Triptans utilization in Italian population: A real-life study in community pharmacies.

The term Headache Disorders (HD) refers to a number of nervous system pathologies characterised by recurrent headaches. Despite the serious impact HD have on the health system, society, and the economy, these are an underestimated, underdiagnosed, and, hence, undertreated phenomenon. Triptans are the first-line therapy for the acute treatment of moderate to severe migraine but their utilization is still inadequate, perhaps also because in Italy no triptan can be bought without a medical prescription.

Opportunistic screening for type 2 diabetes in community pharmacies. Results from a region-wide experience in Italy.

Background And Aims: Given the paucity of symptoms in the early stages of type 2 diabetes, its diagnosis is often made when complications have already arisen. Although systematic population-based screening is not recommended, there is room to experience new strategies for improving early diagnosis of the disease in high risk subjects. We report the results of an opportunistic screening for diabetes, implemented in the setting of community pharmacies.

Prevention, education and counselling: the worldwide role of the community pharmacist as an epidemiological sentinel of headaches.

Headache disorders are the third among the worldwide causes of disability, measured in years of life lost to disability. Given the pharmacies' importance in general in headache patient and, in particular in migraine patient management, various studies have been carried out in recent years dealing with this issue. Indeed, in 2014, our research group first analysed publications on a number of studies conducted worldwide.

Self-medication for migraine: A nationwide cross-sectional study in Italy.

Headache disorders are considered the second leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide, and 90% of people have a headache episode at least once a year, thus representing a relevant public health priority. As the pharmacist is often the first and only point of reference for people complaining of headache, we carried out a survey in a nationwide sample of Italian pharmacies, in order to describe the distribution of migraine or non-migraine type headaches and medicines overuse among people entering pharmacies seeking for self-medication; and to evaluate the association, in particular of migraine, with socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, and with the pathway of care followed by the patients. A 14-item questionnaire, including socio-demographic and clinical factors, was administered by trained pharmacists to subjects who entered a pharmacy requesting self-medication for a headache attack.

LIFE Med Hiss: An innovative cohort design for public health.

The aim of MED HISS methodology was to test the effectiveness of a low-cost approach to study long-term effects of air pollution, applicable in all European countries. This approach is potentially exportable to other environmental issues where a cohort representative of the country population is needed. The cohort is derived from the National Health Interview Survey, compulsory in European countries, which has information on individual lifestyle factors.

Long term effect of air pollution on incident hospital admissions: Results from the Italian Longitudinal Study within LIFE MED HISS project.

Background: The LIFE MED HISS project aims at setting up a surveillance system on the long term effects of air pollution on health, using data from National Health Interview Surveys and other currently available sources of information in most European countries. Few studies assessed the long term effect of air pollution on hospital admissions in European cohorts.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to estimate the long term effect of fine particulate matter (PM2.

Internal migration and mental health of the second generation. The case of Turin in the age of the Italian economic miracle.

Until the first half of the '50s, Italy was an underdeveloped and mainly agricultural country. From the second half of the '50s to the late '70s, Italy was the theatre of a massive economic and social transformation which placed the country among the most developed economies in Europe. During those years, more than four million poor peasants migrated from the most economically depressed areas of the South to the North-West of the country.

Increased incidence of coronary heart disease associated with "double burden" in a cohort of Italian women.

Objective of this study was to assess the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) associated with the combination of employment status and child care among women of working age, also examining the sex of the offspring. Only two previous studies investigated the effect of double burden on CHD, observing an increased risk among employed women with high domestic burden or providing child care, although the relative risks were marginally or not significant. The study population was composed of all women 25-50 years old at 2001 census, living in Turin in families composed only by individuals or couples, with or without children (N = 109,358).

Which specific causes of death are associated with short term exposure to fine and coarse particles in Southern Europe? Results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

We investigated the short-term effects of particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5μm (PM2.5), between 2.

[Air pollution and urgent hospital admissions in 25 Italian cities: results from the EpiAir2 project].

Objective: to evaluate the relationship between air pollution and hospital admissions in 25 Italian cities that took part in the EpiAir (Epidemiological surveillance of air pollution effects among Italian cities) project.

Design: study of time series with case-crossover methodology, with adjustment for meteorological and time-dependent variables. The association air pollution hospitalisation was analyzed in each of the 25 cities involved in the study; the overall estimates of effect were obtained subsequently by means of a meta-analysis.

[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.

Associations between fine and coarse particles and mortality in Mediterranean cities: results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

Background: Few studies have investigated the independent health effects of different size fractions of particulate matter (PM) in multiple locations, especially in Europe.

Objectives: We estimated the short-term effects of PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM10), ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.

Teleconsulting for minor head injury: the Piedmont experience.

We evaluated the benefits of teleconsulting for patients hospitalised with minor head injuries in centres without neurosurgery. In the Piedmont region, 1462 consultation requests were received at specialist centres in 2009, relating to 519 patients with a minor head injury diagnosis (ICD 850-854). These were compared with the details of 1895 patients admitted with the same diagnosis during 2009, but for whom no consultations were requested.

Comparing models for quantitative risk assessment: an application to the European Registry of foreign body injuries in children.

