Laura Maria Beatrice Belotti

IRCCS - Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna

Background Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system requiring complex diagnostic and therapeutic management. Treatment with Disease Modifying Drugs (DMDs) is aimed at reducing relapse rate and disease disability. Few real-world, population-based data are available on the impact of adherence on relapse...

Introduction Health administrative databases are widely used for the estimation of the prevalence of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Few in general, and none used in Italy, have been validated by testing their diagnostic accuracy. The primary objective was to validate two algorithms for the identification of persons with PD using clinical diagnosis as th...

Background: The measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) as a non-invasive method of estimating intracranial pressure has been widely reported in the literature. However, few studies have evaluated the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing ONSD measurements, although it is considered a very reliable method, it is not ea...

Background: The measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) as a non-invasive method of estimating intracranial pressure has been widely reported in the literature. However, few studies have evaluated the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing ONSD measurements, although it is considered a very reliable method, it is not e...

Objective: Due to significant risks on the offspring after intrauterine exposure, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued recommendations in 2014 and 2018, restricting the use of valproate (VPA) in women of childbearing age (WOCA). We aimed to evaluate their impact in the Emilia-Romagna Region (ERR), Northern Italy. Methods: Using administrat...

In Italy, prevalence estimates of Parkinson's Disease show high variability and range from 0.6 to 6.2 cases per 1,000 inhabitants. The estimate found in the territory of the Local Health Trust of Bologna (4.3 per 1,000 inhabitants, 95% CI 4.2-4.4) is at the higher end of this range. This figure confirms the need to consider this disease, which burd...

Background: Different studies, mostly with limited cohorts, have suggested the effects of patients' characteristics on levodopa (LD) pharmacokinetics. Objective: We primarily aimed at investigating in a large population the relationship between patients' features and LD kinetic variables, to assess the main demographic and clinical predictors of...

Purpose : To report the efficacy and tolerability of brivaracetam (BRV) in add-on therapy in pediatric patients with severe drug-resistant epilepsy. Prognostic factors of clinical outcome were also analyzed. Methods : This Italian multicenter retrospective observational study was conducted on 45 pediatric patients with severe drug-resistant epilep...

Background: Sonographic assessment of the optic nerve sheath diameter represents a promising non-invasive technique for estimation of the intracranial pressure. A wide inter-observer variability, along with a lack of a standardized protocol for the optic nerve sheath diameter measurements, could lead to over- or under-estimation. The present study...

Lo studio della mobilità dei pazienti fra le Regioni italiane costituisce, oltre che uno strumento per comprendere i flussi migratori sanitari e per capire, quindi, la propensione dei cittadini ai servizi offerti dal SSN, un dispositivo di programmazione per le specifiche politiche sanitarie territoriali. L'Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bo...

Background: The patterns of long term risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization for COVID-19 and related death are uncertain in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) or parkinsonism (PS). The aim of the study was to quantify these risks compared to a control population cohort, during the period March 2020-May 2021, in Bologna, northern Italy....

Objective: To disclose the nature of cognitive deficits in a cohort of patients with idiopathic autonomic failure (IAF) by exploring the relation among cognitive functions, cardiovascular autonomic failure (AF) and clinical progression to another α-synucleinopathy (phenoconversion). Methods: We retrospectively identified all patients with a clin...

Background The indirect impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on major clinical outcomes of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) or other parkinsonism is unknown. Objectives The study aimed to (1) describe changes in healthcare services during the first epidemic bout in people with PD or parkinsonism; (2) compare the occurrence of hospitalization for an...

Objective To evaluate the long-term outcome of patients with epilepsy and malformations of cortical development (MCD). Methods We conducted a historical cohort study of patients with epilepsy and MCD due to impaired neuronal migration and postmigration organization, and with a follow-up period of ≥5 years. For each patient, MCD was classified afte...

INTRODUZIONE Durante il primo lockdown (marzo-maggio 2020), l'AUSL di Bologna (bacino di utenza c. 900.000 persone) ha ridotto l'erogazione di servizi sanitari anche a pazienti con patologie croniche, con possibili conseguenze sulla salute. La malattia di Parkinson (MdP) e i parkinsonismi (PKS) sono due condizioni di vulnerabilità estrema, e nell'A...

INTRODUZIONE Il rischio di ospedalizzazione da Sars-Cov-2 sembra più elevato in popolazioni vulnerabili (ad esempio patologie croniche). Non è chiaro se questi rischi siano rimasti costanti durante tutto il periodo epidemico. OBIETTIVI Valutare il rischio di ospedalizzazione da Sars-Cov-2 e relativa mortalità in una coorte di pazienti con Malattia...

