[Personal protection strategies for mitigating the effects of air pollution: A narrative literature review].

Background: reducing air emissions is the fundamental action necessary to mitigate the negative health effects caused by air pollution. However, increased public awareness has highlighted the need to identify protective measures that can mitigate the personal health risks associated with air pollution.

Objectives: examine the evidence regarding personal protection strategies capable of mitigating the health effects caused by air pollution, with a focus on healthy individuals and at-risk categories.

[The peer-review process: critical issues and challenges from an online survey].

Background: the peer-review process, which is the foundation of modern scientific production, represents one of its essential elements. However, despite numerous benefits, it presents several critical issues.

Objectives: to collect the opinions of a group of researchers from the epidemiological scientific community on peer-review processes.

[Analysis of predictive factors for non-adherence to organized screening for colorectal and breast cancers in the pre-pandemic period (2018-2019) in Lombardy Region (Northern Italy)].

Background: according to the International Agency for Cancer Research on Cancer, in 2022, breast cancer is the most common cancer in the Italian population, followed by colorectal cancer. Oncological screenings represent an effective secondary prevention strategy to counteract colorectal and breast cancers, significantly reducing mortality. In Lombardy Region (Northern Italy), screening programmes have been active since 2007, but adherence, especially in specific population subgroups, remains lower than expected.

[A national overview of the topics covered by young people in epidemiology: a comparison before and after the Covid-19.].

Introduction: Epidemiology is increasingly involved on a wide variety of topics and to engage different professionals and disciplines in an increasingly active way. A fundamental role is played by young researchers active in Italian epidemiology who create opportunities for meeting and discussion, in the name of multidisciplinarity and integration of different skills.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the topics most frequently studied in epidemiology by young people and to highlight any changes in these topics in the pre- and post-Covid-19 workplaces.

First SARS-CoV-2 vaccine booster and influenza vaccination: risk assessment of COVID-19 hospitalisation and death.

Background: the influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses share a common respiratory symptomatology and transmission mode. COVID-19 and influenza R0 overlapped in the first epidemic wave. In autumn 2021-winter 2022, the influenza epidemic had a delayed onset compared to pre-COVID-19 years and lower incidence rates than in the pre-pandemic period.

[Identifying deaths due to or involving COVID-19 in absence of the death certificate].

Background: during 2020, Italy was one of the first nation hit by SARS-CoV-2, but it was not the hardest-hit country in terms of deaths. In absence of the death certificate, the burden of COVID-19 on mortality is usually calculated from overall deaths or from deaths of patients tested positive for COVID-19. However, these measures do not express the real burden of the disease on the population.

A Comparison Between Omicron and Earlier COVID-19 Variants' Disease Severity in the Milan Area, Italy.

Background: In the context of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, which occurred in correspondence with the outbreak of the Omicron variant, it became fundamental to assess differences in the risk of severe disease between the Omicron variant and the earlier SARS-CoV-2 variants that were still in circulation despite Omicron becoming prevalent.

Methods: We collected data on 2,267 genotyped PCR-positive swab tests and assessed whether the presence of symptoms, risk of hospitalization, and recovery times were significantly different between Omicron and the earlier variants. Multivariable models adjusted for sex, age class, citizenship, comorbidities, and symptomatology allowed assessing the difference in outcomes between Omicron and the earlier variants according to vaccination status and timing of administration.

Time-series cohort study to forecast emergency department visits in the city of Milan and predict high demand: a 2-day warning system.

Objectives: The emergency department (ED) is one of the most critical areas in any hospital. Recently, many countries have seen a rise in the number of ED visits, with an increase in length of stay and a detrimental effect on quality of care. Being able to forecast future demands would be a valuable support for hospitals to prevent high demand, particularly in a system with limited resources where use of ED services for non-urgent visits is an important issue.

Boosters and time from the last anti-COVID-19 vaccine dose: lead public health choices by real-time epidemiological assessment.

Background: the levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after the second vaccine dose decline in the following months; the administration of an additional vaccine dose (booster) is able to restore the immune system in the short period significantly reducing the risk of a severe disease. In the winter of 2021, a new particularly infectious variant caused the urgent need to increase the coverage of the booster dose.

Objectives: to present, using real data, an evaluation of the efficacy of the booster dose in reducing the severe disease of SARS-CoV-2 infection in terms of hospital admissions, intensive care and death from all causes.

