Tatjana Baldovin

• Professor (Assistant) at University of Padua

Introduction: Invasive bacterial diseases (IBDs) such as meningitis and sepsis are significant public health concerns, particularly in pediatric populations. This study analyzes the incidence, outcomes, and bacterial serotype distribution of pediatric IBDs in the Veneto Region over 17 years. Methods: An observational study was conducted using data...

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a recognized, dynamic approach to monitoring the transmission of pathogens in communities through urban wastewater. This study aimed to detect and quantify influenza A and B viruses in Italian wastewater during the 2022–2023 season (October 2022 to April 2023). A total of 298 wastewater samples were collected...

Background: Elderly individuals over 65, along with children under 5, are the most affected by invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPDs). Monitoring vaccination coverage and conducting surveillance are essential for guiding evidence-based prevention campaigns and public health measures. Methods: Since 2007, the Veneto Region has relied on three sources...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges worldwide, with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines critical in reducing morbidity and mortality. This study evaluates the immunogenicity and antibody persistence of the BNT162b2 vaccine in people living with HIV (PLWH). Methods: We monitored anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike IgG concentration in a cohort of PL...

Background: Increased screen time in children is significantly associated with lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD). The purpose of this study was to explore the association between different types of media use and the adherence to the MD in children. Methods: The study sample included 332 children aged 10–11 years attending the fifth yea...

This perspective focuses on the role of healthcare simulation in training and implementing processes aimed at improving the quality of care and patient safety. Evidence of the effectiveness of simulation in improving clinical performance, reducing healthcare costs and raising professional education standards is presented. In light of this evidence,...

Objectives Ixodes ricinus is under-recognized in Europe. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence and spatial distribution of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus (TBEV) in areas close to endemic regions in Northern Italy. Methods A multicenter study was conducted on a random sample of the general population afferent to hospitals in Veneto,...

BACKGROUND As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected populations around the world, researchers are turning to wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) testing as a potential tool to monitor the spread of the virus. SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater are thought of possibly anticipating COVID-19 epidemic curve. OBJECTIVE The study aims to examine this...

Background As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected populations around the world, there has been substantial interest in wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) as a tool to monitor the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This study investigates the use of WBE to anticipate COVID-19 trends by analyzing the correlation between viral RNA concentrations in wastewater and...

The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants poses challenges to global surveillance efforts, necessitating swift actions in their detection, evaluation, and management. Among the most recent variants, Omicron BA.2.86 and its sub-lineages have gained attention due to their potential immune evasion properties. This study describes the development of a d...

Among invasive bacterial diseases, meningococcal meningitis is a serious and contagious disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis. The disease has a high lethality grade and could have long-term sequelae. This paper describes a case of meningitis that occurred in the territory under the jurisdiction of Local Health Authority ULSS 1 Dolomiti and the...

A real-world population-based longitudinal study, aimed at determining the magnitude and duration of immunity induced by different types of vaccines against COVID-19, started in 2021 by enrolling a cohort of 2,497 individuals at time of their first vaccination. The study cohort included both healthy adults aged ≤65 years and elderly subjects aged >...

Clinical trials demonstrated efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines, although enrolment of immunocompromised individuals, including people living with HIV (PLWH), has been limited. Although cellular immunity is not negligible, recent evidence suggests a strong correlation between neutralising antibody titre and overall protection against infectio...

The immune response to hepatitis B vaccination has been shown to be associated with a number of different factors, including age, sex, BMI, comorbidities and modifiable determinants, including smoking. However, while there is a strong evidence suggesting that smokers are at higher risk of not responding to the vaccine, the effect of smoking on long...

Tick-borne diseases (TBD) are endemic in Europe. However, surveillance is currently incomplete. Alternative strategies need to be considered. The aim of this study was to test an Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance (EDSyS) system as a complementary data source to describe the impact of tick bites and TBD using a small-area analysis approach...

Background During the first pandemic phase of COVID-19, an epidemiological study, named First survey, was conducted on the population of a small rural area in northern Italy. In spring 2020, the results showed how a prolonged lockdown slowed down the spread of the virus. Methods After contacting positive First Survey subjects and their families, t...

