title: Health status of homeless persons: a pilot study in the Padua municipal dorm.
abstract: Homeless persons can be considered a vulnerable group and several studies showed in this group an higher prevalence of chronic and infectious diseases, a lower mental health status, and a higher abuse of alcohol. The aim of our study was to investigate the health status of homeless in Padua, Italy, administering a questionnaire composed by SF-36 and EQ-5D.
  
  
  
  We conducted a cross-sectional study from 15 December 2015 to 15 February 2016.
  
  
  
  We enrolled in our study 73 homeless persons welcomed in the municipal dorm of Padua. 5 persons refused to participate in the study; 9 had a mental status incompatible with the participation to the study.
  
  
  
  We administered to the participants a questionnaire composed by three parts: in the first part we asked sociodemographic information (gender, age, nationality, qualification, height and weight) to calculate BMI, time spent at the dorm, period of homelessness, alcohol intake, smoking habit, availability of a general practitioner, emergency room visits in the last year, admissions in the last year, pre-existing conditions and in act, participation in screening programs. The second part was represented by the Short Form 36 questionnaire. The third part by the EQ-5D questionnaire.
  
  
  
  Our sample was composed by 79% men and 21% women. 54.7% were Italian. The mean age was 48 years. 72.8% were smoker and 60,3% drunk alcohol. In this latter group 28.8% drunk more than 1 liter of wine per day. Non Italian homeless smoke less than the Italian: this difference is statistically significant (OR = 3.7 p = 0.032 ). Only 9 foreigners had a general practitioner compared to 30 Italian homeless: this difference is statistically significant (OR = 60 P < 0.01). 43 of the 59 respondents (72.8 % ) said to suffer from some disease. No one reported a history of tuberculosis. The most represented diseases were pneumonia (30%), myocardial infarction (17%), hepatitis C (13.5%). Participation in screening programs was very low. From the analysis of the SF-36 results, homeless persons obtained lower scores than Italian population. In our study, 40 persons reported a level 2 or 3 in the EQ-5D dimension called "anxiety/ depression". In the EQ visual-analogue scale, the homeless population showed a lower perception of its health status.
  
  
  
  Compared to the general population, the homeless reported a worse mental health, and this showed that they represent a particularly vulnerable group. Moreover they had a higher percentage of incorrect habits for their health (alcoholism and tobacco addiction), they suffered from chronic conditions, and tended to have a higher frequency of accesses to the emergency rooms. It would be better to improve the state of health of the homeless, through initiatives that could reduce the causes of homelessness, and that could prevent the onset of diseases in this group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Levorato
authors.affiliation: Post Graduate School of Public Health, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bocci
authors.affiliation: Post Graduate School of Public Health, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Troiano
authors.affiliation: Health Service Research Laboratory and Post Graduate School of Public Health, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Messina
authors.affiliation: Health Service Research Laboratory and Post Graduate School of Public Health, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nante
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D064266:Preexisting Condition Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Health status; Homeless; Quality of life; Questionnaires