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Background: The present study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of BNT162b2 among HCWs of a university hospital while a recrudescence of pandemics was hitting the province, with a high rate of the B.1.1.7 variant. Methods: The study was performed in the context of health surveillance at the workplaces. We monitored the SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 symptoms among HCWs classified by having received the entire vaccine schedule or not; the latter further classified in not vaccinated workers and workers who had received the first shot more than 14 days earlier. The SARS-CoV-2 infection was diagnosed by conventional RT-PCR on rhino-pharyngeal swabs, followed by gene sequencing in positive vaccinated HCWs. The cumulative incidence of infections in the period was normalised to 100,000 people. Results: At the end of the observation period, HCWs that had completed the full schedule were at lower infection risk than both unvaccinated HCWs and the workforce who had not yet gained the complete theoretical protection from the vaccine (by 2.4-folds). Overall, ninety-two SARS-CoV-2 infections were observed among HCWs, mostly among not protected workers (52 cases) but none of them showed symptoms requiring hospitalisation. Conclusions: The vaccination campaign effectively reduced the appearance of symptoms and the incidence of infections among vaccinated HCWs. Among vaccinated HCWs, gene sequencing was possible in five cases only, 4 B.1.1.7 and 1 B1.525 variants. The high rate of unsuccessful gene sequencing observed among infected vaccinated workers could be explained by a low viral burden. Vaccination for COVID-19 should be mandatory in occupational settings with a high infective risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The Covid-19 pandemic is having a great impact on the lives of healthcare workers, but its psychological impact on Mental Healthcare Workers (MHWs) remains to be better explored. The aims of the present study were to assess the correlates and predictors of stress and adverse psychological effects in MHWs during the first waves of the Covid-19 pandemic., Methods: A total of 124 MHWs (psychiatrist/psychiatry resident, nurse, psychologist/psychotherapist, psychiatric rehabilitation therapist/educator, other mental health professional) working in public facilities of the ASST Spedali Civili of Brescia, Italy, was assessed between June 28, 2020 and August 10, 2020 with an online questionnaire that included sociodemographic, professional and Covid-19 exposure information, the Impact of Event Scale - Revised and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21. Multivariate linear regression models were designed to identify individual predictors of post-traumatic, depressive, anxiety and stress-symptoms., Results: The professional role of nurse, having more years of professional experience and experiencing the death of a patient emerged as predictors of more severe post-traumatic symptoms. The professional role of nurse emerged as the only predictor of more severe depressive symptoms; the professional role of nurse and having more years of professional experience emerged as predictors of more severe anxiety symptoms; more years of professional experience, higher workloads, worse team relationships and experiencing the death of a loved one emerged as predictors of more severe stress symptoms., Conclusions: Alongside other stressful factors, the professional role of nurse and more years of professional experience emerged as predictors of adverse psychological events. Working as a MHW, particularly with high levels of contact with patients during the Covid-19 pandemic, may be considered strenuous work, requiring dedicated training and interventions to improve resilience., Key Words: Anxiety, Covid-19, depression, mental healthcare workers, stress-related disorder, stressful life events.

Objective: The Local Health Autority (ASL) of Brescia has activated an innovative method of surveillance, based on the integration ofcurrent databases in a single database, Population Database (BDA), for monitoring the prevalence of chronic diseases in the area., Method: The BDA has been set up using automatic record-linkages of databases regarding disease exemptions, drug treatments, hospital admissions and outpatient specialist visits. This enabled us to calculate the prevalence of various chronic diseases (single or grouped) and the gross average expenditure per person for each disease group., Results: Out of the 1,092,201 people in the Brescia ASL, 275,601 had at least one chronic disease (prevalence 252.3/1,000). Diseases ofthe circulatory system were the most frequent (169.1/1,000), followed by diabetes mellitus (36 6/1,000). Having had an organ transplant was the condition with the highest per-person expenditure (Euro 16,170/year). The highest total expenditure was associated with circulatory diseases, because of the high prevalence (Euro 470,377,413)., Conclusion: A single computerised data base is capable of achieving epidemiological aims (assessing population health status) as well as managerial and health care aims (resources management, control of the appropriateness of services, adaptation of diagnostic-therapeutic methods to international guidelines and standards).