摘要：The present issue of Annali dell’Istituto Superiore diSanità contains a monographic section dedicated tothe health impact of contaminated sites. A numberof scientific papers on this topic have been publishedby Annali in the last few years, among them a studyon cancer incidence in Italian contaminated sites [1],a meta-analysis of mortality in Italian contaminatedsites with industrial waste landfills and illegal dumps[2], epidemiological investigations on specific sitessuch as Ferrara-Quadrante Orientale, a residentialarea built over a previous industrial waste dumping site[3], Bagnoli, the district of Naples where the Eternitplant was located [4], the areas of Campania Regioncharacterized by hazardous waste dumping sites [5],Taranto [6] and the Biancavilla area with its naturallyoccurring fluoro-edenite fibrous amphibole [7-12]. Inthe meanwhile, other papers dealt with methodologicalissues associated with the epidemiological study ofcontaminated sites, namely the use of GIS applicationsfor selecting populations at risk and procedures to takeinto account socioeconomic deprivation on assessingthe health risk [13, 14]. More recently, Granieri (2015)[15] reported the findings of an innovative research onthe psychological effects of residence in the asbestoscontaminated site of Casale Monferrato. This sequenceof studies exemplifies the development of research onthe health impact of contaminated sites in Italy in thelast decade. The way for the above studies was paved bythe SENTIERI Project (an Italian acronym for EpidemiologicalStudy of Residents in National Priority ContaminatedSites), a permanent epidemiological surveillanceprogram of residents in the Italian National PriorityContaminated Sites (NPCSs) financed by the ItalianHealth Ministry (Ricerca Finalizzata 2006, ex. art. 12Decree 502/1992 and CCM 2009 “Epidemiologicalsurveillance of populations living in polluted sites”). Theresults of the SENTIERI Project are presented in foursupplements of the Epidemiologia & Prevenzione journal.The first, centered largely on methodology, appeared in2010 [16] and explained the approach adopted and theresults of the a priori evaluation of the epidemiologicalevidence linking 63 causes of death with the environmentalexposures in the NPCSs. The second, publishedin 2011 [17], presented the first systematic analyses ofmortality among residents of the 44 NPCSs. Followingthis way a third supplement was published [18] wherethe study of mortality was updated and two additionalhealth outcomes, hospital discharges and cancer incidencewere analyzed. The investigation was restrictedto 18 NPCSs that were part of the AIRTUM Networkof Cancer. The 2016 supplement, SENTIERI-ReNaMProject, analyses mesothelioma incidence to estimateasbestos impact among residents in 39 sites, the oneswhere the National registry of malignant mesotheliomais active for the years 2000-2011 [19].
Loading...
