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Fabrizio Bianchi

Publications and source records attributed to Fabrizio Bianchi.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[A study on mortality around six municipal solid waste landfills in Tuscany Region].

OBJECTIVE: Describing mortality of populations residing in the neighbourhoods of selected waste landfill sites and contributing to the definition of their health status. DESIGN: Descriptive study of mortality at municipality and aggregated municipalities level. SETTING AND METHODS: Mortality from 1995 to 2000 in six areas of five provinces of Tuscany Region where municipal and/or hazardous waste landfills are located. Areas considered at higher exposure were those including municipalities where inhabitants mainly reside within 5 km from selected landfills. Comparison was made with rates observed in the five provinces in the same period. Statistical comparisons were perfomed using standardised mortality ratios (SMR) and bayesian mortality ratios (BMR) adjusted for age. MAIN OUTCOMES: Mortality for all causes, groups and specific causes of cancer and non-cancer diseases. RESULTS: Statistically significant mortality excesses were found for circulatory system and cerebrovascular diseases, for lymphohematopoietic system, liver and bladder cancer and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. CONCLUSION: Methods utilized have produced preliminary indications on associations between residence in areas with landfills and mortality. These excesses, also due to the limitations of macrogeographic studies, indicate that further insights at microgeographic level are needed.

Cause of Death↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Congenital malformations in newborns residing in the municipality of Gela (Sicily, Italy)].

OBJECTIVE: to conduct an epidemiological descriptive study on malformed newborns residing in the Municipality of Gela during 1991-2002 to compare theprevalences observed with those reported by the registries operating in Sicily, in Italy and in the scientific literature. DESIGN AND SETTING: epidemiological descriptive study in the area of the Municipality of Gela, (Sicily, Italy). MATERIALS: information on congenital anomalies occurred in livebirths and stillbirths residing in the Municipality of Gela were obtained from different sources: local hospital statistics, general paediatricians list of patients, the Sicilian Registry of Congenital Malformations (ISMAC), hospital discharge records of Catania University Hospital, previous investigation data, the Gela Hospital Obstetrics Department archive. RESULTS: 520 malformed cases out of 13060 newborns were ascertained, accounting for a prevalence rate of 398/10000 total births, approximately 2 times significantly higher than those reported by the Sicilian Registry ISMAC (182/10000) and the Italian registries (205/10000). The annual distribution resulted significantly heterogeneous for all malformed cases and for cardiovascular, limb and external genitalia malformations. Significant excesses for anomalies of central nervous system, cardiovascular system, urinary tract, digestive, teguments and total malformations were found, with observed/expected ratios ranging from 1.5 to 6.0 or from 1.3 to 3.4 when compared with ISMAC or Italian registries respectively. When specific malformations where analysed, significant excesses for male hypospadias and diaphragmatic hernia were found. The occurrence of hypospadias, 56.7/10000 births, was 2.5 times significantly higher than the reference rates. CONCLUSION: the observed hypospadias birth rate is amongst the most elevated ever reported in literature. A low diagnostic specificity (many false positives) may explain the relevant increase of newborns diagnosed with microcephaly. Results reinforce the hypothesis ofa causal role of risk factors present in the Gela area on the etiology of malformations and address the need for further insights into the excesses found, for consolidation of the registration action andfor implementation of a health and environment local surveillance system able to monitor sensitive diseases in areas considered at environmental risk. A retrospective case-control study on disease excesses is being completed.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Mortality in the area around Massa-Carrara 10 years after ANIC-Agricoltura and Farmoplant chemical plants were shut down].

OBJECTIVE: To describe mortality of residents in the area of Massa-Carrara for the period 1995-2000 and to compare it with mortality for the years 1990-1994. DESIGN: Geographical descriptive study. SETTING: In the area of Massa-Carrara cause and gender specific standardized mortality ratios (SMR), adjusted for age and municipal deprivation index (reference: Tuscany Region), have been computed for the years 1995-2000 and compared with mortality in the period 1990-1994 calculating ratios between standardized rates by age classes with a direct method (CMF). For those causes showing a statistically significant increase a spatial analysis on a group of municipalities around Massa and Carrara has been carried out. MAIN OUTCOME: Mortality for all causes, and for 30 specific causes. RESULTS: The study results confirm, for the years 1995-2000, the previous observation (1990-1994) of statistically significant excesses for mortality from all causes (SMR 109), all cancers (SMR 112), respiratory diseases (SMR 126), cirrhosis (SMR 226), liver (SMR 161) and lung cancer (SMR 115) in males. A statistically significant excess for larynx (SMR 158) and pleural cancer (SMR 178) is observed in the years 1995-2000, which was not present in 1990-1994. A mortality excess for cirrhosis is confirmed in females (SMR 158) and a new one emerges for liver cancer (SMR 144). The comparison between mortality data for the periods 1995-2000 and 1990-1994 has shown a statistically significant decrease in mortality for all causes and for several specific causes, a significant increase in liver (CMF males 1.35; CMF females 1.78) and blood cancer mortality is also detected (CMF females 1.44). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the negative health impact of environmental, occupational exposures in populations living in areas where high-risk factories are located. Adverse health effects are stronger in socially and economically deprived areas, and persist over many years after closing polluting industrial plants. The results of this study point out to the need of health promoting actions aiming at modifying lifestyle risk factors, ameliorating socio-economic conditions, and maintaining a constant control on environment, also through a specific environmental epidemiological surveillance to monitor the impact of reclamation procedures completed or in progress.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Prevalence of dementia in Tuscany: results from four population-based epidemiological studies].

OBJECTIVE: to provide information on epidemiology of dementia in Tuscany needed to plan for dedicated health and social services. DESIGN: analysis of pooled baseline data from 4 population-based longitudinal studies. SETTING: 4 municipalities in Tuscany. PARTICIPANTS: 4,056 elderly subjects enrolled in 4 longitudinal studies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: age- and sex-specific dementia prevalence rates and estimated number of demented people, by degree of cognitive impairment and BADL disability in the elderly population of Tuscany. RESULTS: out of the evaluated subjects, 293 are demented. Prevalence of dementia increases from about 1 % in the 65-69 age group to about 28 % in the 90+ age group both among women and men. About 43% of the demented study subjects suffer from severe mental deterioration (MMSE < 14) and56% are disabled in at least one Basic Activity of Daily Living (BADL). We estimate that about 19 thousand demented elderly men and 40 thousand demented elderly women are currently living in Tuscany of whom 26 thousand severely mentally impaired and 34 thousand disabled in at least one BADL. The resulting overall dementia prevalence standardised on the Italian 65+ population is 5,3% for men and 7,7% for women. CONCLUSIONS: these estimates could be used as a basis for the evaluation and the planning of social and health care services dedicated to demented people.

Aged↗