Epidemiologia & Prevenzione最新文献

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for a radical rethink of pandemic preparedness in Italy. The new National Pandemic Plan, currently under discussion at the interregional level, represents a crucial opportunity to translate lessons learned into operational tools. In emphasizing the centrality of epidemiology in prevention, early surveillance, and timely response to health emergencies, structural and organizational criticalities of the current system are highlighted. Among the main recommendations: overcoming regional fragmentation, ensuring interoperable information infrastructures, strengthening local epidemiological surveillance, adopting advanced and shared systems for contact tracing, and defining common indicators to evaluate the strategies adopted. Special attention is given to enhance local epidemiological skills and the essential role of institutional communication. The document advocates for strong national coordination and shared strategies that turn past experience into the ability for concrete and timely responses to future challenges.

The one health approach provides a conceptual framework capable of activating multidisciplinary competences and skills in an original way in order to limit the threats that endanger life and the planet's ecosystems. There are many applications in the environmental and health fields, while interest is growing in the epistemological, ethical, and philosophical fields. The topic of communication is explored and illustrated with examples that clarify its dimensions and links to governance issues.

Background: gambling is a widespread phenomenon among adolescents, with increasing prevalence among preadolescents.

Objectives: to describe the prevalence of gambling and problematic gambling in a sample of secondary school students of Piedmont Region (Northern Italy) and Lazio Region (Central Italy) which participated in the "GAPUnplugged" experimental study.

Methods: data were collected through an anonymous questionnaire created ad hoc and administered between November 2022 and January 2023. Prevalence of gambling in the past 12 months and 30 days and of problematic and at-risk behaviour measured through the SOGS-RA scale were estimated.

Results: 1,874 students aged 12 to 14 participated in the study. Prevalence of gambling was 55.7% in the last 12 months and 36.4% in the last 30 days. Sixteen percent of students engaged in regular gambling (3 or more times in the last 30 days), 7.2% had at risk gambling behaviour, and 3.4% had problematic gambling behaviour. Prevalence was higher among males and among students of schools of the city of Rome.

Conclusions: gambling among preadolescents is a widespread phenomenon, with a proportion of students at risk or exhibiting problematic behaviours similar to other addictive risk behaviours. It is needed to create and implement specific preventive interventions to limit early exposure to gambling in adolescence and preadolescence.

Background: survival rates for childhood cancers have significantly improved over recent decades, with 5-year survival now approaching 90% for many types. However, documented variations in survival across European countries and Italian regions highlight the need to address inequalities. One of the most critical prognostic factors is the extent of tumour spread at diagnosis (tumour stage).

Objectives: the BENCHISTA-ITA aims to enhance understanding of regional differences in childhood cancer survival and to promote the widespread adoption of the Toronto Guidelines (TG) by Italian cancer registries for the most common solid paediatric tumours.

Design: the study will examine stage distribution and survival for nine solid paediatric cancers: medulloblastoma, neuroblastoma, Wilms tumour, retinoblastoma, and ependymoma (age: 0-14 years), as well as astrocytoma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma (age: 0-19 years).

Setting and participants: the study will include all children under 15 or 20 years (depending on the tumour type) diagnosed between 01.01.2013 and 31.12.2017, with relevant histological codes. Participating Italian cancer registries will assign tumour stage at diagnosis using the Toronto Guidelines.

Statistical analysis: the statistical power to detect differences in stage distribution and survival rates among regions is limited by the number of incident cases per tumour type and region. Therefore, analyses will be descriptive, with 95% confidence intervals. Overall survival for each tumour type will be estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Conclusions: BENCHISTA-ITA represents an important step toward a more complete and standardized registration of childhood cancers in Italy. The results may support targeted interventions to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes for paediatric patients.

Problematic smartphone and social media use among adolescents has rapidly become a social emergency with significant mental health implications. Recent studies show an increase in psychiatric symptoms and suicidal behaviors related to patterns of addictive use rather than total exposure time. This phenomenon, amplified by neurocognitive reward mechanisms and the possibility of continuous access, compromises attention, sleep, and interpersonal skills. Prevention strategies are structured on three levels: technical and legal control (use restrictions and school bans), educational and family empowerment (digital education and family use plans), and health prevention through screening and counseling. The article concludes with the hope for a change in strategy: not only limiting use, but also fostering a conscious and critical relationship with technology through coordinated, evidence-based policies.