Sonia Paoli

Background: Human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is a key contributor to lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), affecting children aged 0–5 years and often leading to outpatient visits, emergency department utilization, and hospitalization. With the development of hRSV vaccines for mitigation, understanding the epidemiological impact of hRSV infections among 0–5-year-old pediatric outpatients in Italy is crucial. Methods: This systematic review conducted searches on PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and the International HTA Database, yielding 20,845 English and Italian records from January 2000 to July 2022. Results: Six eligible articles were identified following inclusion and exclusion criteria. These studies demonstrated hRSV-positivity proportions ranging from 18% to 41% in pediatric outpatients with respiratory infections. However, data comparability was hindered by diverse diagnostic approaches, data sources, sample populations, and study designs. Notably, hRSV-positivity showed temporal variability, rising from 23.8% (2001–2002) to 40.6% (2019–2020). This trend could stem from evolving epidemiological factors, heightened clinician awareness in hRSV diagnosis, or more sensitive molecular techniques. Conclusion: As the first review of its kind, this study underscores the need for more comprehensive data to inform effective preventive strategies against hRSV-related burdens in pediatric outpatients.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the trends of prevalence of health risk behaviors (HRBs) and health conditions over a 10 year period (2008–2018) in a representative sample of adolescents of Tuscany Region, Italy. Methods: This was a repeated cross-sectional (four survey waves) study. The prevalence of 17 HRBs and health conditions were analyzed by age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). Results: A total of 21,943 students were surveyed. During the study period, decreases in smoking participation, cocaine use, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and problem gambling were observed, while alcohol abuse and at-risk sexual behaviors remained unchanged or increased. Males resulted more frequently involved in most of the HRBs, while females more frequently reported physical inactivity, regular smoking, and not using a condom. Female participation in smoking and alcohol abuse behaviors, fruit and vegetable consumption, and bullying worsened over the study period. Smoking, poor dietary habits, physical inactivity, high distress level, and obesity were more frequently observed in low-SES students than in high-SES students. Conclusions: The findings showed different tendencies in adolescent participation in HRBs over the last decade; concerning trends in at-risk sexual behaviors and alcohol consumption and females’ risk-taking behavior on the rise require careful monitoring.

Background: Vaccination is a worldwide public health practice that requires high uptake levels in order to effectively reduce the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. The manufacturing of vaccines is a complex process, and little is known about people’s feelings and opinions on that. Our study aimed at investigating perceptions and attitudes of the general population towards the vaccine production process before the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: We designed a 15-question online survey in the Italian language which was spread via Facebook and an Italian website "Vaccinarsintoscana" between January and May 2020. We performed a descriptive analysis and applied statistical tests to assess differences in the given answers according to participants’ sociodemographic characteristics. Results: The collected responses (135 participants) about the perceptions on vaccine production process were largely positive: not being concerned about the vaccine production (70.3%); believing the vials did not contain harmful substances (75.6%) and considering the precautionary withdrawal of some batches as highly effective (83.7%). In contrast, a less positive perception was found for the question about the conflict of interest between manufacturing companies and the control systems (48.9%). Moreover, people’s perceptions towards the vaccine components (i.e., microorganism, adjuvants and opinion on batches withdrawal) also showed a good level of confidence and trust. Conclusions: Our study highlighted a generally positive attitude towards the vaccine production process and showed people’s confidence in the control systems, safety and high standards of quality of the vaccine production process.

Background: Vaccine hesitancy has been recognized as a major global health threat by the World Health Organization. Many studies have investigated vaccine safety as a determinant for vaccine hesitancy; however, not much attention has been paid to vaccine production and quality control during the vaccine production process or whether knowledge about this topic may influence vaccine confidence. The aim of this study was to characterize the common knowledge about the vaccine production process. Methods: A freely accessible online questionnaire was developed on Google Modules and disseminated through social networks. A descriptive analysis of the collected answers was performed, and the chi-square test was used to assess significant differences for the sociodemographic characteristics of the study population (age, gender, work or education and training in the healthcare setting, minor offspring). A binary logistic regression model was performed considering these socio-demographic categories as independent variables. Results: The number of collected questionnaire was 135. Most of the participants (127/135, 94.1%) were aware that quality control measures are carried out during manufacturing, although some knowledge gaps emerged in specific aspects of the vaccine production process, without statistically significant differences between age groups. Working in the healthcare setting or being educated in healthcare may be considered predictors for a better understanding that more than 50% of the production time is spent on quality control (AOR = 3.43; 95% CI: 1.84–8.14, p = 0.01) and that considering quality control performed during the vaccine production process is adequate for avoiding contamination (AOR = 7.90; 95% CI: 0.97–64.34; p = 0.05). Conclusions: This study allowed for a characterization of common knowledge about the vaccine production process. It highlighted the need to implement specific strategies to spread correct information about the vaccine production process. This study may contribute to increased confidence and trust in vaccines and vaccination among the general population.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, risk communication has often been ineffective, and from this perspective “fake news” has found fertile ground, both as a cause and a consequence of it. The aim of this study is to measure how much “fake news” and corresponding verified news have circulated in Italy in the period between 31 December 2019 and 30 April 2020, and to estimate the quality of informal and formal communication. We used the BuzzSumo application to gather the most shared links on the Internet related to the pandemic in Italy, using keywords chosen according to the most frequent “fake news” during that period. For each research we noted the numbers of “fake news” articles and science-based news articles, as well as the number of engagements. We reviewed 2102 articles. Links that contained fake news were shared 2,352,585 times, accounting for 23.1% of the total shares of all the articles reviewed. Our study throws light on the “fake news” phenomenon in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A quantitative assessment is fundamental in order to understand the impact of false information and to define political and technical interventions in health communication. Starting from this evaluation, health literacy should be improved by means of specific interventions in order to improve informal and formal communication.