BACKGROUND:corporate wellness programmes have gained increasing attention as tools for promoting healthy behaviours in the workplace, yet systematic evidence on their diffusion in Italy is limited. OBJECTIVES:to describe the adoption of wellness practices among large companies in Emilia-Romagna (Northern Italy) and document companies' perceived benefits. DESIGN:cross-sectional study conducted in May-July 2024. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:32 companies among the 200 largest companies in Emilia-Romagna, identified through the regional Chamber of Commerce. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:the questionnaire covered four domains: active mobility, healthy eating, physical activity, and prevention initiatives, as well as companies' perceived effects of wellness programmes. RESULTS:each company was contacted both via email and via telephone; 150 were successfully reached and 32 completed the questionnaire (response rate: 21%). Among the participating companies (N. 32), 14 (44%) promoted active mobility initiatives, 26 (81%) offered healthy eating options, 6 (19%) provided in-house gyms, and 15 (47%) supported preventive health assessments. Among the 17 companies reporting positive organisational effects, 70% cited an improved working climate, 65% reported better employee health, 60% perceived greater corporate attractiveness, whereas only 22% reported perceived productivity gains. Nearly half of the companies (15; 47%) expressed willingness to expand wellness initiatives if supported by public policies or incentives. CONCLUSIONS:corporate wellness practices are widespread among large companies in Emilia-Romagna, though perceived productivity effects remain limited. The descriptive nature of the study, the modest sample size, and the potential non-response bias recommend caution, but findings highlight opportunities for policy support and low-cost wellness interventions.
'Ri-Medi' is a pilot project implementation of a medication review and deprescribing (MRDP) service in the primary care setting, involving two health districts of the Local Health Authority Roma 1 (Rome, Italy). General practitioners (GPs) are supported in this activity by a multidisciplinary team consisting of epidemiologists, pharmacists, statisticians, pharmacologists, geriatricians, internists, and healthcare managers. Together with GPs, the team chooses specific therapeutic focuses for which updated evidence-based information and indications on the target population are provided. The focus is on the elderly population in hyper-polypharmacy (10+ drugs). For the pilot phase, the therapeutic focus was on potentially inappropriate statin use in primary prevention in patients aged 80+ years. For each GP, the number of patients at risk was estimated. In addition, a survey among a sample of voluntary GPs was launched to investigate their interest in participating in this activity, to collect potential critical issues and impressions, and to identify areas of interest for future MRDP campaigns of interest.
BACKGROUND:population working or living in agriculture settings may experience important exposure to pesticides and other agents. Although some health effects associated with them are well known, for others (e.g., neurological diseases and lymphoid, hematopoietic and related tissue cancers) additional epidemiological evidence is needed. OBJECTIVES:to investigate mortality for neurological diseases and cancer in workers employed in agriculture in Italy. DESIGN:case-control study using mortality data linked with working histories retrieved from the Italian National Social Insurance archive. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:countrywide mortality data from 2005 to 2018 were used. Cases were blue-collar workers with primary/middle school education who died from selected causes; controls were individuals with the same characteristics, but died from all other causes. Each participant was assigned to the economic sector in which he/she worked for the longest period. Cause-specific mortality odds ratios (MORs) adjusted for age class, educational level, year of death, and region of residence were estimated using logistic regression models in which exposure of interest was "ever/never" (or length of employment) in agriculture using the service sectors as (unexposed) reference category. Analyses were adjusted for or stratified by gender. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES:MORs for causes of death within the groups of mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders (F01-F99), diseases of the nervous system (G00-G99), and malignant neoplasms (C00-C96)Results: about 64,000 workers employed in agriculture were included and compared with a control group of 107,000 workers in the service sector. Elevated mortality risk in agriculture workers was found for spinal muscular atrophy (MOR 1.26; 95%CI 1.03-1.56; 261 deaths) and Parkinson's disease (PD) (MOR 1.16; 95%CI 1.00-1.34; 742 deaths). As for cancer mortality, positive associations were found for non-follicular lymphoma (NFL) (MOR 1.59; 95%CI 1.03-2.46; 82 deaths), multiple myeloma (MM) (MOR 1.42; 95%CI 1.22-1.65; 546 deaths), and myeloid leukaemia (ML) (MOR 1.36; 95%CI 1.16-1.60; 474 deaths), as well as for stomach (MOR 1.30; 95%CI 1.20-1.41; 1,732 deaths), prostate (MOR 2.03; 95%CI 1.85-2.24, 1,582 deaths), and brain and central nervous system cancer (MOR 1.30; 95%CI 1.13-1.50; 601 deaths). PD, NFL, ML, cancers of skin, of connective and soft tissue, of prostate and of brain were found to involve mainly men. CONCLUSIONS:employment in agriculture has been associated with various health risks, some of which may be attributed to pesticides exposure. Although the use of the different agronomic categories of pesticides changed over time and some active ingredients were prohibited or limited, their health effects remain of concern for their large use, demanding further focused investigations and preventive measures.