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been depicted as a promising environmental surveillance tool and early warning system. Predictive models for the estimate of COVID-19 cases from wastewater viral loads also earned lot of interest and are currently under development. Hereby a pilot study that compa...

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the odds of readmission and mortality after discharge against medical advice (DAMA) in the Veneto region of Northeast Italy, drawing on data from the regional archives of emergency department records and hospital discharge records. Design A retrospective cohort study. Setting Hospital discharges, Ve...

Since the 1970s, human monkeypox (Mpox) has been referred to as a zoonotic endemic disease of specific regions of Africa until early 2022, when a worldwide epidemic outbreak developed. There are many hypotheses on how Mpox could spread to non-endemic regions; the dominant theory is that it spread from the UK and Spain among men who have sex with me...

Objective Sub‐Saharan African countries have the highest perinatal mortality rates. Although HIV is a risk factor for perinatal death, antioretroviral therapy (ART) programs have been associated with better outcomes. We aimed to investigate how maternal HIV affects perinatal mortality. Methods The authors performed a nested case–control study at S...

A study was conducted to assess the degree of pertussis underreporting in Italy. An analysis was performed to compare the frequency of pertussis infections estimated using seroprevalence data with the pertussis incidence based on reported cases among the Italian population. For this purpose, the proportion of subjects who had an anti-PT ≥ 100 IU/mL...

The aim of this study was to analyze the seroprevalence of varicella in Italy and to evaluate the impact of varicella vaccination, which has been mandatory for newborns since 2017. The levels of VZV-specific IgG antibodies were determined by the ELISA method in residual serum samples obtained from subjects aged between 6 and 64 years and residing i...

Pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of mortality. Following the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) in children, a decrease in the burden of the disease was reported. In parallel, an increase in non-vaccine serotypes was also noted. The objective of this study was to assess the current serotype-spec...

Objective The Mediterranean diet (MD) contributes to preventing numerous chronic diseases and has benefits on cognitive development. Adherence to the MD is associated with sleep quality and duration in adults and adolescents, but this association seems to have been little investigated in primary-school children. The aim of this cross-sectional stud...

To date there has been limited head-to-head evaluation of immune responses to different types of COVID-19 vaccines. A real-world population-based longitudinal study was designed with the aim to define the magnitude and duration of immunity induced by each of four different COVID-19 vaccines available in Italy at the time of this study. Overall, 249...

Introduction Although vaccines against HBV have been available since the 1980s, the long-term immunity is still debated. When assessing immune persistence, a number of clearly defined variables must be taken into account. Often the expression ‘infant vaccination’ means the administration within the first year of life at any age, but a difference of...

Background Only a proportion of seasonal influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) can de facto be attributed to influenza viruses. This study investigated the aetiology of ILIs to estimate the prevalence of human coronaviruses (CoVs) and to analyse their clinical-epidemiological traits. Methods A sample of 613 outpatients (253 adults, 360 children) with IL...

The efficacy of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the decontamination of ambulances against SARS-CoV-2 has been debated. In Italy, the differential use of ambulances was implemented by regional health authorities, with selected vehicles being used exclusively for transporting COVID-19 patients. We investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on h...

Background Stress and negative emotions may impact on appetite, inducing some individuals to eat less and others to eat more. This behavior has been implicated in the onset of bodyweight problems and eating disorders in childhood. The aim of our study is to evaluate factors potentially associated with emotional eating in children. Methods The pres...

Analysis of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) has been proposed for the environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study was to increase the current knowledge about the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in atmospheric PM, introduce a dedicated sampling method, and perform a simultaneous assessment of human seasonal coronavirus 229E. Thirty-...

Background: research in the health sector is an activity associated with an uncertain return on investment. This study aims to outline a multidimensional framework for assessing the imact of research funded by public (or mixed public and private) sponsors. Methods: a focus group representing different stakeholders was created to develop a sense of...

Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) may experience stigma, discrimination and show higher prevalence of behavioural risk factors than heterosexual counterparts. In Italy, the information on SGM is scarce and outdated. The present cross-sectional study aims to provide a more up-to-date estimate of the SGM proportion in young adults and to assess diff...

Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 will likely be the most promising way to combat the pandemic. Even if mass vaccination is urgent, it should still always be supported by appropriate patient safety management. The aim of this study, based on failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA), was to identify possible failures and highlight measure...

Objectives: Benefits of school attendance have been debated against SARS-CoV-2 contagion risks. This study examined the trends of contagion before and after schools reopened across 26 countries in the European Union. Methods: We compared the average values of estimated R t before and after school reopening, identifying any significant increase with...

Ensuring multiple sclerosis (MS) patients’ adherence to therapy is often challenging, but it is crucial to their survival and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of the present study was to outline connections between adherence, physical and mental HRQoL, levels of psychological readiness to engage in a treatment, levels of social suppo...

Objectives: Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are related to poverty and socio-economic disparities. In rural Nepal, IPIs are highly endemic and gender inequality is still deeply-rooted. This sudy provides a novel epidemiological assessment of IPIs in the country, juxtaposing spatial, age and sex stratification of prevalence. Methods: A PRI...

Background It is important to understand the role of schools in the community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, bearing in mind that children and adolescents can spread the infection within families, even when their own symptoms are mild. The aim of this study was to examine the trends of contagion before and after schools reopened across 27 countries in...

Background The worldwide prevalence of obstructive lung disease (OLD) is increasing, especially among people >65 years old, and nearly three in four adults with OLD have two or more comorbid conditions. This study describes the impact of such comorbidities on the healthcare service usage and related costs in a country with universal health coverage...

Aims To describe the impact of diabetes comorbidities on the health care services use and costs of a cohort of elderly patients with diabetes and high health care needs (HHCN), based on real-world data. Methods We focused on a cohort of diabetic patients with HHCN belonging to Resource Utilization Bands 4 and 5 according to the Adjusted Clinical G...

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted pathogen and the cause of several cancers and of anogenital warts. With this study, we estimated the trend of hospitalizations for anogenital warts (AGWs) in the Veneto region (Italy) from 2007 to 2018. Methods The analysis included all the hospital discharge records of public...

Background Clinical detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in stools supports the idea of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) as a precious tool for COVID-19 environmental surveillance. Successful detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in untreated wastewaters has been reported in several countries. This study investigated the presence and persistence of viral RNA in tr...

Background: The importance of health literacy (HL) in health promotion is increasingly clear and acknowledged globally, especially when addressing noncommunicable diseases. This paper aimed to collect and summarize all current data from observational studies generating evidence of the association between HL and physical activity (PA) and to analyz...

Aim: To develop an instrument to investigate knowledge and predictive factors of needlestick and sharps injuries (NSIs) in nursing students during clinical placements. Design: Instrument development and cross-sectional study for psychometric testing. Methods: A self-administered instrument including demographic data, injury epi- demiology and predi...

Background The worldwide prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing, which especially involves people aged >65 years. A recent study also found that almost 75% of adults with diabetes have two or more comorbid conditions. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of comorbidities on health care service use and health care costs of an el...

Background Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) are at higher risk for stigma, discrimination and, ultimately, development of risky health behaviours than heterosexual counterparts. Latest demographic data on SGM population in Italy date back to 2011 census. The prevalence of risk behaviours among SGM university students has not been previously estim...

Background: A few years after the introduction in Italy of a four-component anti-meningococcal B vaccine (4CMenB), we evaluated the effectiveness and impact of vaccination in two regions using different schedules (2, 4, 6, 12 months in Tuscany vs. 7, 9, 15 months in Veneto) through an observational retrospective study. Methods: Vaccination start...

Objectives To collect and summarise all current data from observational studies, generating evidence of the association between health literacy (HL) and the dietary intake of sugar, salt and fat, to analyse intervention studies on the promotion of an appropriate dietary intake of the above-mentioned nutrients and to ascertain whether HL moderates t...

Evaluation of hygienic aspects of thermal mud microbiology is still neglected. This study evaluates the microbiological hygiene quality of thermal muds, providing a comprehensive assessment of the whole mud cultivation chain. Maturing mud, peloid and used mud samples were collected twice in a year from 30 SPAs of the Euganean Thermal District, NE I...

