Tobacco, heated tobacco products, e-cigarette, alcohol, cannabis and other psychotropic substances. Polysubstance use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

Objective: Psychoactive substance use is largely found to involve multiple substances. In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed psychoactive substance use patterns. Aim of this study is to investigate profiles of polysubstance and their pattern during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cards they're dealt: types of gambling activity, online gambling, and risk of problem gambling in European adolescents.

Objective: This study aims to identify risk factors associated with gambling engagement and the likelihood of problem behavior, distinguishing by type of gambling activity and examining the impact of online gambling.

Methods: Data about 85,420 students aged 16 from 33 countries participating in the 2019 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) were analyzed through a three-stage sequential probit model, specifically focusing on four types of activity: lotteries, slot machines, cards, and betting. Furthermore, predicted probabilities were calculated for subsamples of students engaging in different types of gambling activities to explore their influence on the likelihood of problem gambling behavior, conditioned on online gambling involvement.

Consequences of COVID-19 pandemic on weight gain and physical activity: a prospective cohort study from Italy.

Introduction: It is crucial to monitor changes in body weight and physical activity (PA) to understand if short-term effects of COVID-19 pandemic have had implications over time.

Methods: This longitudinal study is based on data from 4,831 Italians aged 18-74 years interviewed during the first phase of COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020) and two years later (February-March 2022). Changes in body weight and PA were assessed through multivariable analyses in association with socio-demographic and psychological characteristics.

Smoking intensity changes during the COVID-19 pandemic waves in a cohort of smokers in Italy.

Introduction: COVID-19 lockdown in Italy resulted in increased smoking consumption, mainly associated with mental distress. This study aims to update previous findings investigating changes in smoking intensity during the whole COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This analysis was carried out within the "LOST IN ITALY" ("LOckdown and lifeSTyle IN ITALY") and "LOST IN TOSCANA" studies on 880 smokers with information collected during main pandemic peaks.

Alcohol versus combined alcohol and energy drinks consumption: Risk behaviors and consumption patterns among European students.

Introduction: Recent research found that drinking alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) could be riskier than drinking alcohol alone. Our aim was to compare rates of risk behaviors in consumers of AmED versus exclusive alcohol drinkers, matching them based on their drinking frequency.

Methods: Data about 16-year-old students who reported the number of occasions on which they had drunk AmED or alcohol only in the preceding 12 months (n = 32,848) were drawn from the 2019 ESPAD study.

Adolescents' Psychoactive Substance Use During the First COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross Sectional Study in Italy.

Background: Italy was one of the first European countries to be affected by Covid-19. Due to the severity of the pandemic, the Italian government imposed a nationwide lockdown which had a great impact on the population, especially adolescents. Distance-learning, moving restrictions and pandemic-related concerns, resulted in a particularly stressful situation.

E-cigarette use and conventional cigarette smoking among European students: findings from the 2019 ESPAD survey.

Background And Aims: Representative data on e-cigarette use among European adolescents are scant. This study reports current vaping and tobacco smoking individual and country-specific correlates among European students.

Design: Cross-sectional survey: 2019 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) collecting data on risk behaviours on a representative sample of 16-year-old students.

Violent Behaviours among Adolescents and Young Adults: Association with Psychoactive Substance Use and Parenting Styles.

This study extends existing research on the relationship between psychoactive substance use among young people and violent behaviour, by evaluating the possible effect of the modification of parenting in a nationally representative sample of 14,685 Italian students drawn from the 2019 wave of the ESPAD Italia survey (51% male; mean age about 17 years). Parental dimensions considered in the study were rule-setting, monitoring, and emotional support, as well as the possible absence of a parent. Relative risk ratios and binary logistic regressions were used to estimate the associations separately for adolescents (15-17) and young adults (18-19).

Electronic Cigarette Use in 12 European Countries: Results From the TackSHS Survey.

Background: Limited data on electronic cigarette prevalence, patterns, and settings of use are available from several European countries.

Methods: Within the TackSHS project, a face-to-face survey was conducted in 2017-2018 in 12 European countries (Bulgaria, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain). Overall, 11,876 participants, representative of the population aged ⩾15 years in each country, provided information on electronic cigarette.

Trends in energy drink and combined alcohol and energy drinks consumption among Italian high school students, 2008-2019.

