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The mortality rate due to road traffic accidents is 11.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants during 1994 in the area; morbidity incidence (per 100,000 inhabitants) we estimate to be 1,170 arrivals to first-aid centers and 263 hospitalizations during 1997. The cases at General Hospital "Umberto I" during 1997 represent about one-third of the whole area. In severe cases (ISS > 16) 15-29 year-old males account for modal value; women are concentrated at elder age, and males represent 72% of the total number. Vehicle type and sex are determinants of the risk of severe trauma. There is a strong linear relationship between age, severity, and lethality rate (R 2 = 0.88), but severity is the variable that plays the major role on lethality. These variables (age, severity, and lethality rate) are crucial to define death risk. Most deaths occur within the early 24 hours of hospitalization. Lethality reflects a system failure phenomenon with critical points at 24 hours and after 7 days since the accident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Erased Respondent Method (ERM) allows the prevalence of a characteristic to be estimated without needing to know the state of the individual statistical units. A recent extension of the method, which also did not make use of individual data, also estimated the prevalence of two or more characteristics in the same individual (PERM, Politomic ERM). In this paper, ERM is extended further to quantitative data coming from analytical determinations, considering pools of samples instead of individual samples. The extension of the method above described, we named it with the acronym QERM (Quantitative ERM), allows to estimate (only on the ground of analytical determinations made from pools of individual samples) the average and the standard deviation of the distribution of the determinations concerning only positive individual samples. By referring to road controls for driving under the influence of abuse drugs that constitute pools of biological material from more drivers, with the ERM we are able to estimate the prevalence of subjects that are positive for a certain substance, while with the QERM we can estimate the mean and standard deviation of the quantity of the substance measured in biological liquids only from the subjects that are positive to the substance. In order to better clarify this new method, an application to a road check for driving under the influence of cocaine will also be presented that was obtained by simulation. The application fields in Public Health for ERM, PERM and QERM are many; however in our opinion the most interesting areas of application are road traffic, occupational and sport safety.

Pb-blood levels of 801 adult non-occupationally exposed subjects from Rome are reported. The investigation was carried out according to EEC Directive No. 77/312 with acceptable quality control of analytical data. A mean Pb-blood level of 173 micrograms/l (198 micrograms/l for males and 150 micrograms/l for females) was found; good correlations were found between Pb-blood levels and age, sex and smoking habits but no correlation was found in relation to drinking habits, residence and other variables which were examined. In the present survey all the three EEC reference levels were observed.

A statistical analysis is presented of the results obtained from the measure of the serum concentration of IgG, A, M in 773 blood donors. In each of the two groups identified by sex, four subgroups were established according to age in ten years intervals from 20 to 59. On the basis of the results of the analysis, different fiducial intervals of normal values (calculated as mean +/- 2 X standard deviation) have been proposed. 1) A unique interval for IgG: 87-234 U.I. 2) Two intervals for IgA: 54-236 U.I. for subjects under 40 years and 64-270 U.I. for subjects over 40 years. 3) Four intervals for IgM: one for males under 40 years: 65-364 U.I., one for males over 40 years: 57-314 U.I., one for females under 50 years: 47-363 U.I., and one for females over 50 years: 53-434 U.I.

An epidemiological study was conducted in the city of Rome and the incidence of malignant melanoma was determined retrospectively for the years 1970-9. All patients had legal residence in Rome and a histological diagnosis of melanoma during that period; only cases of malignant melanoma of the skin (ICD 172, 8th revision) were considered. A total of 17 public and 82 private hospitals were involved in the study with 11 081 and 6127 hospital beds respectively. All the hospitals in the study had one of the following therapeutic and diagnostic facilities: internal medicine, dermatology, oncology, radiology, surgery, plastic surgery, histopathology. Analyses of incidence are based on 500 cases, 237 males and 263 females, collected in the period 1970-9. The data indicate a positive time trend in incidence; the average annual increase is 0.27 cases/year per 100 000. The data show that in a Mediterranean and Latin country such as Italy the incidence of melanoma presents the same ascending trend as that of other Caucasian countries, whether European or not, the slope of the curves is similar for both sexes. The distribution of the primary site for both sexes is closely parallel to that described for all Caucasian populations, the lower limbs being more affected in females and the trunk in males.