Evaluation of hospital readmissions for surgical site infections in Italy.

Background: The objectives of this investigation are to assess the prevalence of hospital readmissions for surgical site infections (SSIs) in patients aged ≥18 in Italy and to describe the clinical characteristics of these patients and evaluate the possible association with readmission for SSIs. Methods: A retrospective epidemiological study was conducted between January and May 2015 considering a sample of patients aged ≥18 years admitted to the surgical wards of two hospitals in Naples and undergoing surgery in the year 2014. Results: 3.8% of patients had been readmitted and 28.8% of them were readmitted to hospital due to SSIs. The multiple logistic regression model showed that readmissions for SSIs were significantly more common in smokers (odds ratio [OR] = 3.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.13-8.69), in patients with immunosuppression status (OR = 8.28; 95% CI = 1.76-38.87), in patients with low serum albumin (OR = 3.07; 95% CI = 1.05-9.01) and in patients who had undergone a surgical procedure classified as contaminated (OR = 10:44; 95% CI = 3.11-35.01) compared with those that had undergone a surgical procedure classified as clean. Conclusions: The results point to the need that hospital infection prevention strategies are implemented in order to reduce morbidity and mortality for patients. Moreover, the measures taken to prevent infections would lead to a reduction in health spending since almost one third of readmissions to the hospital in our study were due to SSIs.

Evaluation of the use of health care services for non-communicable disease and prevention by children and adolescents in south Italy.

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this investigation are to evaluate the use of health care services for non-communicable disease and prevention by children and adolescents and to identify the factors linked to the use of health care services. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted between December 2014 and January 2015 among 1198 parents of students aged between 5 and 18 years attending 12 selected schools in the geographic area of Salerno and Naples, Italy, using a self-administered questionnarie. RESULTS: 68.2% of parents stated that had visited their general practitioner (GP) or family pediatrician (FP) with their child in the last year. 66.2% of children had had at least one visit to a specialist and more than half (54.8%) had had preventive care visits in the last year. The use of preventive care visits within last year was significantly higher amongst female, among those who had visited their GP or FP and among those who had a parent with a college degree or higher. The proportion of emergency department visits and hospital admissions reported were 12.8% and 4.7% respectively. CONCLUSION: This results highlights the need of educational interventions for parents and adolescents in order to increase the utilization of preventive health services.

Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about Exclusive Breastfeeding among Women in Italy.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of women about breastfeeding in Italy. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out between January and June 2016 in the Campania Region among mothers who were going to six public vaccination centers. Data were collected by two researchers through face to face interviews. RESULTS: Two thirds of the women had heard on exclusive breastfeeding (64.6%) and the 71% of them knew that exclusive breastfeeding should be practiced for at least six months. Nearly all mothers had breastfed their child (93.2%), but only 33.3% of them had practiced exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months. Women who agree that breastfeeding creates a positive relationship between the mother and the child, who practiced exclusive breastfeeding during the hospital stay, and who had received breastfeeding advice at hospital discharge were more likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this survey may be helpful to policy makers and managers when planning educational interventions on breastfeeding both during pregnancy and during hospital admissions for delivery. Indeed, there is a need to increase efforts to make mothers aware of health benefits of breastfeeding for themselves and their offspring during their hospital stay after delivery. This research has the potential to increase exclusive breastfeeding rates and subsequent maternal and child health outcomes.