[Impact of the lockdown on children and families: a survey of family pediatricians within a community.] / Impatto del lockdown sui bambini e sulle famiglie: un'indagine dei pediatri di famiglia all'interno di una comunità.

OBJECTIVES: The recent lockdown, resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, has had a strong social and psychological impact on the most fragile individuals and family structures. In the present work we investigated the experience of families without specific elements of social or health vulnerability during the quarantine period that occurred in the spring of 2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between May and July 2020, 22 primary care pediatricians belonging to AUSL Romagna administered to a number of families a questionnaire to detect changes that occurred, during the lockdown, in family environment, school attendance and personal attitudes. RESULTS: A total of 721 questionnaires were collected, analyzing the associations between variables relating to home environment, daily rhythms, school and warning signs in relation to the age of children. As a result of the lockdown, family habits changed in 31% of cases, with a greater presence of the reference figure in 68% of these. Three out of four families reported they had sufficient domestic spaces, and nine out of ten had access to an outdoor, private or condominium space. Daily rhythms were preserved in 56.7% of cases; mood disorders appeared in 30% of adolescent children, followed by sleep, appetite and psychosomatic disorders. One in three children has made progress in terms of evolution and behavior, and one in 5 children has seen their relationships improve. The overall resilience of families during the lockdown period was considered good in 66.3%, sufficient in 31.3% and not satisfactory in only 2.4% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that, in the interviewed families, the simultaneous presence of adults and children at home has generally intensified. Families refer, on the whole, a positive and resilient behavior in the lockdown period, even if initial emotional problems are reported in one out of three children-adolescents. The ability to maintain a family organized structure seems to be partially compromised. Forced cohabitation leads to competition for the same resources of time and space and affects the entire family unit. The school institution emerges as a protective factor for children, young people and also for the well-being of families themselves.

Easy screening for everyone.

OBJECTIVES: to increase participation of immigrant women at cervical cancer screening programmes. DESIGN: pre-post study to evaluate the efficacy of recall by phone call in immigrant women. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 6,133 immigrant women in Cesena (Emilia-Romagna Region, Northern Italy) who have never made a Pap test in the last three years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: increment of percentage of immigrant women who participated in cervical cancer screening. RESULTS: the recall by phone call and counselling by linguistic mediators to immigrant women from high-pressure to migrate Country moved their participation percentage to cervical screening programmes from 46% (period 2006-2008) to 56% (period 2011-2013). Linguistic mediators contacted 2,131 of these women and they verified that 1,437 of them have not made a Pap test in the last three years. These women were suggested to do the Pap test and 555 of them (39%) did it; these tests cost about 25 euros each for counselling and telephone recall. Pap tests, colposcopies, and histology results permitted to find out and treat: 2 cervical dysplasia of grade I (mild), 3 of grade II (moderate), and 3 of grade III (severe). These 6 women with moderate or severe dysplasia had an average age of 37 years and have never done a Pap test. The cost to find out these cases of moderate or severe dysplasia was about 2,000 euros each. CONCLUSION: the recall phone call and counselling by linguistic mediators is effective and low cost to increase the participation of foreign women in screening programmes.

[Prevalence of and risk factors for functional dependence in the non-institutionalised elderly population of 11 Italian Regions: results of the Argento Study, 2002.]. / La prevalenza e i fattori di rischio per la non autosufficienza nella popolazione anziana non istituzionalizzata in 11 Regioni italiane: risultati dello Studio Argento, 2002.

INTRODUCTION: Elderly people who are not capable of performing the basic activities of daily living (ADL) represent a fragile population at greater risk for morbidity and mortality. In order to better describe the size and characteristics of the non self-sufficient population in Italy, we evaluated data from the Argento Study, a survey conducted in 2002 in 11 Italian regions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A sample of 210 non-institutionalised elderly individuals aged >65 years was selected in each region (310 in the Campania region) by the cluster sampling technique. Home interviews were performed using a standardised questionnaire which included 6 questions on ADL. Participants were considered to have a severe level of dependence if unable to perform any of the 6 activities of daily living independently, partially dependent if able to perform only 1-5 activities independently, and self-sufficient if able to perform all of the activities. A multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate risk factors associated with functional dependence. RESULTS: Complete information regarding ADLs was available for 2,355 (99%) of the interviewed subjects. Of these, 78% (95% CI 76-80%) were found to be self-sufficient, 19% (95% CI 18-22%) partially dependent and 3% (95% CI 1.9-3.2%) severely dependent. Twenty percent of self sufficient subjects and 18% of partially dependent subjects lived alone. Multivariate analysis showed a statistically significant association between being either partially or severely dependent and the following factors: age >75 years (OR 2.8), female sex (OR 1.5), having >2 chronic disorders, (OR 2.8), history of ictus (OR 2.8), having a cognitive disorder (OR 2.6), vision problems (OR 2.3) and hearing problems (OR 1.9). DISCUSSION: These results highlight the presence of a substantial number of partially dependent elderly people that live in the community and that have numerous medical problems and a high frequency of cognitive disorders. It is essential that these fragile elderly subjects be identified, through the active involvement of general practitioners, so that the necessary measures may be undertaken to improve quality of life and of emergency interventions (for example, during heat waves).

