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Objectives: To investigate the association between parental smoking during infancy/adolescence and smoking prevalence in older adult women, and to provide a description of smoking and smoking cessation patterns in this subset of the population. Study design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Between 1999 and 2001, trained physicians in 11 health agencies throughout the Abruzzo Region, Italy, conducted semi-structured interviews on 9708 women aged 50-70 years attending mammographic screening (overall response rate 89%). Information was collected on sociodemographic characteristics, smoking habits, parental smoking during their infancy and/or adolescence, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) inside or outside the family. Results and conclusions: The overall prevalence of current smoking was 15.6% (n=1516), and that of former smoking was 13.2%. Women whose parent(s) smoked were more likely to be current smokers, especially if only the mother smoked (adjusted odds ratio 4.27; 95% confidence interval 2.24-8.12). Other factors significantly associated with current smoking in the multivariate analysis were younger age, lower body mass index, higher level of education, unmarried status, and exposure to ETS either inside or outside the family environment. Eighteen percent of all current smokers were non-inhalers, and more than 60% of ex-smokers quit smoking on their first attempt. Our findings expand the existing evidence suggesting that a strong effect of parental conduct on a daughter's smoking behaviour may persist throughout life. Although more research is needed, especially to clarify the role of genetic and environmental factors in determining the mother-child smoking association, our results suggest that intensifying smoking prevention efforts directed at women with children might considerably reduce the risk of ever smoking in future female generations.

The unemployment dynamics in the Mezzogiorno of Italy seem to corroborate the New Economic Geography predictions, whereby, under some specific hypotheses, a stronger economic integration can amplify the regional polarisation of unemployment rates in Europe. It is, however, unclear which features characterize the South of Italy compared to other Peripheral areas in the Union. To answer this question, this work investigates the Core/Periphery pattern in the European Union and carries out a comparative analysis of unemployment rates of the different ‘Mezzogiornos of Europe’. Finally, some policy prescriptions are proposed to reduce unemployment in the South of Italy.

Background: The “Valentino” cross-sectional study is aimed at evaluating the prevalence and pattern of cigarette smoking according to occupational group in a representative sample of workers aged 18-35 years from Abruzzo, Italy. Methods: Randomly selected workers anonymously self-compiled a structured questionnaire containing validated items. Job type was coded according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations.Results: The sample consisted of 3989 workers. Current smoking prevalence was 45.9%, varying across occupational groups and ranged from 37.2% among clerical support workers, up to 57.1% among craft, agricultural and fishery sector workers. After controlling for several potential confounders using logistic regression, craft, agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (adjusted odds ratio 1.65; 95%confidence intervals 1.21-2.27), and call-center operators (1.91; 1.44-2.53) were significantly more likely to be current smokers than professionals and clerical or support workers. Interestingly, when alcohol and cannabis use were included in multivariate analysis, the association between smoking and gender was no longer significant.Conclusions: An independent association was found between specific occupational classes and tobacco smoking, suggesting occupation type should be considered in prioritizing subsets of populations towards which smoking cessation campaigns should be targeted first.

Introduction. In all Italian regions influenza vaccine is routinely administered to the elderly population. However, vaccination impact has been rarely evaluated because of the high costs of conventional cohort investigations. A promising low-cost alter- native approach uses administrative discharge data to derive vaccine effectiveness indicators (hospitalizations and/or deaths) and involves General Practitioners (GPs) to document the exposure. We conducted a cohort analysis using such approach to assess influenza vaccine effectiveness and to investigate the feasibility and validity of that methodology for routine vaccine evaluation. Methods. During October 2006, all GPs from two Local Health Units (LHUs) were requested to indicate immunization status of all their patients in a specific form containing patient?s demo- graphic records. Immunization status information were also collected from Prevention Departments. Main outcomes were hospitalizations for influenza and/or pneumonia. Analyses were based upon random-effect logistic regression. Results. Of a total of 414 GPs assisting 103,162 elderly, 116 GPs (28%) provided data on 32,457 individuals (31.5%). The sample was representative and had an overall 66.2% vaccina- tion rate. During the first semester 2007, the hospitalization rate was low in the sample, with only 7 elderly patients admitted for influenza and 135 for pneumonia. At either bivariate or multi- variate analysis, vaccination did not significantly reduce the risk of in-hospital death, influenza or pneumonia admission. Discussion. The study had minimal costs, recruited a large and representative sample size, and had no evidence of a substantial selection bias. Administrative and GP?s data may be successively pooled to provide routine assessment of vaccination effectiveness., Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, Vol 50, No 2 (2009)

When H1N1v vaccines become widely available, most elderly subjects will have already received their seasonal influenza vaccination. Adults seeking H1N1v vaccination may be offered seasonal vaccine as well. We investigated prior seasonal vaccination in adult and elderly subjects, and concomitant vaccination with seasonal vaccine in adults, on the tolerability and immunogenicity of the Novartis MF59-adjuvanted H1N1v vaccine, Focetria.A total of 264 adult (four groups) and 154 elderly (three groups) subjects were enrolled. The licensure study cohorts for plain (Agrippal) and MF59-adjuvanted (Fluad) 2009-2010 seasonal vaccines were invited to receive Focetria 3 months later, with seasonal vaccine-naïve controls, and adults who received Focteria and seasonal vaccine concomitantly. Immunogenicity of all vaccines was assessed by haemagglutination inhibition on Days 1 and 22, safety and reactogenicity were monitored using patient diaries.All adult and elderly groups met all the European CHMP licensing criteria for H1N1v, as did adults receiving concomitant seasonal vaccine for the three seasonal strains. Vaccines were generally well tolerated, causing no SAEs, and profiles typical of MF59-adjuvanted vaccines. Reactions were mainly mild or moderate and transient, and unaffected by prior or concomitant seasonal vaccination except for elderly subjects previously given MF59-adjuvanted seasonal vaccine, whose reaction rates to Focetria were about half those seen in groups receiving their first MF59 vaccine.One dose of MF59-adjuvanted H1N1v vaccine met the licensure criteria for adult and elderly subjects 3 months after seasonal vaccination, or concomitantly with seasonal vaccine in adults, without impacting the tolerability or immunogenicity of either vaccine, thus facilitating mass influenza immunisation campaigns.

We conducted a study to acquire information on the current behavior of a sample of Italian surgeons and anesthesiologists about prescribing, interpreting, and using routine preoperative investigations. Consultants in surgery and anesthesiology in 60 hospitals in northern, central, and southern Italy were interviewed. Prescription of these procedures by doctors were driven more by personal experience than by updated scientific knowledge. This practice often led to ineffective and inefficient clinical practice, with healthy patients undergoing useless, time-consuming, costly, and sometimes harmful procedures.

A survey of the virological and epidemiological features of acute respiratory diseases in children admitted to hospital in Naples has been carried out; the results of three years of research are reported.Between April 1979 and March 1982, 787 nasopharyngeal swabs were examined. There were 287 (36.5%) positive samples, with the highest isolation rate being found in children with bronchiolitis (39.5%).Among the different viruses isolated, adenovirus was the most common (161 positive samples, 56%); this agent appeared regularly in the different age and disease groups, with a marked increase in prevalence during the winter of 1980. Isolations of herpesvirus, respiratory syncytial virus and enterovirus were less frequent; however, echovirus 3 caused an epidemic in the summer of 1980. Influenza and parainfluenza viruses were seen fairly infrequently; two cases of Reye's syndrome yielded strains of influenza B.