 hepatitis B vaccination has been mandatory for all newborns in Italy. The aim of the study was to verify the long-term seroprevalence and the efficacy of hepatitis B vaccination in medical students of the University of Siena. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on a population of 850 medical students of the University of Siena (322 males and 528 females, mean age: 23 years) by obtaining from the medical reports the serological analysis data for the total anti-hepatitis B antibodies (HBsAb) and information on hepatitis B vaccination (number of vaccine doses, age at the first vaccination, time since the final vaccination dose, country of origin). Raw odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were initially calculated to evaluate the association between 2 variables. The adjusted ORs were then calculated using a multivariate logistic regression model to study the association between the variables and the possible confounding factors. RESULTS: Overall, 593 students (69.76%) were immunized against hepatitis B, while 257 (30.24%) had HBsAb antibody titer <10 mIU/ml. From the OR calculation, an inverse correlation emerged between seropositivity to hepatitis B and age, and between seropositivity to hepatitis B and the age at the first vaccination dose. There was also a correlation between seropositivity and the number of vaccination doses received. By performing the multivariate logistic analysis, correlations with these variables were confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: A significant part of the studied population was not immunized against hepatitis B virus, despite the fact that vaccination had been carried out as prescribed by law. The results of the study reaffirm the importance of health surveillance in subjects at biological risk such as medical students. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2022;35(1):75-80.