Personalized paths for physical activity: developing a person-centered quantitative function to determine a customized amount of exercise and enhancing individual commitment.

BACKGROUND: Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are leading causes of mortality. These conditions are also known as chronic diseases of long duration and generally slow progression. Physical activity (PA) is a main factor to delay symptoms and consequences of NCDs. In last decades, reduced physical exercise has been observed across all ages. Despite educational campaigns aimed at modifying unhealthy habits, it is difficult to promote healthy lifestyles in general population. Poor interest, lack of motivation, as well as career and family commitments hinder people's participation in regular PA programs. In this study we propose a theoretical person-centred approach to actively involve general population in enhancing their opportunity to perform PA based on personalized needs and targets. METHODS: We defined four profiles of baseline PA levels (inactive, moderately inactive, moderately active, and active people) by referring to Metabolic equivalents (METs) based on individual answers to General Practice Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPPAQ). RESULTS: Based on the answers to the GPPAQ and by computing the related METs for each profile of baseline exercise levels, we developed an innovative person-centered web-based algorithm/function for enhancing and measuring PA participation in community settings. This function can compute evidence-based standardized profiles of participants, personalized goals of PA being functional to the purpose of maintaining or gaining health benefits, as well as the type and duration of PA needed to reach these goals. CONCLUSION: It might be speculated that this approach would be a reliable method for increasing people's self-efficacy and population adherence to recommended levels of PA. However, this theoretical proposal requires to be implemented in further research.

Updated incidence and costs of hip fractures in elderly Italian population.

PURPOSE: We aimed at updating our previous researches about the burden of hip fractures in elderly Italian population. METHODS: We analyzed national hospitalizations records from 2000 to 2014 to compute age- and sex-specific standardized rates. RESULTS: 1,335,375 hospitalizations were recorded in people ≥ 65 (1,031,816 women: 77.27% and 303,559 men: 22.73%) over 15 years, passing from 73,493 in year 2000 to 94,525 in 2014, with an overall increase of 28.62% over the 15-year period (females: + 25.1%; males: + 41.2%). About 84.9% of total hip fractures were suffered by patients aged ≥ 75 years old. Direct hospitalization costs and rehabilitation costs increased from 343 to 457 million Euros and from 392 to 504 million Euros from year 2000 to 2014, respectively. Overall costs of hip fractures raised from 735 to 961 million Euros (+ 30.74% from 2000 to 2014). CONCLUSION: The number of hip fractures and related hospitalizations costs in Italian elderly population is still increasing due to the absolute number of fractures occurring in people ≥ 65 years old and particularly over 75 years old.

Air Pollution and Estimated Health Costs Related to Road Transportations of Goods in Italy: A First Healthcare Burden Assessment.

Background: The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine has performed a preliminary assessment of the health impact attributable to road freight traffic in Italy. Methods: We estimated fine particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) generated by road transportation of goods in Italy considering the number of trucks, the emission factors and the average annual distance covered in the year 2016. Simulations on data concerning Years of Life Lost (YLL) attributable to PM2.5 (593,700) and nitrogen oxides NO2 (200,700) provided by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) were used as a proxy of healthcare burden. We set three different healthcare burden scenarios, varying from 1/5 to 1/10 of the proportion of the overall particulate matter attributable to road freight traffic in Italy (about 7% on a total of 2262 tons/year). Results: Road freight traffic in Italy produced about 189 tons of PM10, 147 tons of PM2.5 and 4125 tons of NOx in year 2016, resulting in annual healthcare costs varying from 400 million up to 1.2 billion EUR per year. Conclusion: Road freight traffic has a relevant impact on air pollution and healthcare costs, especially if considered over a 10-year period. Any solution able to significantly reduce the road transportation of goods could decrease avoidable mortality due to air pollution and related costs.

Incidence and costs of hip fractures in elderly Italian population: first regional-based assessment.

