“Italy is among the longest-lived countries and therefore the number of fragile subjects is increasing and today represents around 25% of the population. Subjects highly at risk, especially when we treat respiratory infections and viral infections in general. Hence the importance of protect the categories most at risk through prevention. Unfortunately, vaccines are not in first place among the elderly and frail: especially after Covid we are witnessing a real tiredness towards vaccination, because for many it represents an additional burden and a potential danger for health, rather than seeing the reality which is that it is the best means to prevent respiratory infections and complications, i.e. hospitalizations and death”. Thus at Adnkronos Salute Francesco Blasi, full professor of diseases of the respiratory system at the University of Milan, on the sidelines of a conference promoted by GSK – today and tomorrow in Rome (Auditorium della Tecnica) – with over 200 Italian pulmonologists, gathered to take stock of the new therapies available for respiratory diseases.
Among respiratory infections, what worries Blasi above all is the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease. “In Europe there are approximately 158 thousand hospitalizations for RSV infections per year – he underlines – which is more or less the figure reported in the United States, compared to the population. With an associated mortality of around 8-9%. Furthermore, according to an Italian study carried out by the Sacco hospital in Milan, in subjects arriving in hospital to be hospitalized for respiratory infections, 75% of the infections are from RSV, an infection burdened by a mortality rate, also in this case, of around 9%. , approximately 75% of patients with RSV have severe pneumonia. This means a significant commitment of resources and an admission to intensive care that is higher than that linked to influenza infection, because it confirms what It is known internationally, that RSV infection causes hospitalization among the frail over 65s, with a higher mortality rate than influenza. Not only that: RSV is associated, like influenza, with cardiovascular events during hospitalization. Therefore the relative risk of having a cardiovascular event, in particular myocardial infarction, is 3 and a half times greater in the patient with Rsv than in the subject who does not have a viral infection. For the flu it’s about 6 times.”
Finally, on treatments for COPD, “the advantages of a therapy with a single administration and with the use of devices that can allow switching from one drug to another using the same device is very important – the specialist points out – as this allows for patient education that is maintained over time, because using the device or inhaler allows you to reduce moderate and severe exacerbations. Furthermore, single administration promotes adherence to therapy”.
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