Environmental risk factors for type 1 diabetes in Rome and province.

BACKGROUND: In subjects genetically susceptible to type 1 diabetes, exposure to environmental factors during the gestational period, the neonatal period, and the first years of life is thought to play an important role in triggering the immune process leading to beta cell destruction. AIMS: To investigate risk factors for inhabitants of continental Italy. METHODS: A case-control study of 150 type 1 diabetes cases and 750 control subjects (age range 6-18 years) was carried out in Rome and its province, measuring the exposure to environmental risk factors. RESULTS: Three environmental factors were found to occur significantly more in the diabetic group than in the controls. During the mothers' pregnancies, the one risk factor which proved to be higher in diabetics than in controls was maternal infectious disease. During the neonatal period, no risk factors associated with the disease were detected. During early life, eczema and a short duration of breast feeding (less than three months), occurred significantly more in diabetic cases than controls. CONCLUSION: Eczema and breast feeding for less than three months are risk factors for type 1 diabetes in a southern European population. The type, duration, and mode of treatment for infectious diseases during pregnancy need additional investigation as risk factors for type 1 diabetes.

[Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infections in groups of individuals in Rome and its environment]. / Prevalenza delle infezioni da Toxoplasma gondii in gruppi di individui di Roma e provincia.

This study was aimed out to point out the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infections in Roma and in the province. The results pointed out that the percentage of antibodies positivity has been 45% this prevalence was the same of the prevalence reported by other authors in Italy. The presence of a lot of women without anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies shows that is necessary to continue the control of the young women especially at the beginning of the pregnancy.

[A seroepidemiological study of brucellosis infection in the province of Campobasso]. / Studio sieroepidemiologico dell'infezione brucellare nella provincia di Campobasso.

These research regarded a seroepidemiological study of brucellosis in the Campobasso province. The results related to 204 subjects (96 males and 108 females) pointed out the 17.15% of subjects were positive for antibodies anti-Brucella, 28.6% of these were positive for Br. melitensis. The results agree with the data of the literature.

A 5-year (1989-1993) prospective study of the incidence of IDDM in Rome and the Lazio region in the age-group 0-14 years.

OBJECTIVE: To provide data on the incidence of IDDM in Rome and the Lazio region evaluated prospectively from 1989 to 1993 for a total of > 5 million subjects younger than 15 years. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: All patients with newly discovered IDDM diagnosed between 1 January 1989 and 31 December 1993 among residents in Rome and its region were recorded. Primary ascertainment was based in diabetes clinics and specialized hospitals in the region, whereas the secondary independent source was taken from the archives of the region where patients are registered to obtain exemption from paying for medications. RESULTS: We identified 330 new patients with a degree of ascertainment of 85%. Overall the incidence rate of the disease was 7.9 per 100,000 per year (95% CI 7.1-8.8). The incidence was higher in the 5- to 9-year-old age-group (10.4 per 100,000) and in winter (36.2%). The cumulative risk for the disease is on the order of 1.18 per 1,000 subjects < 15 years of age. No significant differences in incidence were observed between boys and girls. There were 14 instances of coma at diagnosis (4.3%), but hyperglycemia without ketonuria was diagnosed in 35% of patients, suggesting an early diagnosis. DISCUSSION: Compared with the other continental Italian regions for which data are available for a single year, the IDDM incidence rate in Rome is similar. We conclude that the IDDM incidence rate in Rome and its region is comparable to that in other Southern European countries and remained stable over the 5-year observation period.