[Extending traceability of malignant testicular tumours using hospital discharge records: an experience in Veneto Region (Northern Italy)].

Objectives: validation of codes of hospital discharge records (SDO) for identification of new cases of malignant testicular tumour in the Veneto Region (Northern Italy).

Design: record linkage between the regional archive of SDO and the archive of the Veneto Tumour Registry (VTR).

Setting And Participants: extraction of cases from SDO source with ICD-9-CM 186 code for diagnosis and 62.

Association between PM10 concentrations and school absences in proximity of a cement plant in northern Italy.

Dusts are one of the main air pollutants emitted during cement manufacturing. A substantial part of these are breathable particles that are less than 10 μm in diameter (PM10), which represent a potential threat for the health of the exposed population. This study aimed at evaluating the short-term effects of PM10 concentrations on the health of children, aged 6-14 years, who attended the schools in Fumane (Italy), in proximity (1.

Cluster of travel-associated Legionnaires disease in Lazise, Italy, July to August 2011.

Since 18 August 2011, 17 cases of travel-associated Legionnaires' disease have been reported. They were tourists from five European countries who had stayed in five accommodation sites in Lazise, Italy. The dates of symptom onset ranged from 18 July to 25 August 2011.

Menopause not aldosterone-to-renin ratio predicts blood pressure response to a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist in primary care hypertensive patients.

Background: It has been suggested that hypertensive patients with raised aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR) are specifically sensitive to mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs). We have previously shown that patients with an elevated ARR are relatively frequent in the setting of primary care. We therefore designed an interventional study to ascertain whether primary care hypertensive patients with an elevated ARR presented a superior response to MRA treatment than subjects with normal ratio.

[Geographical analysis of mortality in a municipality of the Veneto region, where a landfill is located, and the surrounding area. Years 1995-2003].

Objective: the study explores whether a potential source of environmental pollution (a dumping ground with different kinds of waste, in Spinea, an area adjacent to Venice, population 25,000) could have led to an excess of mortality from certain pathologies, and in particular some cancers which have been reported to be associated to the presence of dumping grounds. Besides traditional estimation techniques, Bayesian estimators (BMR) have been used, which--if based on appropriate statistical analysis techniques--allow to consider the spatial dependence of the data. The smoothed geographical distribution of mortality in the area surrounding the pollution source is then represented as a map and the presence of particular mortality patterns is verified.

A predictive model for the home outdoor exposure to nitrogen dioxide.

The aim of this study is to find and test a predictive model that could be suitable to estimate the outdoor NO(2) concentrations at individual level, by integrating ecological measurements recorded by local monitoring stations with individual information collected by a questionnaire. For this purpose, the data from the Italian centres of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II (ECRHS II) has been used. Outdoor NO(2) concentrations were measured using NO(2) passive sampling tubes (PS-NO(2)), exposed outdoor for 14 days, between January 2001 and January 2003.

Prevalence of hepatitis A among drug users in north-eastern Italy. Is vaccination necessary in low prevalence areas?

Background: The authors report on the prevalence of, and risk factors for, hepatitis A virus (HAV) in a group of drug users in Italy.

Methods: 404 heroin users were recruited and compared with a control group of 107 subjects in the general population.

Results: Drug users born in north-eastern Italy have a prevalence of anti-HAV similar to the control group.

[A cross-sectional survey to evaluate the cardiovascular risk profile in subjects referred to the Verona-ASL 20 general practitioners].

Background: Most of the studies on the identification of cardiovascular risk factors have been conducted either in northern Europe or in the United States. However, genetic as well as dietary factors may vary across different countries and geographical areas and there are few data about the cardiovascular risk profile in our country.

Methods: A sample of 3144 subjects (1463 males, 1681 females aged 35-74 years) were randomly selected among the population qualifying for healthcare assistance, registered with 170 general practitioners.

Aldosterone to Renin ratio in a primary care setting: the Bussolengo study.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of hypertension associated with an elevated aldosterone to renin activity ratio (ARR) in a sample of adults aged 35-74 yr, randomly selected from the population register of the Bussolengo Health District (northern Italy) and representative of the total population of the district. Subjects (n = 1462) were randomly selected from the population register and examined by their general practitioners. Complete data for 1348 individuals were available for final statistical analysis.

[Statistical approaches to test for spatial heterogeneity of relative risks of cause-specific mortality in Alto Vicentino Municipalities (years 1991-2000)].

Objective: To review the statistical approaches to test for spatial heterogeneity of relative risks. Three different statistical tests (Gail, Martuzzi-Hills and Potthoff-Whittinghill) are reviewed and applied--as motivating example--to the analysis of cause-specific mortality records (years: 1991-2000) of the Municipalities belonging to the Local Health Unit Alto Vicentino.

Methods: Spatial heterogeneity was found in 17 (Martuzzi-Hills) and 18 (Gail, Potthoff-Whittinghill) among 70 selected causes of death.