The "Italian paradox": people live longer despite bad habits
Published on 3/5/2013
Italy is wrapped in a medical paradox: average life expectancy, especially among men, tends to lengthen even in the face of an economic crisis that has increased risky behaviors for many families, forced to choose between food and medical care.
This is the picture that emerges from the study conducted by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan through the Health Observatory, now in its tenth edition.
In its careful examination of the state of health of the national health system at regional level, the report highlights extremely heavy differences in service levels between the various regions that weigh on families above all in the South, where people live on average 1 year less than in the rest of the country and average life expectancy in "good health" turns out to be 2 years shorter than in the North.
There is one positive sign: the data show a decrease in so-called "avoidable deaths", that is, those attributable to medical error (from 63.8 to 61 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), with Calabria, Campania and Sicily remaining the worst performers in this ranking. This ranking is influenced by cuts to healthcare spending, which weigh particularly on the South, but if one wishes to build a health atlas of the regions, some interesting curiosities come to light.
Analyzing healthcare performance using the criteria of effectiveness (the outcome of the service) and efficiency (the level of provision at the lowest possible cost), it can be observed how Valle d'Aosta is the champion capable of combining high levels of efficiency with high levels of effectiveness. The autonomous Province of Bolzano, on the other hand, shows excellent levels of efficiency against a medium-low level of healthcare effectiveness. And then there are Basilicata and Liguria, which, despite their very poor efficiency (both have their healthcare accounts in the red), show good levels of effectiveness. Bringing up the rear are several regions of the South, where both effectiveness and efficiency are at rock bottom.
But returning to the "paradox" and to the "bad" habits of Italians, the data reveal a decrease in deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, but, for example, the number of overweight people is rising (in 2011 more than one Italian in three was overweight, and about one in ten obese).
The number of smokers is decreasing, albeit slightly, but this decrease does not concern younger people; indeed, over 30% of smokers are concentrated in the 25-to-34 age bracket.
There is also concern about poor eating habits (Calabria is the Italian region where the least fruit and vegetables are consumed) and growing physical inactivity (particularly marked in the South, where it comes close to 40% of the resident population).
Also alarming is the phenomenon of alcohol consumption and the trends linked to it (binge drinking, drunkorexia, etc.), which point to excessive consumption mainly away from meals, with an average age of first access to alcohol that turns out to be among the lowest in Europe (11/12 years).