Asthma, COPD, Respiratory, and Allergic Health Effects in an Adult Population Living near an Italian Refinery: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Globally, 545 million people suffer from chronic respiratory diseases with a wide geographical variability. Risk factors for asthma are both genetic and related to several environmental factors (internal and external pollutants); these also have an important role in the occurrence of COPD. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of asthma, COPD, and asthma/COPD overlap (ACO) in an adult population living in two municipalities located in the Po Valley. METHODS: A standardized questionnaire on respiratory symptoms and sociodemographic characteristics was self-administered to a random sample of the adult population aged 20-64 years, living near a refinery in Northern Italy during the period between 2016 and 2019. Logistic and multinomial regression were implemented to explore factors associated with asthma, COPD, and ACO. RESULTS: In total, 1108 subjects filled out the questionnaire, the mean age was 48.02 ± 12.34 years (range 21-68), and 53% of the respondents/participants were female. Half of the responders were non-smokers, but the frequency of current and former smokers was significantly greater in men than in women (p < 0.001). The likelihood of being a probable case of asthma decreased with increasing age and increased for smokers. Tobacco smoke was associated with the presence of COPD and ACO. CONCLUSION: Respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD are common in the general population, with differences among countries worldwide. Our findings show, on the basis of the main confirmed risk factor, namely smoking, that it is useful to plan target programs and actions in order to reduce smoking, thus improving the quality of life in public health.

Health status of petrochemical workers: a narrative review.

SUMMARY: Professional exposure to benzene has been extensively investigated by occupational medicine, leading to strict regulation of exposure threshold values. However, the petrochemical industry utilizes many chemical substances, whose exposure, without effective control and mitigation actions, could influence the health status over time. The aim of this narrative review is to describe health status of petrochemical workers related to occupational exposures, inquiring literature from 1980 to present. We used the PubMed and Web of Science search engines. As regards non-neoplastic diseases, despite heterogeneous prevalence estimates, we could say that standardized mortality rate (SMR) for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes does not increase overall, compared to reference populations; a possible explanation may be the "healthy worker effect". Attention should be paid to color disperception and respiratory symptoms, due to toxic or irritating substances exposure. Studies concerning neoplastic pathology have mainly investigated mortality outcomes, finding no increase in cancer, except for melanoma or other skin cancers and leukemia. As regards the former, however, it is not excluded that other risk factors may contribute (e.g. UV rays in offshore workers), while for leukemia, only the most recent studies have analyzed various subtypes of hematopoietic tumors, highlighting a possible risk for the development of myelodysplastic syndrome. The risk of pleural mesothelioma was also increased, likely due to asbestos exposures, while the risk of death from prostate cancer remains controversial.

Mortality for neurological diseases and pesticides: etiological hypotheses by a spatial analysis in the province of Pavia.

BACKGROUND: Neurological and neurodegenerative diseases are multifactorial and their causes are not well understood yet. Among the relevant risk factors, pesticides and the productive activities in which they are used are included. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association of mortality from neurological diseases within the Province of Pavia (Italy) with the agricultural activities, as a proxy of pesticides exposure. METHODS: Population data for 2012 were provided by the local health unit (ATS) and by the registry office of the Regional Health Service. Spatial analyses were carried out by both a classical and Bayesian approach, to obtain a mortality map of the relative risk for neurological diseases in the Province of Pavia. Spatial distribution of main agricultural activities within the same territory, used as proxy of pesticides use, was made possible by data from the Geoportale Territoriale of the Lombardy region. Finally, a comparison between spatial distribution of mortality from neurological diseases and spatial distribution of main agricultural activities has been conducted. RESULTS: Mortality for neurological diseases in the Province of Pavia in 2012 was 4.41 for men and 6.53 for women per 10,000 subjects living in this area. Female mortality for neurological diseases showed a cluster in the Oltrepò district, where viticulture and fruit/horticulture are more common than elsewhere. More precisely, Bayesian relative risk (RR) had higher values in comparison with the median RR of the Province (100.8), with a posterior probability (PP) between 0.75 and 0.95 (not significant). Similarly, mortality for Parkinson's disease in women showed RR greater than the median value of the Province (100.6), with PP between 0.25 and 0.75 (not significant). CONCLUSIONS: Notwithstanding the ecological nature of the study, our results suggest the need to further investigate the possible link between pesticides exposure or related activities and neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson's disease. An ad hoc study on a random sample of the population living in the Province of Pavia, with the collection of individual data by means of standardized questionnaire, would allow to control for biases usually present when an ecological study design is applied.

Predictors of outcome in a large retrospective cohort of patients with transverse myelitis.

BACKGROUND: Transverse myelitis (TM) is an inflammatory disorder that can be idiopathic or associated with central nervous system autoimmune/dysimmune inflammatory diseases, connective tissue autoimmune diseases, or post-infectious neurological syndromes. Prognosis of initial TM presentations is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To identify outcome predictors in TM. METHODS: Retrospective study on isolated TM at onset. Scores ⩾3 on the modified Rankin scale (mRS) marked high disability. RESULTS: A total of 159 patients were identified. TM was classified as follows: idiopathic (I-TM, n = 53), post-infectious (PI-TM, n = 48), associated with multiple sclerosis (MS-TM, n = 51), or neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders/connective tissue autoimmune diseases/neurosarcoidosis ( n = 7). At follow-up (median, 55 months; interquartile range, 32-80), 42 patients were severely disabled, and patients with I-TM or PI-TM showed the worst outcomes. Predictors of disability were infectious antecedents, sphincter and pyramidal symptoms, high mRS scores, blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier damage, lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesions on univariate analysis, and older age (odds ratio (OR), 1.1; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.0-1.1), overt/subclinical involvement of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) (OR, 9.4; 95% CI, 2.2-41.0), complete TM (OR, 10.8; 95% CI, 3.4-34.5) on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Our findings help define prognosis and therapies in TM at onset. Infectious antecedents and PNS involvement associate with severe prognosis. Nerve conduction studies and lumbar MRI could improve the prognostic assessment of this condition.