Effects of Exposure to Road, Railway, Airport and Recreational Noise on Blood Pressure and Hypertension.

Noise is one of the most diffused environmental stressors affecting modern life. As such, the scientific community is committed to studying the main emission and transmission mechanisms aiming at reducing citizens' exposure, but is also actively studying the effects that noise has on health. However, scientific literature lacks data on multiple sources of noise and cardiovascular outcomes.

[Ecological study on the mortality of residents in Manfredonia (Apulia Region, Southern Italy) from 1970 to 2013].

OBIETTIVI: valutare lo stato di salute della popolazione residente nel comune di Manfredonia dal 1970 al 2013. DISEGNO: analisi descrittiva dell'andamento temporale della mortalità generale, per gruppi di cause, dal 1970 al 2013. SETTING E PARTECIPANTI: i dati di mortalità e le popolazioni residenti sono di fonte Istat.

Cancer mortality in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Background: The burden of cancer is difficult to study in the context of the occupied Palestinian territory because of the limited data available. This study aims to evaluate the quality of mortality data and to investigate cancer mortality patterns in the occupied Palestinian territory's West Bank governorates from 1999 to 2009.

Methods: Death certificates collected by the Palestinian Ministry of Health for Palestinians living in the West Bank were used.

Annoyance evaluation due to overall railway noise and vibration in Pisa urban areas.

The noise impact of the whole railway infrastructure was characterized in the urban environment of Pisa, Italy. The ordinary train transits were considered, nevertheless it was given particular attention also to the noise sources referable to railway operations like manoeuvring, loading and unloading, truck movements, braking, squeals and whistles. These kinds of noise are usually neglected in the noise modelling and are hereafter called "unconventional noises".

[EpiChange. Epidemiological study on the health status of residents in Manfredonia (Italy). Phase 2. Scenarios and implications].

This is the second paper on the Project Manfredonia Environment and Health launched on February 2015 and based on a participatory approach. After a serious industrial accident on 1976 with release of several tons of arsenic, the management of environmental issues produced distrust and suspicion towards institutions and these feelings are still alive in the civil society. The Project is therefore based on a strong public engagement on each phase of the epidemiological investigation.

[The mortality rate for homicide among women in Italy: a historical and geographical analysis as a contribution to the study of femicide].

As 70% of the killings of women takes place in the context of relational dynamics and in 80% of the cases the perpetrator is a man, we can presume that femicide constitutes much of the homicide mortality among women. Epidemiological surveillance of the killings of women can, therefore, provide indicators on the trends and geographical distribution of femicide and, indirectly, of the more general phenomenon of harassment and violence against women. The analysis of 40 years of mortality shows only a slight decrease of the murders of women nationwide.

[Health impact assessment of airport noise on people living nearby six Italian airports].

Background: aircraft noise has been associated with several health effects. Because of the great success of low-cost flights, small airports have been turned into international airports thus exposing nearby residents to an increase in noise levels and potential disturbances and health disorders.

Objective: to estimate the exposure levels and evaluate the health impact of aircraft noise on residents nearby six airports in Italy (Rome: Ciampino; Milan: Linate and Malpensa; Pisa; Turin; Venice) focusing on hypertension, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), annoyance and sleep disturbances.

[Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prevalence in Brindisi Province (Southern Italy) for the years 2005-2009].

Objectives: to estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Brindisi Province (Southern Italy) during the period 2005-2009.

Design: longitudinal approach using electronic health data.

Setting And Participants: prevalence of COPD cases where defined as: 35+ year-old residents in Brindisi Province discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of COPD, recorded in any of the diagnostic fields, during the period 2005-2009; residents discharged in the previous 4 years and still alive at the beginning of the year considered; residents who died of COPD without previous hospital admissions for the same disease.

Mortality analysis by neighbourhood in a city with high levels of industrial air pollution.

Objectives: Taranto, a city in south-eastern Italy, suffers serious environmental pollution from industrial sources. A previous cohort analysis found mortality excesses among neighbourhoods closest to industrial areas. Aim of this study was to investigate whether mortality also increased in other neighbourhoods compared to Apulia region.

[Air pollution and mortality in twenty-five Italian cities: results of the EpiAir2 Project].

Objectives: this study aims at presenting the results from the Italian EpiaAir2 Project on the short-term effects of air pollution on adult population (35+ years old) in 25 Italian cities.

