Access and use of WHO essential medicines in Italy.

Background: Many countries use the WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) as a guide for health policy choices to promote the efficient use of healthcare resources or adopt the concept of essential medicines (EMs) to develop their own national list of essential medicines. The aim of this study is to analyse the availability and use of medicines included in the 22nd WHO EML in Italy.

Methods: Using the ATC code (5th level), a comparison was made between the medicines included in the WHO EML and those retrieved from the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) database.

[Pharmacotherapy of Hemophilia A: expenditure and consumption for the year 2022 and future expenditure scenarios.].

In 2021, the national expenditure for blood coagulation factors was 541.4 million, growing steadily over the past decade. Hemophilia A is the congenital hemorrhagic disease with the highest drug consumption and expenditure.

[Parole chiave. Appropriatezza prescrittiva, consumi farmaceutici, emofilia, fattori della coagulazione, malattia di von Willebrand, malattie emorragiche congenite.].

Therapeutic strategies for the treatment of congenital bleeding disorders. Congenital hemorrhagic diseases (CHDs) are a group of rare disorders caused by quantitative or qualitative deficiency of one or more coagulation factors. Haemophilia A, Haemophilia B, and von Willebrand disease are the most common congenital bleeding disorders.

The use of medications approved for alcohol use disorders in Italy.

Background: Italy has the highest per capita alcohol consumption among European countries. Several pharmacological treatments for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are currently available in Italy, but no consumption data are available. A first analysis of national drug consumption, comprising the whole Italian population over a long-term period covering the COVID-19 pandemic, was performed.

Hospital Antibiotic Use during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a major issue in healthcare being correlated to global inappropriate use of antibiotics. The aim of this study was to compare the data on hospital antibiotic consumption in 2020-2021 with those related to 2019 in order to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic prescriptions and appropriate use at national level and in the different geographical areas. To estimate the consumption of antibiotics, two indicators were calculated: "number of DDD per 1000 inhabitants per day" and "number of DDD per 100 hospitalisation days".

Anti-dementia drugs: a descriptive study of the prescription pattern in Italy.

Introduction: Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) and memantine are currently the only anti-dementia drugs (ADDs) approved for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Italy. This nationwide study aims to characterize dementia drug utilization in a population > 65 years, during 2018-2020.

Methods: Different administrative healthcare databases were queried to collect both aggregate and individual data.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on medication use in the older Italian population.

Objective: This study aims to analyse the impact of the pandemic on the amount of use and new medication dispensation for chronic diseases in the Italian population aged 65 years and older (almost 14 million inhabitants).

Methods: The "Pharmaceutical Prescriptions database", which gathers data on medications, reimbursed by the National Health Service and dispensed by community pharmacies, was employed. Data were analysed as amount of use (defined daily dose-DDD per 1000 inhabitants); variation in DDD between 2020 and 2019 was calculated for the 30 categories with major consumption in 2020.

Medication Use and Costs Among Older Adults Aged 90 Years and Older in Italy.

Older adults are often affected by multiple chronic conditions and experience geriatric syndromes that may affect the risk/benefit profile of medications. Little is known about the use of such medications in the older population. This article describes medication use and costs in Italian adults aged ≥90 years.

Orphan Drug Prices and Epidemiology of Rare Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italy in the Years 2014-2019.

Introduction: It is well acknowledged that the price of orphan drugs is normally higher than that resulting from the value-based pricing. A correlation between the cost of therapy for orphan drugs and the epidemiology (prevalence and incidence) of the related rare disease can be hypothesized.

Methods: This analysis includes all approved orphan drugs by European Medicines Agency whose reimbursement was granted for the first therapeutic indication in the years 2014-2019 in Italy.

[Medicines use in older adults in Italy. The OsMed National Report 2019.].

The "National Report on Medicines use in older adults in Italy. Year 2019" provides a summary of data concerning the expenditure and consumption of medicines in individuals aged 65 or above in Italy. In addition to general characteristics and considerations, analyzes conducted on specific conditions, situations and settings are reported, such as the concomitant use in patients with chronic diseases, the use of medicines in hospitals and RSA and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.

[Social inequalities in the use of medicines for the treatment of the major chronic diseases. Evidence from the AIFA Atlas.].

The Atlas of social inequalities in the use of medicines for the treatment of the major chronic diseases is the first national report published on social inequalities in the context of pharmaceutical care in Italy. The results highlighted how the socioeconomic position was strongly correlated with the use of medicines: for many therapeutic categories, the highest per capita consumption rates were recorded in the areas with a higher socioeconomic deprivation index. On the other hand, no correlations emerged between the level of deprivation and adherence and persistence to pharmacological treatment.