[Design and implementation of evidence-based measures for the prevention and treatment of tobacco use disorder: the experience of the Public Health Department of the Cesena Local Health Authority]. / Progettazione e realizzazione di interventi basati su prove di efficacia nella prevenzione e cura del tabagismo: l'esperienza del Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica dell'Azienda Sanitaria di Cesena.

Tobacco smoke is the main cause of preventable death in Italy. It is important therefore to develop evidence-based measures aimed at preventing and treating tobacco addiction. This article describes the "Smoke-free" community project, implemented in the territory of the Cesena Local Health Authority. The success of the project shows that it is possible to carry out inter-sectorial and evidence-based prevention. It also leads to considerations about the role of Prevention Services in the fight against tobacco smoke.

["Quality of life" of the elderly population: a survey to evaluate elderly people's self -perceived health in 11 Italian regions (Argento Study, 2002).]. / La "Qualità di vita" nella popolazione anziana: indagine sulla percezione dello stato di salute in 11 regioni italiane (Studio Argento, 2002).

Self-perception of health influences the quality of life of the elderly. In order to identify the more vulnerable elderly and guide interventions to improve health in this population group, we evaluated self-perceived health of elderly people through a set of 4 questions called the "Healthy Days Measures", which were incorporated into the Argento Study. The latter is a study performed to evaluate the health status of the elderly population in 11 Italian regions (2002). Methods. Following cluster sampling, 2,369 elderly subjects (>64 years) were interviewed at home, by trained personnel, through a standardized questionnaire. Self-rated health (on a scale from poor to excellent) was estimated, as well as the average number of days during the previous month when physical or mental health was not good and the number of activity limitation days. Multivariate analysis was performed using Sudaan software and by considering the following outcomes: self-perceived health, physical or mental problems or activity limitations for more than 1 day. Prevalence rates by gender, age, civil status, education level, home situation, place of residence, chronic diseases, dependence on a caregiver, sedentariness and social isolation, were calculated. Results. 34.7% of interviewed subjects rated their health as good to excellent. A significantly lower proportion of women, older subjects (>75 years), those with a lower education level, those residing in southern Italy, those suffering from chronic illnesses, those dependent on a caregiver, and socially isolated or sedentary subjects rated their health favorably. The mean number of physically and mentally unhealthy days (summary index) was estimated to be 11.3 per month. Multivariate analysis showed that female gender was significantly associated with all outcomes considered; age and education level did not show any significant associations with the outcomes considered; depression was significantly associated with self-rated health and with number of mentally unhealthy days; physical dependence and sedentariness were associated with an increased risk for all outcomes, especially activity limitation days. Conclusions. These results suggest that depression, physical dependence and sedentariness influence self-perceived health more so than socio-demographic characteristics. Public Health may have a relevant role in promoting and guiding interventions to prevent these factors in the elderly. The introduction of Healthy Days measures in health surveillance systems may be an important public health tool for monitoring perceived health status and in intervention planning and evaluation at both the national and local levels.

Cisplatin, dacarbazine with or without subcutaneous interleukin-2, and interferon alpha-2b in advanced melanoma outpatients: results from an Italian multicenter phase III randomized clinical trial.

PURPOSE: Phase II and III studies have shown that the addition of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon alpha-2b (IFN alpha-2b) in multiagent chemotherapy (CT) for advanced melanoma increases overall response (OR), albeit without clear evidence of an improvement in overall survival (OS). Treatment with high-dose IL-2 can cause severe toxicity and is normally administered in an inpatient setting. We conducted a multicenter prospective randomized clinical trial in outpatients with metastatic melanoma to compare CT with biochemotherapy (bioCT) using immunomodulant doses of IL-2 and IFN alpha-2b. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred seventy-six eligible patients with advanced melanoma were randomized to receive CT (cisplatin and dacarbazine with or without carmustine every 21 days) or bioCT comprising the same CT regimen followed by low-dose subcutaneous IL-2 for 8 days and IFN alpha-2b three times a week, both for six cycles. RESULTS: At a median follow-up of 18 (CT) and 16 (bioCT) months, median OS was 9.5 versus 11.0 months (P =.51), respectively. In the 89 CT-arm patients, 18 ORs (20.2%) (three complete responders [CRs] and 15 partial responders [PRs]) were observed according to World Health Organization criteria. In the 87 bioCT-arm patients, 22 ORs (25.3%) (three CRs and 19 PRs) (P =.70) were recorded. Treatment-related toxicity was fairly similar in both arms. CONCLUSION: The addition of low-dose immunotherapy did not produce a statistically significant advantage in OS, time to progression, or OR. However, the 11-month median OS in the bioCT arm does not differ greatly from the best results with high-dose IL-2-containing regimens reported in the literature. Furthermore, our treatment schedule was carried out on outpatients and had an acceptable level of toxicity.