Annali dell'Istituto Superiore di Sanità
Not a member yet
755 research outputs found
Sort by
Knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and sex-at-risk among Italian students of health professions. Data from a one-month survey
Get PDFAim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the knowledge and behavioral risks associated with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among the students of health professions at the University of Palermo divided into two age groups (18-22 years and 23-27 years). Materials and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed. It was based on the risk health behavior survey and assessed behavior and knowledge in three areas: quality of information provided by public institutions, contraceptive methods, sexually transmitted disease and HPV vaccination. Results: The sample: 1022 individuals (70.8% females), age class 18-22 years (61.5%). Males have a greater risk of not knowing HPV (aOR 3.52). The 18-22 age group has a higher risk than the 23-27 age group to think of being not sufficiently informed to avoid contagion (aOR 3.92), never having STDs specific controls (aOR 2.90), not knowing HPV vaccine (aOR 1.86) and not knowing that it can be done in males (aOR 2.63)
Self-directed continuing medical education at the point-of-care: implications for cost and value
Get PDFPurpose There is a growing interest in the use of point-of-care clinical decision support resources as a form of continuing medical education (CME). This paper models various cost and value outcomes that might emerge from the use of a clinical decision support tool (BMJ Best Practice) as CME.Methods BMJ Best Practice is the clinical decision support tool of the BMJ. Healthcare professionals can use it to do self-directed CME. We modeled the use of clinical decision support as a component of CME and evaluated the potential impact of this use on costs. Results High users of self-directed CME at the point-of-care can reduce the cost of their CME. This is mainly by saving on the costs of external CME meetings.Conclusions Healthcare professionals should consider using a blend of self-directed CME and face-to-face education to ensure that their CME activities offer maximum value for a given spend.
Comparative effects between electronic cigarette and tobacco cigarette smoke on oxidative markers in cultured immune cells isolated from rats.
Get PDFBackground. Tabaco cigarette smoke (TCS) was previously demonstrated to affect the innate and adaptive immune responses as a consequence of oxidant generation which play a pivotal role in neutrophilic airway inflammation. Aim of this paper was to investigate whether electronic-cigarette smoke (ECS) generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) similarly to cigarette smoke. Method. By means of a house made apparatus, ECS and TCS were collected in FBS which was used to grow immune cells isolated from rats. As index of oxidative products nitrite and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) were determined in the medium before and after cell growth. Results. The results showed that i) ECS caused a remarkable increase of nitrites and TBARS although in lesser extension than TCS, ii) the cells grown in ECS and TCS-exposed medium were able to reduce TBARS but not nitrites present in the medium, iii) while all 3 kinds of cells in ECS- exposed medium gave the same levels of ROS, PBMC in TCS-exposed medium were able to reduce nitrites and TBARS more efficiently than spleen and lymph node cells, iiii) TCS and ECS not influence the PBMC and spleen T cell subtype populations (CD4+, CD8+). Conclusions. As ECS nicotine-free gave the same results of unexposed medium, we could conclude that the increase of ROS in ECS exposed medium was prevalently due to nicotine
Psychometrics evaluation of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) in people with chronic disease
No full textPurpose:This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) in patients with chronic diseases. Methods:Patients (n = 236) with chronic diseases completed the MSPSS and the36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). MSPSS factorial structure was analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and internal consistency reliability was evaluated with Cronbach’s alpha, the factor score determinacy coefficient, and the model-based internal consistency index. Concurrent validity was performed correlating the MSPSS scores with the SF-36 scores. Results:CFA supported the three-factor structure of the MSPSS (CFI = 0.97; RMSEA= 0.058). Cronbach’s alpha, the factor score determinacy coefficient, and the model-based internal consistency index were ³0.89. Concurrent validity was supportive with significant correlations between the MSPSS and SF-36 scores. Conclusions:The MSPSS has supportive validity and reliability and can be used to evaluate perceived social support that is received by chronic patients.