Design: the short-term effects of air pollution on resident people died in their city were analysed adopting the time series approach. The association between increases in 10µg/m(3) in PM10, PM2.

[Environmental indicators in EpiAir2 project: air quality data for epidemiological surveillance].

Objective: construction of environmental indicators of air pollution suitable for epidemiological surveillance in 25 Italian cities for EpiAir2 project (2006-2010) and presentation of the results from a 10 years of surveillance system (2001-2010) in 10 Italian cities.

Design: data on particulate matter (PM10 and its fine fraction PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3), measured in the 2006-2010 calendar period, were collected.

Acute effects of urban and industrial pollution in a government-designated "Environmental risk area": the case of Brindisi, Italy.

Exposure to air pollutants has been associated with increased hospital admissions (HAs) for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. This work describes a short-term epidemiological study in Brindisi, a highly industrialized town in Southern Italy. The effects of daily exposure to PM10 and NO2 on daily HAs for cardiac, respiratory, and cerebrovascular diseases were investigated by means of a case-crossover design in the period 2001-2007.

Congenital anomalies among live births in a polluted area. A ten-year retrospective study.

Background: Congenital anomalies and their primary prevention are a crucial public health issue. This work aimed to estimate the prevalence of congenital anomalies in Brindisi, a city in southeastern Italy at high risk of environmental crisis.

Methods: This research concerned newborns up to 28 days of age, born between 2001 and 2010 to mothers resident in Brindisi and discharged with a diagnosis of congenital anomaly.

[State of health of populations residing in geothermal areas of Tuscany].

Objective: The limited scientific knowledge on relationship between exposure and health effects in relation to geothermal activity motivated an epidemiologic investigation in Tuscan geothermal area. The study aims to describe the health status of populations living in Tuscany municipalities where concessions for exploitation of geothermal resources were granted.

Design: This is an ecological study, so it is not useful to produce evidence to sustain a judgment on the cause-effect link.

Spatial variability of air pollutants in the city of Taranto, Italy and its potential impact on exposure assessment.

Epidemiological studies typically use monitored air pollution data from a single station or as averaged data from several stations to estimate population exposure. In industrialized urban areas, this approach may present critical issues due to the spatial complexities of air pollutants which are emitted by different sources. This study focused on the city of Taranto, which is one of the most highly industrialized cities in southern Italy.

Particulate air pollution and hospital admissions for cardiac diseases in potentially sensitive subgroups.

Background: Although numerous studies have provided evidence of an association between ambient air pollution and acute cardiac morbidity, little is known regarding susceptibility factors.

Methods: We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study in 9 Italian cities between 2001 and 2005 to estimate the short-term association between airborne particles with aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM10) and cardiac hospital admissions, and to identify susceptible groups. We estimated associations between daily PM10 and all cardiac diseases, acute coronary syndrome, arrhythmias and conduction disorders, and heart failure for 167,895 hospitalized subjects ≥ 65 years of age.

Short-Term Effects of Nitrogen Dioxide on Mortality and Susceptibility Factors in 10 Italian Cities: The EpiAir Study.

Background: Several studies have shown an association between nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and mortality. In Italy, the EpiAir multicentric study, "Air Pollution and Health: Epidemiological Surveillance and Primary Prevention," investigated short-term health effects of air pollution, including NO2.

Objectives: To study the individual susceptibility, we evaluated the association between NO2 and cause-specific mortality, investigating individual sociodemographic features and chronic/acute medical conditions as potential effect modifiers.

[Urban air pollution and children respiratory hospital admissions in Pisa (Italy): a time series and a case-crossover approach].

Objectives: we evaluated the association of daily pollutants' concentrations with daily hospital admissions for respiratory causes in children residents in Pisa during 1998-2002. We compared the results obtained with two methods of statistical analyses. A total of 657 children under ten years and admitted to local hospitals for respiratory diseases (ICD 9: 460-469, 480- 519) were included in the study.

[Acute effects of air pollution in Brindisi (Italy): a case-crossover analysis].

Objective: To evaluate the association between daily air pollutant concentration and daily data regarding mortality and hospital admissions among residents of Brindisi (Southern Italy) in the years 2003-2006.

Design: The association between the time series of daily mortality (2003-2005) and hospital admissions (2003-2006) and the time series of daily pollutant concentration were analyzed using a case-crossover method and a conditional logistic regression. Bi-directional control periods were selected using a time-stratified approach.