[Medicines use in Italy. 2020 OsMed National Report.].

The 2020 National Report "Medicines use in Italy", produced by the National Observatory on the Use of Medicines (OsMed) of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), describes the Italian pharmaceutical assistance through different available information flows that allow to recompose pharmaceutical territorial and hospital assistance, concerning both the national health service and private citizens. In the Report the results of numerous analyzes, both general and focused on specific therapeutic categories and classes, relating to pharmaceutical expenditure and consumption, are reported, but it is also present an in-depth analysis about monitoring registries and conditional reimbursement agreements, and a comparison between the most relevant Italian data and those of nine other European countries.

[Therapeutic drug plans: how many and which ones? Overview of a prescriptive and care appropriateness tool.].

Therapeutic plans (TPs) were introduced in Italy in 2004 in order to ensure the continuity in the prescription of new drugs between specialist physicians and general practitioners (GPs). Over the years this prescription tool was updated several times: starting from a paper form without any template ("paper TP") to a template defined by AIFA to collect specific clinical information, up to a web-based form to collect all information into a database. Over time-critical issues concerning its usefulness have been raised, especially when AIFA established several extensions for TP validity to ensure the social distancing required by the covid-19 pandemic.

[The use of antibiotics in Italy. The national OsMed report 2019.].

The OsMed report "The use of antibiotics in Italy - 2019", produced by the Italian Medicines Agency, shows how the prescriptions of these drugs are still too high in our country, albeit with high variability between different regions. A significant degree of inappropriate use of antibiotics also emerges, especially in respiratory infections. In general, the results highlight the need to implement prevention and control actions in order to counter antibiotic resistance.

Comparison of Demand for Drugs Used for COVID-19 Treatment and Other Drugs During the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy.

This cross-sectional study compares demand for drugs for treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) between the period directly before the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy and the early period of the outbreak.

The Severity of Acute Illness and Functional Trajectories in Hospitalized Older Medical Patients.

Background: Acute diseases and hospitalization are associated with functional deterioration in older persons. Although most of the functional decline occurs before hospitalization in response to the acute diseases, the role played by comorbidity in the functional trajectories around hospitalization is unclear.

Methods: Observational prospective study of 696 elderly individuals hospitalized in two Italian general medicine wards.

Hope in cancer patients: the relational domain as a crucial factor.

Aims And Background: Hope is crucial for patients with cancer. We explored the determinants of hope in patients with cancer using a questionnaire administered over the course of 1 day to an unselected sample of patients at an Italian cancer center.

Methods: A team of oncologists, statisticians, and chaplains developed a questionnaire with medical, psychological, spiritual, and religious content.

Sequential molecular analysis of circulating MCAM/MUC18 expression: a promising disease biomarker related to clinical outcome in melanoma.

MCAM/MUC18 is a cell adhesion molecule associated with higher incidence of relapse in melanoma. The purpose of our study was to evaluate its role as a promising disease biomarker of progression through sequential molecular MCAM/MUC18 RT-PCR assay on serial blood samples collected during the clinical follow-up of 175 melanoma patients in different American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stages. MCAM/MUC18 molecular detection, found at least once in 22 out of the 175 patients, was significantly associated with poor prognosis and death (p < 0.

Acute functional decline before hospitalization in older patients.

Aims: Acute diseases and related hospitalization are crucial events in the disabling process of elderly individuals. Most of the functional decline occurs in the few days before hospitalization, as a result of acute diseases in vulnerable patients. The aim of the present study was to identify determinants of prehospital components of functional decline.

The NASOROSSO (Rednose) project: an Italian study on alcohol consumption in recreational places.

The Nasorosso project of the Italian Youth Department and the National Institute of Health, aimed to raise awareness about drinking and driving under the influence of alcohol among club goers with a series of initiatives. Within the framework of the project, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was measured on 106,406 individuals before and after clubbing in 66 different recreational sites from 11 Italian provinces, over 16 months. Participating individuals were interviewed regarding sociodemographic and environmental characteristics and alcohol intoxicated people were offered to be taken home.

Correlation of Der p 2 T-cell responses with clinical characteristics of children allergic to house dust mite.

Background: An understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the development and maintenance of allergic inflammation and their clinical implications is needed to develop specific and successful treatment for allergy.

Objectives: To characterize in vitro T-cell responses to Der p 2, one of the major allergens of house dust mite (HDM), and investigate potential correlations between clinical and laboratory parameters.

Methods: Forty-two patients monosensitized to HDM and 10 age-matched, healthy children were studied.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in an Italian cohort of type 1 diabetes pediatric patients.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the etiological agent of Johne's disease in ruminants. Recent studies have linked MAP to type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the Sardinian population.