Risk Assessment is the systematic study of decisions subject to uncertain consequences. An increasing interest has been focused on modeling techniques like Bayesian Networks since their capability of (1) combining in the probabilistic framework different type of evidence including both expert judgments and objective data; (2) overturning previous beliefs in the light of the new information being received and (3) making predictions even with incomplete data. In this work, we proposed a comparison among Bayesian Networks and other classical Quantitative Risk Assessment techniques such as Neural Networks, Classification Trees, Random Forests and Logistic Regression models.

Economic burden of injuries in children: cohort study based on administrative data in a northwestern Italian region.

Background: The aims of the present study were to identify which types of injuries are responsible for the major component of the health burden and to estimate the relative costs in a cohort of Italian children.

Methods: All children (0-14 years) residing in the Piedmont region, who were hospitalized for an injury (ICD-9-CM codes 800-995, excluding late effects from injury and allergies) between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2003, were considered. The cohort was linked by a unique identifier to: all the hospitalizations, all the day-hospital care, and all the prescribed medicines.

Traumatic peripheral nerve injuries: epidemiological findings, neuropathic pain and quality of life in 158 patients.

The objectives of this study were (1) epidemiological analysis of traumatic peripheral nerve injuries; (2) assessment of neuropathic pain and quality of life in patients affected by traumatic neuropathies. All consecutive patients with a diagnosis of traumatic neuropathies from four Italian centres were enrolled. Electromyography confirmed clinical level and site diagnosis of peripheral nerve injury.

Ingested foreign bodies causing complications and requiring hospitalization in European children: results from the ESFBI study.

Background: In young children, particularly those aged 1-3 years, aerodigestive tract foreign bodies (FB) are a common pediatric problem. The aim of the present study was therefore to characterize the risk of complications and prolonged hospitalization due to FB in the upper digestive tract in terms of the characteristics of the injured patients (age, gender), typology and features of the FB, the circumstances of the accident and hospitalization details.

Methods: A retrospective study was done in 19 hospitals in 19 corresponding European countries of 186 cases of injury due to the presence of an FB in the mouth, esophagus and stomach (ICD935), out of the 2103 overall cases of FB reported in other locations.

The Severe Heart Failure Questionnaire: Italian translation and linguistic validation.

Introduction: The quality of life (QoL) is an important outcome indicator for heart failure management. As the use of a validate questionnaire in a different cultural context can affect data interpretation our main objective is the Italian translation and linguistic validation of the Severe Heart Failure Questionnaire (SHF) and its comparison with the MLHF (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure) Questionnaire.

Methods: The SHF and "The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire" were translated.

Knowledge, practice and faith on Total Quality Management principles among workers in the Health Care System: evidence from an Italian investigation.

Background: The implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) principles in the sanitary field, in order to be effective, requires a radical change in management practice as well as the organizational culture and its philosophy. The need to monitor such a transformation emerges too.

Objectives: This study surveys how well TQM principles are known and understood by health care professionals from the employees' point of view and the factors affecting it.

Foreign bodies in the ears causing complications and requiring hospitalization in children 0-14 age: results from the ESFBI study.

Objective: The occurrence of foreign bodies (FBs) in otorhinolaryngological practice is a common and serious problem among patients in paediatric age. The aim of this work is to characterize the risk of complications and prolonged hospitalization due to foreign bodies in ears in terms of the characteristics of the injured patients (age, gender), typology and features of the foreign bodies, the circumstances of the accident and the hospitalization's details.

Methods: A retrospective study in major hospitals of 19 European countries was realized on children aged 0-14 with regard to the characteristics of the injured child and the FB, the circumstances of the accident and finally the hospitalization's details.

Foreign bodies in the nose causing complications and requiring hospitalization in children 0-14 age: results from the European survey of foreign bodies injuries study.

Introduction: The occurrence of foreign bodies (FB) in otorhinolaryngological practice is a common and serious problem among pediatric patients. The aim of this work is to characterize the risk of complications and prolonged hospitalization due to FBs in the nose in terms of the characteristics of the injured patients (age, gender), typology and features of the FBs, the circumstances of the accident and the hospitalization's details.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study of FB associated injuries, assessing the characteristics of the injured child and the FB, the circumstances of the accident and finally the hospitalization details took place on children aged 0-14 in major hospitals of 19 European countries.

Web-based tool for injury risk assessment of foreign body injuries in children.

Web-based surveillance systems enhance the ability for identifying, estimating and assessing public health hazards. In this paper we describe the development of a Web-based surveillance registry called Susy Safe for inorganic foreign body injuries in children aged 0-14. The Susy Safe system, which collected 2103 cases during 2000-2002 in 19 European countries, allows for notifying from physicians over the internet thus taking advantage of Web reporting capabilities.

Foreign bodies in the upper airways causing complications and requiring hospitalization in children aged 0-14 years: results from the ESFBI study.

Foreign body (FB) aspiration/inhalation is a serious problem because it is still a cause of death in children, especially among those younger than 4 years. The objective of this paper is to characterize the risk of complications and prolonged hospitalization due to foreign bodies (FB) in the upper airways in terms of the characteristics of the injured patients (age, gender), typology and features of the FBs, the circumstances of the accident and the hospitalization details. A retrospective study in the major hospitals of 19 European countries was realized on injuries occurred in the years 2000-2002 and identified by means of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes listed on hospital discharge records.