The burden of self-reported acute gastrointestinal illness in Italy: a retrospective survey, 2008-2009.
A retrospective telephone survey (n = 3490) was conducted in Italy between 2008 and 2009 to estimate the occurrence of self-reported acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) and to describe subjects' recourse to healthcare, using a symptom-based case definition. Three hundred and ten AGI cases were identified. The annual incidence rate was 1.08 episodes/person-year (95% confidence interval 0.90-1.14). The proportion of subjects consulting physicians was 39.5% while only 0.3% submitted a specimen for laboratory investigation. Risk factors for AGI and medical care-seeking were identified using logistic regression analysis. Females, children and young adults had a significantly higher incidence rate of AGI. Factors associated with medical care-seeking were age <10 years, presence of fever, diarrhoea, and duration of illness >3 days. Our results provide a relevant contribution towards estimating the global burden of AGI using standard methods that ensure a good level of comparability with other studies.
Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. gaia.scavia@iss.it
G
G
Scavia
F
F
Baldinelli
L
L
Busani
A
A
Caprioli
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult