Background And Objectives: A cross-sectional biomonitoring study was carried out to investigate exposure to incinerator emission in relation to the body burden of selected biomarkers in the population living around the plant.
Methods: Approximately 500 people, aged 18-69 yrs, living within 4 km from the incinerator were randomly selected form the population register. Exposure was measured through fall-out maps of particulate matter (PM), used as tracer for incinerator emissions.
Unlabelled: "OBJECTIVES: to identify groups of people in relation to the perception of environmental risk and to assess the main characteristics using data collected in the environmental module of the surveillance network Italian Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (PASSI).
Methods: perceptive profiles were identified using a latent class analysis; later they were included as outcome in multinomial logistic regression models to assess the association between environmental risk perception and demographic, health, socio-economic and behavioural variables.
Results: the latent class analysis allowed to split the sample in "worried", "indifferent", and "positive" people.
There is a lack of agreement about which routine invitation strategy should be adopted in colorectal cancer screening. We conducted an observational study to assess the impact of three invitation strategies on participation. Invitation records for the years 2005-2009 were evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver the years, a growing number of small- and medium-size cities have been included in meta-analytic studies on short-term health effects of air pollution in order to increase the statistical power of these studies. This has produced an increase in the precision of meta-analytic estimates, but also a growing interest in city-specific results. As a consequence, relevant differences in the estimates have been frequently found, even for nearby cities with similar environmental and sociodemographic characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the impact of ambient temperature on faecal immunochemical test (FIT) performance in the colorectal cancer screening programme of Emilia-Romagna (Italy).
Methods: A population-based retrospective cohort study on data from 2005 to 2011. Positive rate, detection rate, and positive predictive value rate for cancers and adenomas, and incidence rate of interval cancers after negative tests were analysed using Poisson regression models.
The aims of this study were (1) to explore the behavioral and sociodemographic factors influencing urinary cotinine (COT-U) levels in active smokers and in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)-exposed individuals, (2) to assess the specificity and sensitivity of the questionnaire for identifying active smokers and nonsmokers, and (3) to derive the upper reference value of COT-U in non-ETS exposed individuals. The COT-U levels of 495 adults (age range 18-69 years) who classified themselves as active smokers (29%) or as nonsmokers with (17%) or without (83%) ETS exposure were quantified by LC-MS-MS (quantification limit: 0.1µg/L, range of linearity: 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Data are lacking on mortality from chronic liver diseases of different aetiology by education level.
Aims: To investigate the association between education level and mortality from alcoholic, viral, and non-viral/non-alcoholic chronic liver disease.
Methods: Proportional mortality was investigated in 2011-2013 in the Veneto Region (Italy).
Background: Identifying a single disease as the underlying cause of death (UCOD) is an oversimplification of the clinical-pathological process leading to death. The multiple causes of death (MCOD) approach examines any mention of a disease in death certificates. Taking diabetes as an example, the study investigates: patterns of death certification, differences in mortality figures based on the UCOD and on MCOD, factors associated to the mention of diabetes in death certificates, and potential of MCOD in the analysis of the association between chronic diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn epidemiological studies both questionnaire results and GIS modeling have been used to assess exposure to environmental risk factors. Nevertheless, few studies have used both these techniques to evaluate the degree of agreement between different exposure assessment methodologies. As part of a case-control study on lung cancer, we present a comparison between self-reported and GIS-derived proxies of residential exposure to environmental pollution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Goals: As part of the authorization process for the solid waste incinerator (SWI) in Modena, Italy, a human biomonitoring cross-sectional pilot study was conducted to investigate the degree to which people living and working in the proximity of the plant were exposed to SWI emissions.
Methods: Between May and June 2010, 65 subjects living and working within 4km of the incinerator (exposed) and 103 subjects living and working outside this area (unexposed) were enrolled in the study. Blood, serum and urinary metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Hg, Mn, Ni), urinary benzene, toluene, xylene (BTEX), S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA), and urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analysed.
We performed a prospective population-based study to describe the temporal pattern of the incidence and prevalence and the clinical features and phenotypes of ALS in Modena, Italy, from 2000 to 2009. From 2000 onwards, a prospective registry has been collecting all cases of incident ALS among residents in the province of Modena. This source was implemented by cases resulting from the provincial hospitals, and by death certificates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the association between Saharan dust outbreaks and natural, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality.