Background: Energy Drinks (ED) are caffeinated beverages marketed as attention and endurance enhancers. The main purpose of this study is to provide national estimates of the prevalence of alcohol mixed with energy drink (AmED) and ED use among school-aged adolescents. A secondary objective is to examine the differences in the prevalence of AmED and ED consumption by gender.

What is the face of new nicotine users? 2012-2018 e-cigarettes and tobacco use among young students in Italy.

Background: With increased use of electronic-nicotine delivery devices (e-cigarettes) and non-cigarettes tobacco products (heated tobacco products, shisha, moist snuff/snus) among adolescents, the percentage of Italian students who use nicotine products is at its highest level of the past ten years, even though prevention and anti-smoking policies have produced tangible results in decreasing tobacco smoking prevalence. This cross-sectional study examined trends in exclusive and dual smoking, identified new poly-consumption patterns and profiled old and new nicotine users.

Methods: We used the annual cross-sectional ESPAD® Italia survey which sampled students (aged 15-19), currently used for surveillance and monitoring of at risk population, between 2012 and 2018 (N = 170,974) to describe Italian trends in exclusive cigarette, exclusive vaping, and dual cigarette and vaping use.

Prescriptive adherence to GINA guidelines and asthma control: An Italian cross sectional study in general practice.

Background: Although general practitioners (GPs) are frequently the first healthcare professionals whom asthma patients refer to for their symptoms, few studies have explored the extent of adherence to guidelines for asthma management based on data provided directly by GPs. Aims of the present study were to assess drug prescriptions for asthma by GPs and to evaluate prescriptive adherence to GINA guidelines (GL) and its relationship with disease control in real life.

Methods: 995 asthmatic patients (45% males, mean age 43.

Prevalence of youth gambling and potential influence of substance use and other risk factors throughout 33 European countries: first results from the 2015 ESPAD study.

Background And Aims: Although generally prohibited by national regulations, underage gambling has become popular in Europe, with relevant cross-country prevalence variability. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of underage gambling in Europe stratified by type of game and on-/off-line mode and to examine the association with individual and family characteristics and substance use.

Design: Our study used data from the 2015 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) cross-sectional study, a survey using self-administered anonymous questionnaires.

Respiratory symptoms/diseases prevalence is still increasing: a 25-yr population study.

Background: Few epidemiological surveys on general population samples estimated changes in prevalence of respiratory symptoms/diseases over a long time interval; our study aims to quantify the temporal changes in the prevalence rates of asthma, allergic rhinitis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) after 25 years from baseline.

Methods: A general population sample participated in 3 cross-sectional surveys carried out in Central Italy (Pisa) in 1985-88 (n = 3865), 1991-93 (n = 2841), 2009-11 (n = 1620). 2276 (47%) subjects participated in at least 1 survey, 1723 (35.

Indoor air quality, ventilation and respiratory health in elderly residents living in nursing homes in Europe.

Few data exist on respiratory effects of indoor air quality and comfort parameters in the elderly. In the context of the GERIE study, we investigated for the first time the relationships of these factors to respiratory morbidity among elderly people permanently living in nursing homes in seven European countries. 600 elderly people from 50 nursing homes underwent a medical examination and completed a standardised questionnaire.

Adverse effects of outdoor pollution in the elderly.

With fewer newborns and people living longer, older people are making up an increasing fraction of the total population. Epidemiological evidence shows that older-age-related health problems affect a wide and expanding proportion of the world population. One of the major epidemiological trends of this century is the rise of chronic diseases that affect more elderly than younger people.

Impact of asthma and comorbid allergic rhinitis on quality of life and control in patients of Italian general practitioners.

Objective: Asthma is a disease with elevated prevalence within the general population. Although general practitioners (GPs) are among the first health-care professionals to whom patients refer for their symptoms, there are few evaluations of this disease based on data provided by the GPs. The aim of this observational study is to assess the impact of asthma and comorbid allergic rhinitis on individual/social burden, quality of life, and disease control in asthmatic patients of Italian GPs.

The ARGA study with general practitioners: impact of medical education on asthma/rhinitis management.

Aim: To evaluate the impact of a medical education course (MEC) on the behaviour of general practitioners (GPs) to treat asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR).

Methods: Data on 1820 patients (mean age 41 yrs ± 17 yrs) with asthma or AR were collected by 107 Italian GPs: 50% attended a MEC and 50% didn't (group B). The adherence for AR and asthma treatment was evaluated according to ARIA and GINA guidelines (GL).