Who we are

The Epidemiology Unit (SEPI) of the Local Health Authority TO3 (ASLTO3) is part of the regional epidemiological network of agencies that jointly provide public health observatory services. Since its establishment in 1994, SEPI has carried out epidemiological research and health promotion activities at a national, regional and local level. To this end, it deals with the development, maintenance and analysis of the main regional health information systems. It conducts epidemiological studies on a wide range of indicators measuring different health dimensions and public health areas: mortality, morbidity, healthcare pathways, prevention, occupational risks, substance use and addiction, mental health and injuries. Besides, analyzing factual data, SEPI supports the analysis and communication of non-factual data through the Regional Documentation Center for Health Promotion (DoRS). It also supports and organizes training, for example, the degree courses in prevention techniques.

Taking a closer look: the Observatories

Health care

Health care is divided into two main areas:

  • Evaluation of the impact on health of public health policies and delivery of health care services
  • Monitoring of chronic diseases and reconstruction of care pathways and their outcomes

Dependence/Addiction

  • Monitoring and evaluation of the adequacy of interventions via surveillance and study of the effects of tobacco/alcohol/substance addiction on health.
  • Evaluation of the response of services and other related bodies through analysis of current statistics (death certificates, hospital discharge forms, special registries, ad hoc information systems, and ad hoc research projects.

Equity

Surveillance systems designed to study the social determinants of health, evaluate their impact, and explain the principal mechanisms are used to identify preventive actions and evaluate the potential role of policies (health and others) to reduce social disparities in health care. The Observatory's activities can be split into two strands: the promotion of policies to reduce social disparities in health and the evaluation of such policies.

Immigration

This observatory monitors the revision of strategies for the delivery of appropriate care, the overcoming of barriers to accessing care, and the potential to benefiting from care. In addition, the observatory analyzes the health profile of immigrants. These activities have been strengthened in recent years through revision of the main explanatory mechanisms in the nexus between migration and health and analysis of the main intelligence flows that allow monitoring of health and access to health care of the migrant population in Italy.

Work

The relationship between health and working conditions is examined in two specific areas: occupational diseases and workplace accidents. The study of the association between occupational exposure to work factors and certain diseases was one of the original areas of focus of epidemiology. Studying occupational diseases and workplace accidents is key to identify social disparities, given that those in more disadvantaged social positions are more likely to be exposed in the workplace to hazardous substances, ergonomic factors, or stressors. SEPI devotes part of its activity to occupational epidemiology, on one hand providing support to the Regional administration for the Regional Prevention Plan on occupational safety and health, on the other hand conducting epidemiologic studies on workplace hazards, and, more recently, on unemployment and job insecurity.

Maternal-infant health

The perinatal journey can be seen as a sequence of actions, decisions, and opportunities that young parents and others take in the hospital, at home, and in the community where the child will grow up. The journey involves the quantity, modality, and quality of cultural, political, organizational, and human resources a society makes available for facing an event that is not only private in nature.
This observatory analyzes the huge informational resources of the region concerning pregnancy, delivery, and post-partum period to identify the criticalities of maternal-infant health and inform policies of regional planning, and to address criticalities through evidence-based decision making.

Injury prevention and safety promotion

Injury epidemiology aims to improve population health by reducing the morbidity and mortality from unintentional and intentional injuries.

Prevention needs information about external causes and circumstances of injury events: place of occurrence, mechanism of injury, activity, intent, part of the body injured, treatment and follow-up.

Injury epidemiology provides statistical insight into the incidence of injuries according to broad categories road-traffic, home, leisure, sport accidents, violence (assault, abuse, suicide and self-harm), e.g. by age-group, gender, causes and types of injury.

COVID-19

On 23 July 2020 a new Observatory was inaugurated in addition to those already present on the Epi Piemonte website. This new site observatory aims to present the work carried out by the Piedmontese Epidemiology Network which has recently activated the Covid-19 Impact Observatory to help provide additional knowledge useful for preparing and managing the developments of the Covid-19 pandemic in Piedmont. With the contribution of its various specialist observers, the Covid-19 Impact Observatory aims to answer four questions:

  1. What infection spread alarm thresholds
  2. What margins for improvement of the healthcare response
  3. What innovations in the response to the pandemic
  4. How to protect the most vulnerable groups

For each question it is possible to view original works produced by the regional epidemiological network to try to answer these questions by consulting the Observatory updates already made.

Data and tools

This section of the site provides the user with useful information on how to obtain data and demographic and epidemiologic indicators for the region.
For initial orientation to the wealth of data available, users may use Str.A.Da., a catalogue that classifies by topic and geographical area over 40 tools, describes the characteristics in a simple profile, and gives links for direct access.
To create a demographic presentation, one can use the format proposed by MoDem, a tool that guides the user in learning to calculate commonly used demographic indicators and to evaluate the complexity of demographic variations in a given geographical area.
Health care providers of the regional health system and operators of local agencies working on planning and evaluation of health care may need detailed data not available in other systems. In such cases, credentials can be requested from MADEsmart, a tool that allows setting parameters for personalized queries and that was developed for calculating indicators and creating graphic visualization also in map format to construct health profiles at the regional and local (municipal) level.
Information on health services delivered by public facilities can be accessed through P.Re.Val.E, a government transparency tool based on which the regional health system can be reoriented and improved.
TOOLDIS collects 3 tools to estimate the impact of inequalities in different risk factors and to suggest effective actions to reduce inequalities.
If no response is obtained from these access systems, users can use a service for data and indicator consultancy and extraction (Do.Ris) created in collaboration with DoRS (Regional Documentation Center for Health Promotion). Data can be extracted from the major regional health and statistical data archives (population, mortality, hospital discharge, pharmacy prescriptions, specialist ambulatory services, emergency room services, workplace accidents, motor vehicle accidents, health-risk behaviors, use of health services). The service for custom data queries is available on request by compiling a form and stating the specific need for information.

Publications

This section presents three types of products

  • Scientific publications written by SEPI researchers and listed in public databases since 2012. Where available, a link will direct readers to the publication abstract.
  • Reports, including public health papers, fact sheets, and other material written by SEPI researchers and not listed in public databases.
  • Public health atlases created by SEPI showing hospital discharge and mortality rates by cause of death. The special feature of these publication is the detailed presentation of geographical and temporal differences (by health board department and district).