We analyzed for the first-time hospitalizations and costs for hip fractures in the elderly Italian population at the regional level from 2007 to 2014. The number of fractures and the overall costs increased, mainly due to people aged > 85 in all the Italian regions, although at different rates. OBJECTIVE: We aimed at evaluating the burden of hip fractures in elderly Italian population at the regional level. METHODS: We analyzed national hospitalizations records 2007-2014 to compute standardized hospitalizations rates (SHR) due to hip fractures per 10,000 inhabitants at the regional level and average annual percent change (AAPC), along with related costs. RESULTS: Hip fractures occurred in people over 65 years increased from 89,601 to 94,525 over 8 years. The overall increase in the number of hospitalizations is attributable only to people aged ≥85. Actually, in the 65-74 and 74-84 age groups, total hospitalizations decreased from 13,396 to 12,268 and from 40,733 to 37,786 respectively, while they increased from 35,472 to 44,471 in people aged ≥85 (women = 28,605 and men = 6,867 in 2007; women = 34,636 and men = 9,835 in 2014). Almost 50% of hip fractures were found to have been experienced by patients aged 85 or older in 2014 (with women ≥ 85 representing 36.6% of total fractures), in accordance with the higher prevalence of osteoporosis in this age group. Fractures increase in people aged ≥ 85 was two-folds higher in males (AAPC: + 5.0%; P > 0.05) than in females (AAPC: + 2.6%; P > 0.05). Increases in the number of hospitalizations and related costs were observed for all the regions, with the only exception of Lazio (AAPC: - 4.6%; P < 0.05) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (hip fractures AAPC: - 1.9%; P < 0.05). The most significant increases in hip fractures and related costs were recorded in Calabria (+ 2.7%), Campania (+ 2.2%), and Lombardia (+ 2.0%). At the national level, SHR per 10,000 inhabitants due to hip fractures decreased in all three examined age groups (65-74, 75-84, and ≥ 85), both in males and females during the 8-year period (P < 0.05). This reduction was confirmed also when looking at the regional dataset, with few exceptions concerning female population (AAPC not statistically significant). When looking at the SHR per 10,000 inhabitants for the entire nation, we recorded a decreasing trend also in females aged 85 years old and over but not in males ≥ 85. Actually, men aged ≥ 85 showed increased HR per 10,000 in 10 regions out of 20. Direct hospitalization and rehabilitation costs increased in all the regions over the 8-year period (although at different rates), except for Friuli Venezia Giulia (where costs decreased from 21 to 19 million Euros) and Lazio (from 107 to 87 million Euros). Lombardia and Piemonte were the regions spending the highest amount of money to treat hip fractures in elderly people (151 and 95 million Euros in the year 2014, respectively). CONCLUSION: Hip fractures in the elderly population remain a major public health issue in all Italian regions, especially in people aged 85 years old and over, although the problem is starting to become more controlled compared with the past. Women represent the majority of hip fractures, but the highest increasing rate has been observed in men. Pilot projects at regional level targeting elderly people at higher risk of fractures and treatment compliance are needed.

Reply to the Letter of Terracini B. et al. "Comment on Piscitelli et al. Hospitalizations in Pediatric and Adult Patients for All Cancer Type in Italy: The EPIKIT Study under the E.U. COHEIRS Project on Environment and Health". Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 495.

A letter to the IJERPH Editor was submitted by Terracini B. et al. as a comment to our latest paper "Hospitalizations in Pediatric and Adult Patients for all Cancer Type in Italy:[...].

Hospitalizations in Pediatric and Adult Patients for All Cancer Type in Italy: The EPIKIT Study under the E.U. COHEIRS Project on Environment and Health.

Background: Cancer Registries (CRs) remain the gold standard for providing official epidemiological estimations. However, due to CRs' partial population coverage, hospitalization records might represent a valuable tool to provide additional information on cancer occurrence and expenditures at national/regional level for research purposes. The Epidemiology of Cancer in Italy (EPIKIT) study group has been built up, within the framework of the Civic Observers for Health and Environment: Initiative of Responsibility and Sustainability (COHEIRS) project under the auspices of the Europe for Citizens Program, to assess population health indicators. Objective: To assess the burden of all cancers in Italian children and adults. Methods: We analyzed National Hospitalization Records from 2001 to 2011. Based on social security numbers (anonymously treated), we have excluded from our analyses all re-hospitalizations of the same patients (n = 1,878,109) over the entire 11-year period in order to minimize the overlap between prevalent and incident cancer cases. To be more conservative, only data concerning the last five years (2007-2011) have been taken into account for final analyses. The absolute number of hospitalizations and standardized hospitalization rates (SHR) were computed for each Italian province by sex and age-groups (0-19 and 20-49). Results: The EPIKIT database included a total of 4,113,169 first hospital admissions due to main diagnoses of all tumors. The annual average number of hospital admissions due to cancer in Italy has been computed in 2362 and 43,141 hospitalizations in pediatric patients (0-19 years old) and adults (20-49 years old), respectively. Women accounted for the majority of cancer cases in adults aged 20-49. As expected, the big city of Rome presented the highest average annual number of pediatric cancers (n = 392, SHR = 9.9), followed by Naples (n = 378; SHR = 9.9) and Milan (n = 212; SHR = 7.3). However, when we look at SHR, minor cities (i.e., Imperia, Isernia and others) presented values >10 per 100,000, with only 10 or 20 cases per year. Similar figures are shown also for young adults aged 20-49. Conclusions: In addition to SHR, the absolute number of incident cancer cases represents a crucial piece of information for planning adequate healthcare services and assessing social alarm phenomena. Our findings call for specific risk assessment programs at local level (involving CRs) to search for causal relations with environmental exposures.

