Aging and environmental factors: an estimation of the health state of the elderly population residing in industrialized vs. rural areas.
The possibilities have already been discussed that the environment of the living beings may influence the aging process, by causing alterations of the homeostatic capacities to such an extent that definitive pathologies will come into being. Therefore, the aim of the present study was at estimating the effective impact of the environmental pollution on the health state of the subjects residing in highly industrialized areas. For this purpose, we compared 2 populations over the age of 56 years, one from the industrialized areas and the other of agricultural character. The health indicator we utilized was the rate of hospitalization calculated for the main geriatric pathologies. It has been observed that among the residents of highly polluted areas, the hospitalizations were more frequent for the screened pathologies. This finding could be an indicator of an interference of the environmental pollution with the physiological process of aging. One can also suspect that for the cardiovascular pathologies also the factor of physical fatigue being more prevalent in the rural population might play an important role in the high occurrence of this type of diseases. On the basis of these findings we intend to emphasize that the sanitary programs of a given territory should consider in the development and application of a sanitary service the intrinsic characteristics of the given area, when designing the possibly most adequate health care service.
Santangelo
Antonino
A
Department of Surgery, University of Catania, Cannizzaro Hospital, Via Messina 829, 95129 Catania, Italy.
Albani
Salvatore
S
Beretta
Massimiliano
M
Cappello
Antonella
A
Mamazza
Grazia
G
Pavano
Salvatore
S
Testaì
Manuela
M
Tomarchio
Marcello
M
Zuccaro
Carmela
C
Maugeri
Domenico
D
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000383:Agriculture; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011634:Public Health; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population