Weight of risk factors for mortality and short-term mortality displacement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: We conducted a population-based cohort study to estimate mortality before, during and after the COVID-19 peak and to compare mortality in 2020 with rates reported in previous years, with a view to helping decision makers to apply containment measures for high-risk groups.

Methods: All deaths were collected between 2015 and 2020 from municipal registry database. In 2020, weeks 1-26 were stratified in three periods: before, during and after the COVID mortality peak.

Has Clinical and Epidemiological Varicella Burden Changed over Time in Children? Overview on Hospitalizations, Comorbidities and Costs from 2010 to 2017 in Italy.

According to WHO estimates, varicella disease is responsible of a worldwide significant burden in terms of hospitalizations, complications, and deaths, with more than 90% of cases under 12 years old. This study aims at evaluating the clinical, epidemiological, and economic burden of varicella in Ligurian children, about comorbidities, organizational variables, and vaccination coverages from 2010 to 2017, in terms of Emergency Department accesses and hospitalizations. The overall hospitalization rate was 179.

The Unknown Health Burden of Herpes Zoster Hospitalizations: The Effect on Chronic Disease Course in Adult Patients ≥50 Years.

The effect of severe Herpes Zoster (HZ) on chronic diseases is a component of the real burden of this vaccine-preventable disease that is not commonly considered. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to assess the health burden of severe HZ in adults ≥50 years residing in Liguria Region from 2015 to 2017. Subjects hospitalized with and without HZ were matched (1:6 ratio).

Hospital and economic burden of influenza-like illness and lower respiratory tract infection in adults ≥50 years-old.

Background: Influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) cause substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. The study assessed the health and economic burden of ILI and LRTI according to age and comorbidities, since available evidence is limited and heterogeneous.

Method: The prevalence of comorbidities, the seasonal incidence rates and the mean and per capita direct costs of ED accesses for ILI/LRTI, whether followed by hospitalization or not, recorded in adults aged ≥50 years over the last 6 years, in the referral hospitals located in the Genoese metropolitan area (Liguria, Italy) where the syndromic surveillance system is active, were evaluated through a retrospective observational study.

A predictive model to allocate frequent service users of community-based mental health services to different packages of care.

Aim: To develop predictive models to allocate patients into frequent and low service users groups within the Italian Community-based Mental Health Services (CMHSs). To allocate frequent users to different packages of care, identifying the costs of these packages.

Methods: Socio-demographic and clinical data and GAF scores at baseline were collected for 1250 users attending five CMHSs.

[Proposal for a new funding system for mental health departments. Results from an evaluative multicentre Italian study (I-psycost)].

Aims: To obtain a new, well-balanced mental health funding system, through the creation of (i) a list of psychiatric interventions provided by Italian Community-based Psychiatric Services (CPS), and associated costs; (ii) a new prospective funding system for patients with a high use of resources, based on packages of care.

Methods: Five Italian Community-based Psychiatric Services collected data from 1250 patients during October 2002. Socio-demographical and clinical characteristics and GAF scores were collected at baseline.