Algorithm for Individual Prediction of COVID-19-Related Hospitalization Based on Symptoms: Development and Implementation Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a huge strain on the health care system globally. The metropolitan area of Milan, Italy, was one of the regions most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Risk prediction models developed by combining administrative databases and basic clinical data are needed to stratify individual patient risk for public health purposes.

Residential exposure to traffic-borne pollution as a risk factor for acute cardiocerebrovascular events: a population-based retrospective cohort study in a highly urbanized area.

Background: Long-term exposure to traffic-borne noise and air pollution has been variably associated with incidence of acute vascular events, namely acute myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke and haemorrhagic stroke. This study aims at exploring this association within a highly urbanized city.

Methods: This is a population-based retrospective dynamic cohort study including all residents aged ≥ 35 years in the municipality of Milan over the years 2011-18 (1 087 110 inhabitants).

Development of a multivariable model predicting mortality risk from comorbidities in an Italian cohort of 18,286 confirmed COVID-19 cases aged 40 years or older.

Objectives: to develop a risk prediction model for 30-day mortality from COVID‑19 in an Italian cohort aged 40 years or older.

Design: a population-based retrospective cohort study on prospectively collected data was conducted.

Setting And Participants: the cohort included all swab positive cases aged 40 years older (No.

Assessing the Impact of Individual Characteristics and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Provinces of Milan and Lodi.

Social inequalities in health are known to be influenced by the socioeconomic status of the territory in which people live. In the context of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, this study is aimed at assessing the role of 5 area-level indicators in shaping the risk of contagion in the provinces of Milan and Lodi (Lombardy, Italy), namely: educational disadvantage, unemployment, housing crowding, mobility, and population density. The study area includes the municipalities at the origin of the first Italian epidemic outbreak.

Trend of pneumonia diagnosis in emergency departments as a COVID-19 surveillance system: a time series study.

Objective: In Italy, the first diagnosis of COVID-19 was confirmed on 20 February 2020 in the Lombardy region. Given the rapid spread of the infection in the population, it was suggested that in Europe, and specifically in Italy, the virus had already been present in the last months of 2019. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the hypothesis on the early presence of the virus in Italy by analysing data on trends of access to emergency departments (EDs) of subjects with a diagnosis of pneumonia during the 2015-2020 period.

Assessment of the Overall Mortality during the COVID-19 Outbreak in the Provinces of Milan and Lodi (Lombardy Region, Northern Italy).

Objectives: to describe the overall mortality increase in the provinces of Milan and Lodi - area covered by the Agency for Health Protection of Milan - during the COVID-19 epidemic in the first four months of 2020, compare it with the same time period in the years 2016-2019, and evaluate to what extent the mortality can be directly attributed to the outbreak.

Design: cohort study.

Setting And Participants: using a new information system developed during the pandemic, we gathered data on the number of daily deaths in the population residing in the provinces of Milan and Lodi by Local Health Unit (ASST) and age groups.

Describing the epidemic trends of COVID-19 in the area covered by Agency for Health Protection of the Metropolitan Area of Milan.

Objectives: to describe the epidemic trends of COVID-19 over time and by area in the territory covered by Milan's Agency for Health Protection (ATS-MI) from February to May 2020.

Design: descriptive study of COVID-19 cases.

Setting And Participants: a new information system was developed to record COVID-19 cases with positive nasopharyngeal swab.

Association between autoimmune diseases and COVID-19 as assessed in both a test-negative case-control and population case-control design.

Background: COVID-19 epidemic has paralleled with the so called infodemic, where countless pieces of information have been disseminated on putative risk factors for COVID-19. Among those, emerged the notion that people suffering from autoimmune diseases (AIDs) have a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: The cohort included all COVID-19 cases residents in the Agency for Health Protection (AHP) of Milan that, from the beginning of the outbreak, developed a web-based platform that traced positive and negative cases as well as related contacts.

Latent composite indicators for evaluating adherence to guidelines in patients with a colorectal cancer diagnosis.

Evidence-based guidelines for the correct management of cancer patients are developed on the idea that timely care can improve health prognoses and quality of life.The aim of this paper is to evaluate the adherence of clinical pathways to clinical guidelines provided at the hospital level, for colorectal cancer care.By using a retrospective observational study, we proposed a method for associating each patient to a healthcare provider and modeling adherence as a latent construct governed by a set of 10 influential indicators.