Methods: A case-crossover design was adopted to assess the effects of Saharan dust days (SDD) on mortality in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The population under study consisted of residents in the six main towns of the central-western part of the region who died between August 2002 and December 2006.
Objective: This study evaluates the impact of the introduction of ICD-10 on mortality statistics in Italy.
Design: «Bridge-Coding» analysis carried out by a working group that has coded a number of death certificates using both ICD-9 and ICD-10 versions. In 2006, a training project was launched in order to allow the group to standardize the coding procedures.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the misclassification of cause of death for breast cancer cases, and to evaluate the differential misclassification between cases detected in an organized screening program and cases found in current clinical practice.
Methods: All deaths occurring between 1999 and 2002 within breast cancer cases were linked to hospital discharge records. Death certificates and latest available hospital discharge notes were classified into various categories.
Some contaminants emitted by municipal waste incinerators are believed to adversely affect reproductive health in the exposed populations; yet only limited and conflicting epidemiologic evidence on this issue has been provided so far. In this study we analyzed rates of spontaneous abortion and prevalence at birth of congenital anomalies in women residing or working near the municipal solid waste incinerator of Modena, northern Italy, during the 2003--2006 period and who experienced higher levels of exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, compared to the remaining municipal population. In women residing in two areas close to the incinerator plant with increasing exposure to dioxins, we did not detect an excess risk of miscarriage (relative risk [RR] 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Italian register of cardiovascular diseases is a surveillance system of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events in the general population aged 35-74 years. It was launched in Italy at the end of the 1990 s with the aim of estimating periodically the occurrence and case fatality rate of coronary and cerebrovascular events in the different geographical areas of the country. This paper presents data for cerebrovascular events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Summer 2003 witnessed an excess in heat-related mortality in the elderly population. The Argento Project was planned to define risk factors for heat-related death in Modena, Italy, during the hottest month of 2003 (August).
Methods: We performed a retrospective, case-control study of a cohort of 394 older persons living in Modena, 197 dead (cases) and 197 survivors (controls).
Since 1980 the WHO has proposed at least tree indices to characterize health status (impairment, disease, disability). Their relationships have been examined in some chronic diseases, but little is known about elderly at risk of frailty. We studied the influence of gender, age and living conditions on these indices and on their relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective was to compare survival in a population-based cohort of elderly demented patients with behavioural and psychological symptoms (BPSD) dispensed an atypical antipsychotic (AA) with that of a sample of demented patients not treated with AAs. An observational cohort study was carried out in the province of Modena, Italy (644,000 inhabitants) on a cohort of 294 patients with BPSD diagnosed by a dementia specialist and treated with an AA, and a cohort of 2020 demented adults not dispensed AAs. All patients were 65 years of age or older.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Italy, data on shared-care programs for diabetes are lacking. We described the characteristics of type 2 diabetic population assisted in general practice and evaluated 3 years of follow-up outcomes and performance indicators in a shared-care program in Modena, Italy (1998-2001); only well-controlled diabetic patients were considered. Forty-nine percent of territorial GPs adhered to the project (257 out of 521) and 77% of them sent 6409 paired baseline and follow-up datasheets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: General practitioners (GPs) are being increasingly asked to play a key role in the shared care of people with diabetes mellitus, but data concerning the effects of this in Italy are still scarce. We therefore evaluated the 4-year follow-up changes in outcomes and performance indicators in type 2 diabetic patients cared for by GPs in the framework of the "Modena Diabetes Project".
Methods And Results: Seventy-four percent of the local GPs participating in the project (387 out of 521) sent 5260 paired baseline and follow-up datasheets.
Mortality data in the province of Modena 1987-1996 show an excess for lung cancer in the municipality of Fiorano Modenese. In order to characterize the risk factors involved, a case-control study was carried out. Exposure to particulate matter was associated with lung cancer (OR 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To describe the characteristics of a diabetic population in a primary care setting, and to evaluate changes in glycaemic control at varying body weight categories.
Methods: We collected 4,610 valid baseline and three years follow-up paired data sheets sent from 77% of the general practitioners adhering to our shared-care program (257 GPs out of 521) for people with type 2 diabetes. Three conventional body weight categories were defined: "normal" (BMI, < or = 25 kg/m2), "overweight" (BMI 25.
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