ABSTRACT
Background The COVID-19 pandemic caused an overabundance of valid and invalid information rapidly spread via traditional media, by internet and digital communication. Health Literacy (HL), as the ability to access, understand, appraise, apply health information, is fundamental for finding, interpreting, correctly using COVID-19 information. Methods In 2021, in the framework of the participation to the WHO M-POHL (Measuring Population and Organizational Health Literacy) network, a survey was conducted in a representative sample of the Italian general population aged 18+ years (N = 3,500). The validated HL questionnaire included coronavirus-related HL (HL-COVID, 16-items), general HL, sociodemographic characteristics, risk factors, lifestyles sections. For the HL-items, a 4-point Likert scale was applied: very easy, easy, difficult, very difficult. HL-COVID levels were defined as Good: very easy+easy>81.3% (more than 12 of 16 answers);Sufficient: 50.0%<very easy+easy < =81.3% (9-12 of 16 answers);Limited: very easy+easy < =50.0% (fewer than 9 of 16 answers). Elderly were responders aged 65+ years, the remaining ones were defined as adults. Ordinal Logistic Regression analysis was performed to assess the association of HL-COVID with sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age-group, educational level, financial deprivation). Results Good HL-COVID prevalence was lower in elderly than in adults (44.8% vs. 51.0%, p-value=0.001);the opposite for both sufficient (22.8% vs. 19.9%) and limited (32.5% vs. 29.1%) levels, but not statistically significant. The odds of a low HL-COVID (sufficient/limited) increased by 31% in the elderly and by 50%, 92%, and almost triple in persons with a low, considerable, and severe financial deprivation level, respectively. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to improve HL and to prepare the general population for future emergency and non-emergency situations, confirming that HL can be considered a social vaccine. Key messages Low coronavirus-related HL level is mostly associated to elderly and to increasing deprivation level. The COVID-19 pandemic confirmed that Health Literacy can be considered a social vaccine.
ABSTRACT
Background Personal protection equipment (PPE) use in hospitals has consistently increased due to the Sars-Cov-2 outbreak, in wards repurposed for Covid-19 patients and wards that kept their usual activity. This increase influenced an environmental emergency in terms of health waste (HW) disposal. This study aims to assess the economic and environmental impact of the increase in HW generated before and during the pandemic in an Italian Hospital. Methods Data from 2016 to 2019 and 2020 to 2021 was retrieved from Risk Management department. Per capita and per days-of-stay waste quantity were calculated for the hospital inpatient wards and medical service areas (anatomical pathology, laboratories, radiology, nuclear medicine). Linear regression models assessed the epidemiological impact of COVID, and LOESS analysis modeled the relationship between infectious HW generation and the percentage of COVID-related inpatient days. Average weight of HW per patient was used to estimate the monetary value of CO2 produced. Results Preliminary results show that the inpatient days related to COVID nonlinearly influenced the infectious HW generated by wards. PPE usage increased in every context, and the proportion of COVID-related bed-days ranged from 2% to 12% in low-incidence months to 17% to 31% during acute phases. Pre-COVID CO2 production weighted 487 kg per patient and cost 1705€ per-capita, whereas during the pandemic it amounted to 768 kg per patient and cost 2688€ per capita which resulted in a significant increase of 983€ per patient. Conclusions In light of the results, HW disposal is an urgent issue that should be addressed by policy makers when implementing new monitoring systems for hospitals. A more adequate disposal of HW could substantially contribute in reducing air pollution and concurrently reduce the economic impact health systems due to the coronavirus pandemic. Key messages The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an increase in hospital waste generation. The improvement of HW disposal monitoring system should be considered to avoid reaching critical levels in the near future.