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Differences in the Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Access to Care between Italians and Non-Italians in a Social-Housing Neighbourhood of Milan, Italy
The northern Italian region of Lombardy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since its arrival in Europe. However, there are only a few published studies of the possible influence of social and cultural factors on its prevalence in the general population. This cross-sectional study of...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535198/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682369 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010621 |
Sumario: | The northern Italian region of Lombardy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since its arrival in Europe. However, there are only a few published studies of the possible influence of social and cultural factors on its prevalence in the general population. This cross-sectional study of the San Siro social-housing neighbourhood of Milan, which was carried about between 23 December 2020 and 19 February 2021, found that the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies in the population as a whole was 12.4% (253/2044 inhabitants), but there was a more than two-fold difference between non-Italians and Italians (23.3% vs. 9.1%). Multivariable analyses showed that being more than 50 years old, living in crowded accommodation, being a non-Italian, and having a low educational level were associated with higher odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, whereas a higher level of education, retirement, and being a former or current cigarette smoker were inversely associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our findings are in line with previous observations indicating that a lower socio-economic status may be a risk factor for COVID-19 and show that non-Italians are disproportionately affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection. This suggests that public health policies should focus more on disadvantaged populations. |
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