Summer In Italy 1983

[Giorgio Aguilar]

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To assess the impact of the heat wave on the health status of thepopulation, members of the Regional Epidemiologic Unit (OsservatorioEpidemiologico Regionale) for the Latium Region,* analyzed mortalityduring the heat wave and during a control period. Rome residentscomprise about 60% of the approximately 5 million people living in theregion; the rest are distributed among small towns and villages of10,000-100,000 inhabitants. Region-wide mortality data are usuallyavailable only after considerable delay. To acquire more timelyinformation, directors of all hospitals and clinics of the region wererequested to report all patients who died each week during both Julyand August of 1982 and 1983 and to fill out a questionnaire for eachpatient who died from hyperpyrexia during the summer of 1983. Datafrom death certificates of Rome residents who died during theseperiods were also analyzed.

A death from heatstroke was defined as any death from July 19, toAugust 4, 1983, in which the patient's temperature before deathmeasured at any site was 41.1 C (106 F) or 40.6 C (105 F) or higher ifaltered mental status and/or anhidrosis was also present. Patientswith any of the following causes of fever were excluded: cerebralhemorrhage, neoplasia, x-ray-documented bronchopneumonia, bacteremiaproven by blood culture, or laboratory-documented urinary-tractinfection.

There were 369 more cardiovascular-related deaths (includingdeaths from cerebrovascular accidents) in July 1983 than in July 1982,a 58.7% increase. A smaller increase occurred in deaths fromneoplastic disease--68, up 13.2% from the previous year. All othermajor causes of death showed slight decreases. The increase in deathsoccurred during the 2 weeks of July 22-August 4, when the highesttemperatures were recorded (Figure 1).

Editorial Note: Sharp increases in total mortality during periods ofsustained high temperatures (heat waves) have been reported from theUnited States (4-8), Australia (9), and Europe (10,11). Increasedmortality associated with a heat wave was recently reported in NewYork City (12). As in previous reports, the increase in deaths notedhere occurred primarily among elderly persons. Diagnosed heatstrokedeaths accounted for only a small portion of that increase. Thisfinding is consistent with results usually found in previousstudies--deaths recognized by physicians as being heat-related accountfor fewer than 50% of excess deaths associated with a heat wave. Themarked increase in deaths attributable to cardiovascular andcerebrovascular events accounted for much of the increase in totalmortality during the 1983 heat wave in the Latium Region. Deathsattributed to these causes also increase during heat waves in theUnited States (13,14). In contrast, the geographic pattern ofheat-wave casualties in this report differs from that of the UnitedStates, where rates of heat-related adverse health consequences aremuch higher in urban than in suburban or rural areas (4).

Liedermann A. Hitze und sterberisiko in einer grossstadt. Analyse der sterbefalle, die sich wahrend der hitze welle in sommer 1976 in stuttkgart ereinghneten (elevated temperatures and risk of death in large cities). Bundesgesundheitsblatt 1979;22:289-92.

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Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by Helen Frankenthaler in Rome, coinciding with an exhibition of her work at the Museo di Palazzo Grimani, Venice, on the occasion of the 58th Venice Biennale.

In the summer of 1974, Frankenthaler rented a house at Shippan Point in Stamford, Connecticut, facing the waters of Long Island Sound, marking the beginning of an important period of change for her work. Sea Change comprises eleven canvases that Frankenthaler painted between 1974 and 1983, which reflect her responses to the changing appearance of the wide vistas and moving tides.

In the film list below, the summer season is the common background to stories and characters very different from one another, with different results. If you love summer-set movies, take note of this Italian-inspired list.

Filmed at the Cinecitt studios and on location around Rome during the "Hollywood on the Tiber" era, Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck as a reporter and Audrey Hepburn as a royal princess out to see Rome on her own.

The directorial debut of one of best Italian comedian actors, Carlo Verdone, who also stars in the film, Un sacco bello (English title Fun is Beautiful) is a 1980 comedy film produced by Sergio Leone.

Directed by Carlo Vanzina, the box office success Sapore di mare (English title Time for Loving) is a comedy that launched the subgenre of revival-nostalgic comedy films, which would become a fixture of Italian cinema in both summer and winter with not always great results.

Set in the 1960s, and 18 years later when the young protagonists are adults), on the Tuscan beach of Forte dei Marmi (filmed on location), it tells the stories of several families coming from different parts of Italy, and especially of their teenage children, while on vacation at the beach. Simplistic but truthful is the portrayal of the vices and virtues of Italians at the time and how they would evolve.

Set in northern Italy in the summer of 1983 and shot on location (mainly in Crema and Villa Albergoni), Call me by your name is a coming-of-age romantic drama directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by James Ivory, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Andr Aciman.

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A psychotropic drug monitoring study in general practice was carried out in 1983 and 1984 using a computerized drug information system. The prescription data analysed in the study came from 68 general practitioners operating in south Verona and have been collected by 14 community pharmacies located in the same area. Benzodiazepine hypnotics were the most commonly prescribed drugs, followed by antidepressants and neuroleptics both in 1983 and in 1984. The distribution of the general practitioners in terms of low, medium and high prescribers was examined by analysing the rates of prescriptions per registered patient. The rates were obtained for the total number of prescriptions and also for each of the three different classes of psychotropic drug. The proportion of low and high prescribers decreased from 1983 to 1984 (18.3 versus 11.7 and 26.7 versus 16.7 for low and high prescribers respectively); this change was mainly due to the reduction in benzodiazepine prescriptions. No significant correlation was found between the rates of psychotropic drug prescriptions and list size. The monthly variation in prescription of the three drug classes followed a similar pattern during the two years; the fluctuations were clearly cyclical, more definitely in 1984 than in 1983 where the most relevant feature was the summer trough.

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