HPV vaccination is a milestone in primary prevention. However in Italy, vaccine coverage is still nowhere near the target of 95%. We investigated factors associated with inclination to get vaccinated in university students, as they are likely to have just assumed a central role in their healthcare decision‐making. University students aged 18–25 wer...

Background: Pulmonary diseases are a common and costly cause of 30-day readmissions. Few studies have focused on the difference in risk for rehospitalization between men and women in older patients. In this study we analyzed the association between sex and the risk of readmission in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital for chronic obstruc...

Background Pulmonary diseases are a common and costly cause of 30-day readmissions. Few studies have focused on the difference in risk for rehospitalization between men and women in older patients. In this study we analyzed the association between sex and the risk of readmission in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital for chronic obstructi...

Background Pulmonary diseases are a common and costly cause of 30-day readmissions. Few studies have focused on the difference in risk for rehospitalization between men and women in older patients. In this study we analyzed the association between sex and the risk of readmission in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital for chronic obstructi...

HPV vaccination is a milestone in primary prevention. However in Italy, vaccine coverage is still nowhere near the target of 95%. We investigated drivers of vaccine uptake among university students, as they are likely to have just assumed a central role in their healthcare decision-making and potential barriers may differ from parents. University s...

Vaccine hesitancy is a growing concern in many European countries, including Italy, as instanced by alarming results from Eurobarometer 488 dated April 2019. In the view of the current magnitude of the phenomenon, our aim was to investigate its determinants among parents, with a specific view on those working as health professional. In 2017, parent...

Vaccine hesitancy has been defined as the delay of acceptance or refusal of vaccines. Hesitant parents’ (HP) fluctuate between anti-vaccine (AP) and pro-vaccine parents’ (PP) positions. In the light of alarming results from recent Eurobarometer 488, our aim was to identify sensitive topics harbouring the widest opinion gap between HP and PP. In 201...

Background Pulmonary diseases are a common and costly cause of 30-day readmissions. Few studies have focused on the difference in risk for rehospitalization between men and women in older patients. In this study we analyzed the association between sex and the risk of readmission in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital for chronic obstructi...

Introduction: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is an acute human arboviral infection of the central nervous system caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans mainly by tick bites. TBE is endemic in Europe and has become an increasingly important public health concern in recent years. Cases of TBE in Italy have occurred mainly in the north-east a...

Background Pulmonary diseases are a common and costly cause of 30-day readmissions. In this study we analysed the association between sex and the risk of readmission in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital for COPD exacerbation and other major pulmonary diseases. The goal is to tailor disease management programs to improve clinical outcome...

Background: Studies in several different countries and settings suggest that ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (ACSCs)-related hospitalizations could be associated more with socioeconomic variables than with the quality of primary healthcare services. The aim of the present study was to analyze the potential links between education levels or ot...

This article attempts to define functions and applications of telemedicine and telehealth in order to achieve a simplified and comprehensive taxonomy. This may be used as a tool to evaluate their efficacy and to address health policies from the perspective of the centrality of information in the healthcare. Starting from a lexical frame, telemedici...

Background Depression has been associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events and a higher mortality in patients with one or more comorbidities. This study investigated whether continuative use of antidepressants (ADs), considered as a proxy of a state of depression, prior to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with a higher mor...

Soil transmitted helminthiasis (STHs)are endemic in Nepal but since the country territory is extremely heterogeneous, a multidisciplinary assessment is required to evaluate the risk of infection in different areas. Prevalence data were retrieved with systematic literature search and geographical coordinates were assigned to each survey site. Spatia...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate knowledge and practices about influenza among patients on dialysis services of Italian hospitals at risk of severe influenza infection and vaccine and to identify predictive factors to vaccination adherence. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out from January 2017 to Jul...

HPV is involved in cervical, anal, penile, vulvar and oropharyngeal cancers, as well as genital warts. It is important to investigate knowledge and attitudes among university students, considering in this age a shift in healthcare decision-making from parents to students themselves. The aim of this study was to estimate knowledge and perception of...