Diabetes and Obesity as Independent Risk Factors for Osteoporosis: Updated Results from the ROIS/EMEROS Registry in a Population of Five Thousand Post-Menopausal Women Living in a Region Characterized by Heavy Environmental Pressure.

Objectives: We aimed to analyze bone mineralization and the effect of different risk factors for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Methods: We found 4909 postmenopausal subjects within ≥10,000 records from the ROIS/EMEROS (Ionian and Salento Osteoporosis Registry/Euro Mediterranean Registry of Osteoporosis) registry, a population study carried out in an area characterized by heavy environmental pressure between Brindisi and Taranto from 2009 to 2016. All subjects were assessed via phalangeal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) to evaluate their bone mineralization (assessed via amplitude dependent speed of sound (AD-SoS)) and the association between demineralization and the presence of other conditions or risk factors. Results: Mean age was 64 ± 9.5 years and mean body mass index (BMI) was 28.7 ± 3.5 kg/m². Pearson correlation analyses revealed a negative association between bone mineralization (AD-SoS) and BMI (p < 0.001). By using multivariate logistic regression analysis, we observed significant values of odds ratios (ORs) of osteoporosis (adjusted for age, physical activity, and the use of drugs known to increase the risk of fractures) in subjects with diabetes and obesity: 1.39 (confidence interval (CI): 1.05-1.83) and 1.46 (CI: 1.20-1.78), respectively. A statistically significant linear trend of higher ORs of osteoporosis was found for increasing values of BMI. Conclusions: Our study confirmed the high impact of obesity and type 1 and type 2 diabetes on osteoporosis.

Melanoma in the Italian Population and Regional Environmental Influences: A National Retrospective Survey on 2001-2008 Hospitalization Records.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the burden of regional environmental factors influencing the incidence of Melanoma in the Italian population and overcome the problem of partial population coverage by local cancer registries and thematic archives. METHODS: We analyzed the Italian national hospitalization records from 2001 to 2008 provided by the Ministry of Health, excluding hospital re-admissions of the same patients, in order to assess the occurrence of Melanoma over a 8-year period. Data were presented by age groups (absolute number of cases from 20 to ≥80 years old) and per Region (rates per 100,000 inhabitants) for each year. RESULTS: The overall number of new hospitalizations due to malignant Melanoma increased by 16.8% from 2001 (n = 4846) to 2008 (n = 5823), with the rate per 100,000 inhabitants passing from 10.5 to almost 12.0 at a national level. The majority of new diagnoses of malignant Melanoma was observed in two age groups: 61-70 years old (from 979 in 2001 up to 2109 in 2008, corresponding to 15.1 and 18.1 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively) and 71-80 years old (from 954 in 2001 up to 1141 in 2008, corresponding to 19.5 and 21.8 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively). The number of hospitalizations due to Melanoma increased in all age groups with the only exception of the youngest patients aged 20-30 years old. The highest increases over the 8-year period were observed in people aged ≥81 years old (+34%), 61-70 years old (+20%) and surprisingly in the age group 31-40 years old (+17%). Southern Regions showed lower hospitalization rates compared to Northern Italy and Region Lazio. The highest increases between 2001 and 2008 were observed in Trentino/Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Valla d'Aosta and Veneto Region. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalizations due to malignant Melanoma in Italy seem to be influenced by environmental or population-related factors showing a decreasing incidence rate from the Northern to Southern Regions.