XX National Congress of Italian Pneumology Aipo
What’s more globalizing the air we breathe? And, also of air pollution, shares, exchanges, connections and scientific information, all faces of globalization. A large look, this wants to be the Aipo National Congress, the Italian Association of Hospital Pneumologists: an opportunity to take stock of the diseases of the respiratory system and an overview of the most relevant news and new treatments that will soon be available.
About 2000 Italian and foreign specialists will compare themselves on pathologies that have a high growth rate from the demographic and epidemiological point, with a great emotional impact and an equally significant impact from a social point of view and sustainability.
Third cause of death
The diseases of the respiratory system represent the third cause of death, after cardiovascular diseases and tumors. Their incidence is constantly increasing also due to factors such as smoke, air pollution and progressive aging of the population. “Italian pneumology is strong and confronts the rest of the world. As the Congress title states, we must look at the progress and new frontiers introduced by globalization “said Friday Poletti, president of Aipo and Congress. “This translates into the presence, in the congress, of international speakers who will bring the point of view of the realities with which we are called to confront each other.”
The first challenge
The first challenge, like every year, is the imminent winter season with the continuous and rapid changes in the temperatures that already shows its effects. What worries in addition to simple colds or the arrival of the influence are the repercussions on the organs of breathing: bronchitis and bronchopulmonitis. Smoking, pollution, inhalation of toxic substances but also viruses and bacteria irritates bronchi. Bronchitis is a very common affection with an ’ incidence of about 3000 cases out of 100.000 inhabitants.
In addition to those who live in polluted areas, the most exposed are children, the elderly, smokers but also those who live with a smoker and those who already suffer from lung diseases. In Italy every year the dead are over 11.000 for bronchopulmonitis preventable with vaccination.
The chronic obstructive pneumopathy bronchus (BPCO) is one of the most common pathologies
Among the respiratory diseases, the broncho chronic obstructive pneumopathy (BPCO) is one of the most common pathologies, so much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2020 it will become the third cause of death and fifth cause of disability worldwide. The prevalence of the COPD increases with age until it reaches 10.8% in the ultra -seventy -five, compared to 3.1% of general prevalence. 10% of young people between 20 and 44 years of age have signs of the disease (coughs and expectorate without or with bronchial obstruction (3.6%) underlining how the COPD is widely underestimated and sub-diagnosed, always according to WHO data).
It is estimated that 15-50% of smokers develop bpco during life. Once diagnosed, the patient proves to be little adherent with only 26% of subjects following medical indications (WHO and National Observatory on the use of medicines. National Report 2015).
But it should also be remembered that COPD is a preventable and negotiable pathology and, above all, it can be intervened to slow down its evolution.
As for asthma
As for asthma, in Europe there are over 30 million people suffering from it. In Italy the incidence is equal to 4.5% of the population, i.e. around 2.6 million people and a good part of the cases is caused by the presence of one or more allergies. The serious asthma instead concerns up to 10% of the overall population of asthmatic and has an important impact on the quality of life of the people who suffer from it.
We will talk about poor adherence to therapy for pathologies such as asthma and COPD. In this regard, Michele Vitacca, Director Director of Rehabilitation Pneumology ICS S. Maugeri Pavia and responsible for UO of Rehabilitation Pneumology Maugeri Scientific Clinical Institutes, IRCCS Lumezzane, will present an awareness campaign, aimed at the citizen, called “Abcdef of good breath”.
Simple, direct and effective communication
“The idea is to make the patient understand what his rights are but also his duties” explains Vitacca. “Through a simple, direct and effective communication, we want to raise awareness of the citizen regarding the symptoms of the disease, regarding the right to access the best care and assistance services, the best pharmacological opportunities available in the therapeutic field regardless of the region in which you live and the organizational methods.
The citizen has the right to prevention, diagnosis, access to the best drugs and rehabilitation and to be followed over time taking into account his fragility. The goal is to get to have a patient who is increasingly the protagonist of the care path in a process that enhances the aware choices, the assistance priorities and the context of family life “commented Vitacca. The awareness campaign will have a widespread diffusion according to multiple and different ways.
Sara Tomassetti of the pneumology operating unit
The chapter dedicated to gender medicine and women’s health. “In the past, in the medical field, the biological differences between men and women were completely ignored, now we know that the ways of getting sick are different as well as reactions to drugs and lifestyles” commented Sara Tomassetti of the pneumology operating unit of the GB Morgagni hospitals in Forlì. “In particular, it has been seen how cigarette smoke can have different effects on men and women. Over the past 15 years, diagnoses of lung cancer in women have drastically increased. The data of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità indicate that in Italy there are 11.6 million smokers, of these 4.5 million are women.
Increasing especially in southern Italy. These and other data will be the subject of debate and discussion during the numerous sessions dedicated to thoracic oncology on the occasion of which we will try to take stock of the new therapeutic opportunities linked above all to the use of immunotherapy drugs “explained Tomassetti.
During the Aipo congress, we will also talk about rare diseases
Particular attention will be paid to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), lung disease characterized by a progressive loss of respiratory function, which leads to death generally due to respiratory failure on average from 3 to 5 years after diagnosis, unfortunately only about 30% of patients survive 5 years after diagnosis. It is estimated that in Italy about 5.000 new cases of illness are diagnosed every year. It is the most serious form between the various pulmonary fibrosis and affects more often male individuals, former smokers, generally after 55 years of age.
Despite being considered a rare disease, the IPF causes death in about 20 people every 100.000, with a continuous incidence.
“For patients, participation in the Congress of Italian pneumology represents an opportunity for scientific updating, as well as comparison and dialogue with other associative realities” comments Achille Abbondanza, vice -president of the Italian IPF Federation and rare diseases of the lung. “There are 25 associations of patients who have promoted and supported the realization of an initiative aimed at the entire citizenship aimed at raising awareness of the general population on diseases that affect the lungs, pathologies still underestimated and little known. To do this on 12 November we will cross, riding our bicycles, the Cascine Park of Florence with departure and return to the Fortezza da Basso, headquarters of the Congress “explained abundance.
Respiratory diseases have a substantial impact
Respiratory diseases have a substantial impact on the quality of life of people precisely because they are linked to the main act of life, breath, and make life impossible to those who suffer from it, for this reason patients should be able to access all treatments capable of keep them under control. “As a patient association, continues Albino Sini Member of the Italian Association of BPCCO Onlus patients, we aim to promote information with citizens, patients and family members and to stimulate all social health measures aimed at improving the assistance of the sick and the adoption of all measures aimed at an effective prevention action, but the path is still long and tortuous “concludes Albino Sini.
The AIPO 2019 congress will take place at the Fortezza da Basso from 13 to 16 November next. Florence Convention Bureau, Mice Division of the Florence CVB Destination, will be host destination partner.
