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The objective of the study is to investigate pain and distress experienced by a group of adolescents and children during peripheral intravenous cannulation in a paediatric emergency department. This cross-sectional study was performed between November 2019 and June 2020 at the paediatric emergency department of the Institute for Maternal and Child Health of Trieste, Italy. Eligible subjects were patients between 4 and 17 years old undergoing intravenous cannulation, split into three groups based on their age: adolescents (13-17 years), older children (8-12 years), and younger children (4-7 years). Procedural distress and pain scores were recorded through validated scales. Data on the use of topical anaesthesia, distraction techniques, and physical or verbal comfort during procedures were also collected. We recruited 136 patients: 63 adolescents, 48 older children, and 25 younger children. There was no statistically significant difference in the median self-reported procedural pain found in adolescents (4; IQR = 2-6) versus older and younger children (5; IQR = 2-8 and 6; IQR = 2-8, respectively). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in the rate of distress between adolescents (79.4%), older (89.6%), and younger (92.0%) children. Adolescents received significantly fewer pain relief techniques.Conclusion: This study shows that adolescents experience similar pain and pre-procedural distress as younger children during peripheral intravenous cannulation. What is Known: • Topical and local anaesthesia, physical and verbal comfort, and distraction are useful interventions for pain and anxiety management during intravenous cannulation in paediatric settings. • No data is available on pain and distress experienced by adolescents in the specific setting of the emergency department. What is New: • Adolescents experienced high levels of pre-procedural distress in most cases and similar levels of pain and distress when compared to younger patients • The number of pain relief techniques employed during procedures was inversely proportional to patient's age, topical or local anaesthesia were rarely used., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Purpose: The coronavirus lockdown in Italy ended, but the postlockdown phase may be even more challenging than the outbreak itself if the impact on mental health is considered. To date, little evidence is available about the effect of lockdown release in terms of adolescent health from the perspective of an emergency department (ED)., Methods: We reviewed data on ED arrivals of adolescents and young adults (aged 13-24 years) in the weeks immediately before and after the Italian lockdown release in 2020, and in the same periods in 2019, with a focus on cases of severe alcohol abuse, psychomotor agitation, and other mental issues., Results: The relative frequency of severe alcohol intoxications increased from .88% during the last part of the lockdown to 11.3% after lockdown release. When comparing these data with the same period in 2019, a highly significant difference emerged, with severe alcohol intoxications accounting for 11.31% of ED visits versus 2.96%, respectively. The relative frequency of ED arrivals related to psychomotor agitation or other mental health issues was not significantly increased after lockdown release., Conclusions: This report suggests that emergency services should be prepared for a possible peak of alcohol intoxication-related emergencies in adolescents and young adults. The connection between alcohol abuse and mental health should not be overlooked., (Copyright © 2020 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: To describe the development and the psychometric properties of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità-HIV symptoms scale (lSS-HIV symptoms scale)., Methods: The ISS-HIV symptom scale was developed by an Italian working team including researchers, physicians and people living with HIV. The development process went through the following steps: (1) review of HIV/AIDS literature; (2) focus group; (3) pre-test analysis; (4) scale validation., Results: The 22 symptoms of HIV-ISS symptoms scale were clustered in five factors: pain/general discomfort (7 items); depression/anxiety (4 items); emotional reaction/psychological distress (5 items); gastrointestinal discomfort (4 items); sexual discomfort (2 items). The internal consistence reliability was for all factors within the minimum accepted standard of 0.70., Conclusions: The results of this study provide a preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the ISS-HIV symptoms scale. In the new era where HIV infection has been transformed into a chronic diseases and patients are experiencing a complex range of symptoms, the ISS-HIV symptoms scale may represent an useful tool for a comprehensive symptom assessment with the advantage of being easy to fill out by patients and potentially attractive to physicians mainly because it is easy to understand and requires short time to interpret the results.