Showing papers by "Liliana Minelli published in 2014"

Employment status and perceived health condition: longitudinal data from Italy

Abstract: The considerable increase of non-standard labor contracts, unemployment and inactivity rates raises the question of whether job insecurity and the lack of job opportunities affect physical and mental well-being differently from being employed with an open-ended contract. In this paper we offer evidence on the relationship between self-reported health and the employment status in Italy using the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW); another aim is to investigate whether these potential inequalities have changed with the recent economic downturn (time period 2006-2010). We estimate an ordered logit model with self-reported health status (SRHS) as response variable based on a fixed-effects approach which has certain advantages with respect to the random-effects formulation: the fixed-effects nature of the model also allows us to solve the problems of incidental parameters and non-random selection of individuals into different labor market categories. We find that temporary workers, first-job seekers and unemployed individuals are worse off than permanent employees, especially males, young workers, and those living in the center and south of Italy. Health inequalities between permanent workers and job seekers widen over time for male and young workers, and arise in the north of the country as well.

Employment status and perceived health condition: longitudinal data from Italy

Abstract: The considerable increase of non-standard labor contracts, unemployment and inactivity rates raises the question of whether job insecurity and the lack of job opportunities affect physical and mental well-being differently from being employed with an open-ended contract. In this paper we offer evidence on the relationship between Self Reported Health Status (SRHS) and the employment status in Italy using the Survey on Household Income and Wealth; another aim is to investigate whether these potential inequalities have changed with the recent economic downturn (time period 2006-2010). We estimate an ordered logit model with SRHS as response variable based on a fixed-effects approach which has certain advantages with respect to the random-effects formulation and has not been applied before with SRHS data. The fixed-effects nature of the model also allows us to solve the problems of incidental parameters and non-random selection of individuals into different labor market categories. We find that temporary workers, unemployed and inactive individuals are worse off than permanent employees, especially males, young workers, and those living in the center and south of Italy. Health inequalities between unemployed/inactive and permanent workers widen over time for males and young workers, and arise in the north of the country as well.

Socio-demographic determinants and access to prenatal care in Italy.

Abstract: Background Many governments have made commitments to examine inequalities in healthcare access based on studies assessing the association between several socio-demographic factors and late initiation or fewer prenatal examinations. This study addressed the question of whether socio-demographic determinants were significant in explaining differences in prenatal care in one administrative region of Italy, Umbria.

Differences in Birthweight Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study Based on Siblings

Abstract: Objectives: We investigate the differences in birthweight between first- and second-borns, evaluating the impact of changes in pregnancy (e.g., gestational age), demographic (e.g., age), and social (e.g., education level, marital status) maternal characteristics. Data and Methods: All analyses are performed on data collected in Umbria (Italy) taking into account a set of 792 women who delivered twice from 2005 to 2008. Firstly, we use a univariate paired t-test for the comparison between weights of first- and second-borns; Secondly, we use linear and nonlinear regression approaches in order to: (i) evaluate the effect of demographic and social maternal characteristics and (ii) predict the odds-ratio of low and high birthweight infants, respectively. Results: We find that the birthweight of second-borns is significantly higher than that of first-borns. Statistically significant effects are related with a longer gestational age, an increased number of visits during the pregnancy, and the gender of infants. On the other hand, we do not observe any significant effect related with mother’s age and with other characteristics of interest.

Differences in birth-weight outcomes: A longitudinal study based on siblings

Abstract: Objectives We investigate about the differences in birthweight between firstand second-borns, evaluating the impact of changes in pregnancy (e.g., gestational age), demographic (e.g., age), and social (e.g., education level, marital status) maternal characteristics. Data and Methods All analyses are performed on data collected in Umbria (Italy) taking into account a set of 792 women who delivered twice from 2005 to 2008. Firstly, we use a univariate paired t-test for the comparison between weights of first- and second-borns. Secondly, we use linear and nonlinear regression approaches in order to: (i) evaluate the effect of demographic and social maternal characteristics and (ii) predict the odds-ratio of low and high birthweight infants, respectively. Results We find that the birthweight of second-borns is significantly higher than that of first-borns. Statistically significant effects are related with a longer gestational age, an increased number of visits during the pregnancy, and the gender of infants. On the other hand, we do not observe any significant effect related with mother’s age and with other characteristics of interest.

SETIL: Italian multicentric epidemiological case–control study on risk factors for childhood leukaemia, non hodgkin lymphoma and neuroblastoma: study population and prevalence of risk factors in Italy

Abstract: Aetiology of childhood leukaemia and childhood neoplasm is poorly understood. Information on the prevalence of risk factors in the childhood population is limited. SETIL is a population based case–control study on childhood leukaemia, conducted with two companion studies on non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) and neuroblastoma. The study relies on questionnaire interviews and 50 Hz magnetic field (ELF-MF) indoor measurements. This paper discusses the SETIL study design and includes descriptive information. The study was carried out in 14 Italian regions (78.3% of Italian population aged 0–10). It included leukaemia, NHL and neuroblastoma cases incident in 0–10 year olds in 1998–2001, registered by the Italian Association of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (AIEOP) (accrual over 95% of estimated incidence). Two controls for each leukaemia case were randomly sampled from the Local Health Authorities rolls, matched by gender, birthdate and residence. The same controls were used in NHL and neuroblastoma studies. Parents were interviewed at home on: physical agents (ELF-MF and ionizing radiation), chemicals (smoking, solvents, traffic, insecticides), occupation, medical and personal history of children and parents, infectious diseases, immunizations and associated factors. Occupational exposure was collected using job specific modules. ELF-MF was measured in the main rooms (spot measurement) and close to child’s bed (48 hours measurement). The study included: 683 leukaemia cases (87% ALL, 13% AnLL), 97 NHL, 155 neuroblastomas, and 1044 controls. ELF-MF long term measurements were obtained for 61.1% of controls and 81.6% of leukaemia cases; 8.8% of controls were exposed at over 0.1 microTesla (μT), 3.5% and 2.1% at respectively over 0.2 and 0.3 μT. 25% of controls’ fathers had smoked over 10 cigarettes/day during the year of conception, varying according to education and region. Maternal smoking was less common (71.4% did not smoke in pregnancy). Maternal passive smoking during pregnancy was reported by 31.2% of controls; the child’s passive smoking for 28.6%. Occupational exposure to solvents was estimated in 18.3% of controls’ fathers and 7.7% of mothers. Contact with public was more frequent among mothers (36.1%) than fathers (23.4%). SETIL represents a data source on exposure of Italian children to a broad array of potential carcinogenic factors.

Evaluation of the healthcare continuity quality in Umbria (Italy)

Abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate the quality of hospital-territorial services relationship and community care to ensure continuity of care and to avoid, or reduce, the risk of hospitalization for complications or problems in the Health Districts of Umbria region (Italy) They are considered some of the outcome indicators proposed by the Assessment Document on Determinants of Health and the Strategies of the SSR, sponsored by the Region of Umbria in 2004 and based on Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Indicators : the rate of unplanned readmission to hospital within 28 days after hospitalization for hip fracture, stroke, acute myocardial infarction, asthma, and the rate of hospitalization for chronic complications of diabetes, pneumonia and influenza The most significant feature is the marked variability between different districts of the region This variability requires careful verification, as well as the quality of intra-hospital, also the quality of the relationship hospital-territorial services and the different skills and ways of taking care of patients by the health district To reduce the risk of rehospitalization/readmission not programmed for specific diseases, even considering that this risk is influenced by various determinants, it is desirable to improve the quality of community services