During the first 7 months of epidemic bout of COVID-19, including 3 months of strict social lockdown measures and drastic healthcare organizations followed by 4 months of gradual recovery, we observed a harsh restriction of all scheduled healthcare provisions in a population based cohort of Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism of a province of Nort...

Background Depression is more frequently associated with akinetic-rigid/postural instability gait difficulty subtypes of Parkinson's disease than with tremor-dominant subtype. Objectives The aim of the study is to investigate the frequency of exposure to antidepressant drugs, as proxy of depression, before motor onset according to Parkinson's dise...

Background The risk of COVID‐19 and related death in people with Parkinson's disease or parkinsonism is uncertain. Objectives The aim of the study was to assess the risk of hospitalization for COVID‐19 and death in a cohort of patients with Parkinson's disease or parkinsonism compared to a control population cohort, during the epidemic bout (March...

Objective: To validate a set of indicators for quality of diabetes care through their relationship with measurable clinical outcomes. Design: A retrospective cohort study was carried out from 2010 to 2015. Setting: Population-based study. Data were retrieved from healthcare utilization databases of three Italian regions (Lombardy, Emilia Romag...

Objective To develop and validate a novel comorbidity score (multisource comorbidity score (MCS)) predictive of mortality, hospital admissions and healthcare costs using multiple source information from the administrative Italian National Health System (NHS) databases. Methods An index of 34 variables (measured from inpatient diagnoses and outpati...

Background: The impact on long-term outcomes of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and biventricular defibrillators for cardiac resynchronization (CRT-D) devices in 'real world' patients with heart failure (HF) needs to be assessed in terms of clinical effectiveness. Methods and results: A registry including consecutive HF patients w...

Background: Epidemiology and consequences of surgery in patients with coronary stents are not clearly defined, as well as the impact of different stent types in relationship with timing of surgery. Methods and results: Among 39 362 patients with previous coronary stenting enrolled in a multicenter prospective registry and followed for 5 years, 1...

Background: The service strategy (same-day transfer between spoke hospital and hub centre with catheterisation laboratory (cath-lab) facility to perform invasive procedures) has been suggested to improve the management of patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) admitted to spoke hospitals. We used data from a large...

Objectives The aim of this study was to compare long-term clinical outcomes in patients treated with new-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) or early-generation DES in a real-world registry.Background New-generation DESs have proved to be more effective and safer than early-generation DES in randomized trials. However, the effects of new-generation...

The effect of patient characteristics and organizational and system factors on time to surgery were studied using Emilia Romagna Region database and hospital survey. The results showed that the implementation of a Hip Fracture Program significantly increased the probability of early surgery while single intervention had only slight effectIntroducti...

Background: Consensus guidelines define indications for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), but the variability in implant rates in ‘real world’ clinical practice, as well as the relationship with the epidemiology of heart failure are not defined. Methods and results: In Emilia-Romagna, an Italian region with around 4.4 million inhabitants, a...

Purpose: Inguinal hernioplasty could be used as an indicator of the surgical quality offered in different health institutions and countries, thereby establishing a scientific basis from which the procedure can be critically assessed and ultimately improved. Quality assessment of hernioplasties could be conducted using two different methods: either...

Background Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecological cancer. Several hospitals throughout the region provide primary treatment for these patients and it is well know that treatment quality is correlated to the hospital that delivers. The aim of this study was to investigate the management and treatment of EOC in a Region of t...

Hip fracture is becoming a major public health concern, with associated mortality and morbidity particularly in the elderly. This study aims to investigate factors (i.e. patient factors and hospital variables) associated with increased risk for delaying surgery after hip fractures, and to assess whether and to what extent timing was associated with...

Objectives: Acute type A aortic dissection (AAAD) remains one of the most challenging diseases in cardiothoracic surgery, and despite numerous innovations, early mortality still remains high. The aim of this study was to review the Emilia-Romagna experience in the treatment of AAAD and to evaluate the effect of malperfusion on mortality and morbid...

Objectives: Information on the impact of computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) on patterns of care is scarce. In particular, it is not clear if, and to what extent, its adoption actually leads to a reduction in the use of other diagnostics tools. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the adoption of CTCA in Emilia-Romagna (an Ita...

Background: Little epidemiological information on acute aortic dissection (AAD) is available in the literature. The objective of the present study was to determine the incidence and mortality rates of AAD in the general population and to analyze its clinical features. Methods: Data from the Emilia-Romagna regional database of hospital admissions...

The paper aims to highlight and analyze possible regional patterns of mortality at advanced age (70-90 years) in Italy at the turn of the nineteenth century. The available data are referred to four distinct occasions, namely 1881-82, 1900-01, 1911-12 and 1921-22. After focusing attention on several elderly mortality indicators, we propose to analyz...