“Use of Scanner Data to Analyze the Table Wine Demand in the Italian Major Retailing Trade”

ABSTRACT While the utilization of scanner data for food demand analyses has become increasingly popular in the United States, few food demand studies, and in particular none on table wine, have been conducted using scanner data in Italy+ This paper presents a first attempt to estimate a demand system for selected brands of red tetra-packaged, plastic packaged, and bag-in-box table wine using scanner data providing new and useful insights into the marketing of Italian wine+ Price and expenditure elasticities of Italian red table wine demand drawn from a linear almost ideal demand system are provided+ Results suggest a partially loyal market of table wine, showing a tendency to substitution across brands and a degree of competition among the leading brands+ @EconLit citations: Q110, Q130#+ © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Gender effect on the Relation between Diabetes and Hospitalization for Heart Failure

Aims: Cardiovascular risk among diabetic patients is at least twice as much the one for nondiabetic individuals and even greater when diabetic women are considered. Heart failure (HF) is a common unfavorable outcome of cardiovascular disease in diabetes. However, since the comparison among sexes of heart failure prevalence in diabetic patients remains limited, this study is aimed at expanding the information about this point. Methods: We have evaluated the association between diabetes and HF by reviewing the medical records of all subjects discharged from the Internal Medicine and Cardiology Units of all hospitals in the Tuscany region, Italy, during the period January 2002 through December 2008. In particular we sought concomitance of ICD-9-CM codes for diabetes and HF. Results: Patients discharged by Internal Medicine were on average older, more represented by women, and had a lesser number of individuals coded as diabetic (p < 0.05 for all). Relative risk for HF (95 % CI) was signifi cantly higher in patients with diabetes, irrespective of gender 1.39 (1.36– 1.41) in males; 1.40 (1.37–1.42) in females. When the diabetes-HF association was analyzed according to decades of age, a “horse-shoe” pattern was apparent with an increased risk in 40–59 years old in female patients discharged by Internal Medicine. Conclusions: Although there is not a diff erence in the overall HF risk between hospitalized male and female diabetic patients, women have an excess risk at perimenopausal ag

Patient-reported experience and health-related quality of life in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome in Europe

Objective. The study aims to provide novel findings on geographic variation in the management of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) in Europe, an underdiagnosed, long-term autoimmune disease. Methods. Starting from the lack of comparable information on patients' experience, quality and efficiency of care delivered to pSS patients in Europe, the approach is to collect and analyse patients reported data from an international survey. To assess and compare access and quality of care to pSS along their care-path we developed and validated a questionnaire administered to a large cohort of pSS patients in selected European countries. Regression models have been applied to survey data to compare quality and volumes of care across Europe. Results. Both follow-up and number of visits with a specialist of the patient are influenced by the severity of the disease with differences among countries. The results show some extent of variations in access and treatments delivered to pSS patients and also their perceived quality of life and satisfaction for SS care in Europe. Conclusion. Findings contribute to support healthcare professionals' decision making and the organisation of care delivery by taking into consideration the patients' point of view and preferences

Risk adjustment for inter-hospital comparison of caesarean delivery rates in low-risk deliveries

BACKGROUND: Caesarean delivery (CD) rates have been frequently used as quality measures for maternity service comparisons. More recently, primary CD rates (CD in women without previous CD) or CD rates within selected categories such as nulliparous, term, cephalic singleton deliveries (NTCS) have been used. The objective of this study is to determine the extent to which risk adjustment for clinical and socio-demographic variables is needed for inter-hospital comparisons of CD rates in women without previous CD and in NTCS deliveries. METHODS: Hospital discharge records of women who delivered in Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy) from January, 2007 to June 2009 and in Tuscany Region for year 2009 were linked with birth certificates. Adjusted RRs of CD in women without a previous Caesarean and NTCS were estimated using Poisson regression. Percentage differences in RR before and after adjustment were calculated and hospital rankings, based on crude and adjusted RRs, were examined. RESULTS: Adjusted RR differed substantially from crude RR in women without a previous Caesarean and only marginally in NTCS group. Hospital ranking was markedly affected by adjustment in women without a previous CD, but less in NTCS. CONCLUSION: Risk adjustment is warranted for inter-hospital comparisons of primary CD rates but not for NTCS CD rates. Crude NTCS CD rates are a reliable estimate of adjusted NTCS CD

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Performance Evaluation System in the Public Health Care Sector: Some Novel Evidence from the Tuscany Region Experience

Since 80's the introduction of New Public Management principles has promoted the use of performance measurement to drive a more efficient, effective and accountable public sector. The adoption of a sophisticated and comprehensive multidimensional performance measurement system, which looks beyond traditional financial measures, based on organization strategies, such as the balanced scorecard, has thus been suggested. This revolution in the public management came together with the devolution processes that involved most European public health systems. Set within this context, in the last decade, each of the twenty Italian regions developed its own management tools. Among others, the Tuscan performance evaluation system (PES) has been valued as a particularly innovative and comprehensive system. This paper reports the novel experience of the Tuscan PES; in particular, it measures PES effectiveness and discusses the critical factors that could have led to the PES success. Five are the critical success factors identified by researchers: the visual reporting system, the linkage between PES and CEO's reward system, the public disclosure of data, the high level of employees and managers involvement into the entire process and the strong political commitment. All those factors run together to achieve better results; however, the process of development of the system plays a pivotal role. Scholars suggest the use of a constructive approach in order to gain effective changes in human organization. According to this stream of literature, this paper contributes by the novel experience of the Tuscan PES in addressing as a further fruitful application of the constructivist approach in healthcare

Association between different levels of dysglycemia and metabolic syndrome in pregnancy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In this study, we sought to evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a cohort of pregnant women with a wide range of glucose tolerance, prepregnancy risk factors for MS during pregnancy, and the effects of MS in the outcomes in the mother and in the newborn.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One hundred and thirty six women with positive screening for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were classified by two diagnostic methods: glycemic profile and 100 g OGTT as normoglycemic, mild gestational hyperglycemic, GDM, and overt GDM. Markers of MS were measured between 2428^thduring the screening.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of MS was: 0%; 20.0%; 23.5% and 36.4% in normoglycemic, mild hyperglycemic, GDM, and overt GDM groups, respectively. Previous history of GDM with or without insulin use, BMI ≥ 25, hypertension, family history of diabetes in first degree relatives, non-Caucasian ethnicity, history of prematurity and polihydramnios were statistically significant prepregnancy predictors for MS in the index pregnancy, that by its turn increased the adverse outcomes in the mother and in the newborn.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The prevalence of MS increases with the worsening of glucose tolerance; impaired glycemic profile identifies pregnancies with important metabolic abnormalities even in the presence of a normal OGTT, in patients that are not classified as having GDM.</p