Introduction: To assess the burden of herpes zoster (HZ) by analyzing HZ-related hospital admissions. Methods: We conducted a population-based descriptive cross-sectional study on all hospitalizations for HZ among the resident population admitted to all public and accredited private hospitals in the Veneto Region (north-east Italy) during the ye...

Introduction Definitive evidence of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of telemedicine home-interventions for the management of chronic diseases is still lacking. This study examines whether and how published reviews consider and discuss the influence on outcomes of different factors, including: setting, target, and intensity of intervention;...

In 2002, the WHO European Region was declared polio-free. Nonetheless global eradication has not yet been completed and the reintroduction from at risk areas is still possible. This seroprevalence study evaluated samples collected from each Italian region in the 12−50 years old age range to assess protection against Poliovirus (PV) 1, 2 and 3 among...

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death in Europe. Outcomes in terms of mortality and health equity in the management of patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) are influenced by health care service organization. The main aim of the present study was to examine the impact of the new organizational model of the Veneto R...

Background: Healthcare-Associated Infections are a great concern for worldwide healthcare systems and represent a considerable threat to patient safety, leading to adverse clinical outcomes. A defined panel of indicators represents a key element to guide Healthcare Organizations towards identification of main gaps, implementation of effective acti...

Introduction: Among the health professions with a long period of training, the students of the Nursing Bachelor's Degree are the most exposed to biological risk resulting from accidents, in particular with needles and cutting edges. The aim of the study was to estimate the frequency and the circumstances for the occurrence of needle stick injuries...

Background: In Italy there are no rules concerning the establishment of a hospital hygiene structure in hospitals and other healthcare settings, and the hospital organization plans vary widely. The aim of the survey, carried out by the Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive medicine and Public health,...

Background: The World Health Organization's Action Framework for tuberculosis elimination in low-tuberculosis incidence countries includes the screening for active and latent tuberculosis in selected high-risk groups, including health care workers. In this context, medical and health profession students, exposed to nosocomial tuberculosis transmis...

Background: In 2014, the Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (GISIO-SItI), in collaboration with the National Association of Medical Hospital Managers (ANMDO), conducted a survey on the availability of procedures for cleaning and disinfecting ambulances in order to assess...

Background: In 2016, 362 753 migrants reached Europe by sea. Most of migrants come from high tuberculosis (TB) burden countries and travel in conditions that increase the risk for communicable diseases. The goal of WHO End TB Strategy is to end global epidemic by 2035. Management of latent TB infection (LTBI) in low TB incidence countries is thus...

The Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine, and Public Health and the Italian Multidisciplinary Society for the Prevention of Health Care-Associated Infections carried out a national cross-sectional survey to investigate the measures taken to prevent and control legionellosis in Italian hospit...

BACKGROUND Il batterio Legionella, presente normalmente nell'acqua, trova le condizioni favorevoli per la sua moltiplicazione nei sistemi idrici costruiti dall'uomo. L'inalazione di aerosol contenente una quantità di 10^3 di Legionella da parte di soggetti suscettibili, aumenta la probabilità di contrarre una forma di polmonite ancora oggi mortale,...

Background Genital warts are one of the most common forms of sexually-transmitted disease, but their epidemiology has yet to be thoroughly elucidated. The present study was designed to shed light on the prevalence of clinically-confirmed, self-reported genital warts (GWs) in a representative sample of the university population. Methods In 2015, a c...

Background: Legionella is a ubiquitous Gram-negative bacterium naturally found in aquatic environments. It can pose a health problem when it grows and spreads in man-made water systems. Legionella pneumophila is the most common cause of Legionnaires' disease nowadays, a community-acquired pneumonia with pulmonary symptoms and chest radiography no...

AIM To ascertain whether cholestasis affects the expression of two CYP3A isoforms (CYP3A1 and CYP3A2) and of pregnane X receptor (PXR) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR). METHODS Cholestasis was induced by bile duct ligation in 16 male Wistar rats; whereas 8 sham-operated rats were used as controls. Severity of cholestasis was assessed on...

Background. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are an important issue in terms of quality of care. HAIs impact patient safety by contributing to higher rates of preventable mortality and prolonged hospitalizations. In Italy, analysis of the currently available accreditation systems shows a substantial heterogeneity of approaches for the preven...