Identification of adverse childhood experiences strongly predicting suicidal behaviour among emerging adults in Montenegro and Romania: a new way to targeted cost-effective prevention
Get PDFIntroduction: Aiming at generating evidence for cost-effective public health (PH) interventions for suicidal behaviour (SB) prevention in South Eastern Europe, the objective was to identify adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) most strongly predicting SB in emerging adults. Methods: Survey data of 3283 students aged 18-29 from Montenegro and Romania were analysed by logistic regression. Based on estimation of risk-for-SB, the profiles with the highest values were identified. Results: The SB odds were the highest in respondents, experienced a suicide attempt in the household (OR: 13.81; p<0.001), and whose primary family was not complete, in particular in those with the foster family background (OR: 18.30; p=0.001). Conclusions: Magnitude of impact on emerging adults’ mental health vulnerability tends to vary considerably with individual ACEs. This should be considered carefully when developing cost-effective response to SB burden through PH interventions in particular at the times of financial crises and in scarce resources settings
Relationship between anatomical sites and severity of the lesions and use of alcohol and psychotropic substances in traumatized drivers admitted to Emergency Department of Padua, Italy
No full textIntroduction: Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or psychoactive substances increases the risk of road accidents, but it is controversial whether this affects site and severity of injuries.Material and methods: We search for alcohol, cannabinoid, cocaine, benzodiazepines, opioid, methadone, amphetamine and barbiturate in biological fluids of 1764 traumatized drivers admitted to the Emergency Department (ED) of Padova between 2010 and 2014.Results: We note correlation between alcohol and benzodiazepine and admission in ICU and between all the intoxications and the reserved prognosis. The sites of injuries were: head (37.13%), maxillofacial (8.33%), spinal column (44.67%), thoracic (15.31%), abdominal (5%), pelvis (2.55%) and limb traumas (23.58%). We observed a correlation between head trauma (p<0.0001), maxillofacial trauma (p=0.0418), thoracic trauma (p=0.0215), pelvic trauma (p=0.0008), spinal column trauma (p<0.0001) and the totality of the intoxication and an association between benzodiazepines and thoracic and pelvic trauma.Conclusions: Alcohol and benzodiazepines intoxication increases the risk of reserved prognosis and admission in ICU; benzodiazepines intoxication correlates with thoracic and pelvis trauma
The effect of the burden of caregiving for people with spinal cord injury (SCI): a cross-sectional study
Get PDFAim: To assess the caregiver burden (CB) of caregivers for people with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and to examine the psychological impact of the burden of caregiving. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study. A set of structured questionnaires was administered to 55 family caregivers of individuals with SCI. The Modified Barthel Index was used to evaluate the independence of care recipients. The Caregiver Burden Inventory was modified and used to assess the CB. The Family Strain Questionnaire – Short Form was administered to measure the psychological impact of CB. The Short Form 36 was used to assess the health status of the participants. Results: CB affects mainly the domains related to time management, the physical condition of caregivers and their sense of personal failure. An increased level of CB and the dependency level of SCI survivors is significantly correlated (p < 0.01) with an increase in the need of psychological support and a decrease in perceived health and quality of life. Conclusions: Caregiving for people with SCI implies the occurrence of CB. The contribution of caregivers should be recognised and supported with tailored relief interventions
The Birth Satisfaction Scale (BSS-R): process of translation and adaptation in an italian contest
No full textIntroduction. The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is a tool to assess women’s childbirth satisfaction. The aim of this research was to achieve the cross-cultural and conceptual equivalence of the BSS-R tool in Italian. Method. The World Health Organization (WHO) method was adopted to achieve the BSS-R in Italian. This is a well-established method using forward-translations and backtranslations. This process has been refined in the course of several WHO studies to result in five steps: forward translation, expert panel translation, back-translation, pre-testing and cognitive interviewing, final version. Results. The forward translation step developed an Italian version of the BSS-R, this was revised by an expert panel. During the pretesting and cognitive interviewing step, 100 women were involved to check if the instrument was understandable and they did not report any difficulties to comprehend the questionnaire. Women repeated with different expressions and words items 1, 7 and 9. After a conceptual analysis of the sentences used by women during the debriefing stage, items 1 and 9 have been changed. At the end of the process, we had a final version of the questionnaire in Italian. Discussion. The BSS-R should be a reliable instrument to be adopted by healthcare professionals, researches and managers in order to improve Italian maternity services with the aim to offer a positive experience of childbirth.
Assessment of health literacy skills in family doctors’ patients by two brief, self-administered Italian measures
Get PDFHealth Literacy (HL) is an important health determinant: low HL skills result in less healthy choices, riskier behavior, poorer health, less self-management and more hospitalization. An observational study was conducted in a selected population, attending the waiting rooms of family general practitioners, with the aim of assessing HL capabilities through the administration of two HL screeners (IMETER and SILS-IT), and comparing the two measures. An anonymous questionnaire was administered, consisting of the Italian versions of the two tests on a single sheet. Demographic data, as well as concomitant chronic diseases and vaccines received, were also collected. HL skills were asured by the scores observed at both tests, and by the frequency of subjects with low HL levels according to the respective cut-off values. Overall, 305 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Regarding IMETER, the observed frequency of subjects with low HL skills was 25.2% and the mean score and mean adjusted-score (26.3 ・} 8.8 and 23.2 ・} 9.4, respectively) were lower than those observed in previous studies. Similarly, at SILS-IT the percentage of subjects with low skills (49.9%) was higher than observed previously. IMETER showed high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.9). The two measures were significantly correlated, although with a low Spearman’s coefficient, and IMETER did not provide significant information about the probability to predict low HL according to SILS-IT. These results are explainable by the differences in assessment and domains between the two tests, both reliable and suitable to screen patients with low functional HL.