Cross-sectional study to develop and describe psychometric characteristics of a patient-reported instrument (PROFFIT) for measuring financial toxicity of cancer within a public healthcare system.

Objectives: To measure and explain financial toxicity (FT) of cancer in Italy, where a public healthcare system exists and patients with cancer are not expected (or only marginally) to pay out-of-pocket for healthcare.

Setting: Ten clinical oncological centres, distributed across Italian macroregions (North, Centre, South and Islands), including hospitals, university hospitals and national research institutes.

Participants: From 8 October 2019 to 11 December 2019, 184 patients, aged 18 or more, who were receiving or had received within the previous 3 months active anticancer treatment were enrolled, 108 (59%) females and 76 (41%) males.

What women think about menopause: An Italian survey.

Introduction: Menopause is a critical period for most women who experience associated symptoms while they are still socially and individually active.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to report how Italian women perceive and approach menopause.

Materials And Methods: A survey of 1028 Italian women aged 45-65 years was conducted by the Italian Center for Studies of Social Investments (CENSIS) through anonymous interviews using two methods: CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) and CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing).

A qualitative analysis and development of a conceptual model assessing financial toxicity in cancer patients accessing the universal healthcare system.

Purpose: This paper illustrates a conceptual model for a new patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) aimed at measuring financial toxicity (FT) in oncological setting in Italy, where citizens are provided universal healthcare coverage.

Methods: Focus groups with overall 34 patients/caregivers in three different Italian centers (from Northern, Centre, and Southern Italy) and an open-ended survey with 97 medical oncologists were undertaken. Transcripts from focus groups and the open-ended survey were analyzed to identify themes and links between themes.

Value based healthcare for rare diseases: efficiency, efficacy, equity.

The paper reviews the literature available on value based health care and relates it to rare diseases. Starting from the economic definition of value and healthcare evaluation, efficacy and efficiency, it includes the equity dimension to define value-based healthcare. It embraces also the cultural framework associated to the concepts of health and disease, normal and pathological, right or wrong for the patient.

Development and validation of a patient-reported outcome tool to assess cancer-related financial toxicity in Italy: a protocol.

Introduction: Financial toxicity (FT) is a well-recognised problem in oncology. US-based studies have shown that: (a) cancer patients have a 2.7 times risk of bankruptcy; (b) patients who declare bankruptcy have a 79% greater hazard of death; (c) financial burden significantly impairs quality of life (QoL) and (d) reduces compliance and adherence to treatment prescriptions.

A comparison between the costs of dialysis treatments in Marche Region, Italy: Macerata and Tolentino hospitals.

Backgrounds: The main aim of this study was to estimate the costs of different dialysis modalities through the analysis of administrative databases in the Macerata and Tolentino hospitals, in Italy.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed two main categories: medical direct costs (all the monetary costs whose consumption is wholly referable to dialysis treatment) and non-medical direct costs (all the costs that make treatment possible but that are outside the medical care sector), related to 2013. Attention was focused on the analysis of the extracorporeal dialysis methods (HD, HDF/AFB, HDF/MID/HFR) and the peritoneal dialysis (APD, CAPD).

[A Censis survey on atrial fibrillation awareness in the general population and among general practitioners and affected patients in Italy].

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice, particularly in the elderly. AF is considered an independent predictor of mortality and risk factor for stroke. AF-related stroke is usually severe and associated with a high rate of mortality and disability.