1,721,030 research outputs found
Mind the data gap : The use of unconventional data sources to assess the COVID-19 impact on people in vulnerable situations
Full text linkAccording to the World Health Organization, population health monitoring is the first of ten essential public health operations. The emergence of novel data sources and monitoring approaches for public health surveillance is triggered by technological advances in data retrieval and analysis. Monitoring needs to have a central role when it comes to the determinants of health and health inequalities. Health inequalities monitoring provides evidence on who is being left behind and informs equity-oriented policies, programmes and practices.The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the potential of using existing data sources to monitor the health of people in vulnerable situations. As the impacts of COVID-19 were not evenly distributed across the population, with the greatest impacts falling on the least privileged in society, the pandemic emergency was used as a case study in this research work.The objective of chapter 1 was to compare the geographic and individual deprivation index in assessing the associations between individuals' socioeconomic position and risk of Sars-CoV-2 infection and disease severity in the Apulia from February to December 2020.The objective of chapter 2 was to assess the indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of hospitalisation and mortality rates, among long-term care facilities’ residents in two Italian regions, Tuscany and Apulia, during 2020 in comparison with the pre-pandemic period.The objective of chapter 3 was to describe the extent and dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic within the prison system of a large Italian region, Lombardy, and to report the infection prevention and control measures implemented.This research represents a proof of concept demonstrating that with the willingness and analytical capacity to extrapolate evidence from existing administrative data, health outcomes can be monitored even in neglected and extremely fragile populations. Administrative data have the potential to fuel high-quality empirical investigations and can help to advance our understanding of the relationship between human behaviour, social phenomenon and health in a way that has never been possible before. Health surveillance in these populations enables governments and other stakeholders to support evidence-informed action to tackle health inequities. The need to improve data collection, transfer, reporting, analysis and interventions on environmental and social determinants of health is pressing to reduce health inequities
La vaccinazione dTpa in gravidanza per la prevenzione della pertosse nel neonato [Tdap vaccination during pregnancy to protect newborns from pertussis infection]
Full text linkBackground. Nowadays whooping cough (pertussis) represents one of the most prevalent vaccinepreventable diseases in Western countries; even more, it is currently on rise. In many countries, the use of acellular pertussis adult vaccine in combination with tetanus and diphtheria toxoids (Tdap) is recommended for women during pregnancy to protect newborns in the first months of life, when they are too young to be vaccinated. In Italy, vaccination of women during the third trimester of pregnancy is included in the national immunization programme (PNPV 2017-2019), though up to now, this vaccination strategy has not been efficiently implemented. Objective. In view of the public health importance of pertussis, particularly in young infants, we undertook this review to summarise the existing evidence on immunogenicity, effectiveness, safety and uptake of pertussis vaccine in expectant mothers to protect newborns from pertussis. Conclusions. There is an increasing evidence that supports the safety, immunogenicity and effectiveness of Triaxis® e Boostrix® pertussis vaccination during pregnancy to protect infants before they receive their primary immunisations. In particular, both vaccines showed 90% effectiveness in the reduction of pertussis disease and hospitalization in newborns, with 95% effectiveness in the reduction of deaths. In Italy, the implementation of antenatal vaccination against pertussis is needed to narrow the gap between the recommendation of the PNPV and the prevention strategies actually offered by the public health system. To reach a good level of vaccine coverage, providers' recommendations are critical. Hence, extensive education of vaccine givers and all primary and secondary healthcare professionals who have any contact with pregnant women is needed
Migration and infectious disease risk: knowledge and perception among European students
Full text linkCovid-19 vaccine in prison: a not-to-be-missed opportunity to promote access to vaccination in adolescents
No full textCovid-19 vaccine in prison: a not-to-be-missed opportunity to promote access to vaccination in adolescents
Full text linkMigration and infectious disease risk: knowledge and perception among university students in two European countries
No full textBackground: In the past years, migration has increasingly affected the European continent. The concerns of the local population about infection spread by migrants may increase as an unjustified stigma. Our study aimed to assess the knowledge and risk perception of infectious disease associated with migration among university students. Methods: Between January and February 2020, we conducted an online survey in Italian and Spanish University students. We collected data on demographics, perception, and knowledge of infectious diseases associated with migration. We performed descriptive and risk factors analysis to assess the association among selected variables. Results: We collected 1,397 answers, 73.16% from Italian students and 26.84% from Spanish students, 34.54% and 38.67% enrolled in healthcare degrees, respectively. We found a statistically significant correlation between the knowledge of infectious diseases and the perception of the infectious risk associated with migration, not confirmed for the area of study. Healthcare students had the best levels of knowledge and perception of the migratory phenomenon, but the higher perception of infectious risk. Exposure to the media coverage about migration was associated with the worst perception of the migratory phenomenon and infectious risk. Conclusion: Our study showed that, despite healthcare students had the best levels of knowledge, they had the highest risk perception of infectious diseases associated with migration. The inclusion of courses on migration medicine in current healthcare curricula and the increase of practical training could help to avoid the development of biased approaches towards migrants among healthcare professionals
Covid-19 vaccine in prison: a not-to-be-missed opportunity to promote access to vaccination in adolescents
No full textKnowledge, attitudes and practices concerning pertussis maternal immunization in a sample of Italian gynaecologists
Full text linkInfants are at risk of developing serious diseases as a consequence of pertussis infection. Thus, to protect newborns, many countries, including Italy, have introduced pertussis maternal immunization. However, despite the compelling evidence supporting Tdap vaccinations, the rates of coverage among Italian pregnant women have remained consistently very low. Numerous studies have shown that healthcare providers’ recommendations are critical for achieving high maternal vaccination coverages. This study explores Italian gynecologists’ knowledge, attitude and practices concerning pertussis maternal immunization. Between July 2018 and September 2018, we performed a national cross-sectional survey administered by e-mail using the mailing list of the Association of Italian Hospital Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AOGOI): the mailing list included more than 3500 members. A total of 451 respondents distributed throughout Italy completed the online survey. Overall, 275 (60.97%) respondents did not routinely recommend pertussis vaccination to pregnant women, mainly for suboptimal knowledge of the maternal pertussis vaccine, protocols, and guidelines: furthermore, 15.44% (69/447) of gynecologists were not aware of the pertussis vaccination program for pregnant women. Gynecologists working in the South or in the Islands of Italy were less aware about the need of administering Tdap in expectant mothers, suggesting that there is a potential risk of health inequalities based on differing levels of vaccine knowledge and recommendations across Italy. In order to enable healthcare professionals to provide accurate and timely information on pertussis immunization to pregnant women, targeted educational programs to improve gynecologists’ knowledge on pertussis vaccination are needed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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