Background: This study aims to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of HIV-patients about COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by administering questionnaires to 160 patients followed by Amedeo di Savoia Hospital in Turin. Statistical analyses were performed in order to identify predictors of infection and severity of COVID-19 disease risk perception. Results: The 86.2% of patients were vaccinated for COVID-19, while 7.6% do not intend to be vaccinated; 50.7% thought that there is a minimal risk to get COVID-19; 85.8% thought that COVID-19 is a serious illness. The 56% and the 36.5 thought that seropositivity carries a greater risk to develop respectively COVID-19-related complications or vaccine complications. At the multivariate analysis having a job, proactive research of vaccine information and being HIV+ for several years are related to a lower risk perception of infection. The perception of COVID-19 severity is influenced by age, by being LGB and by believing that HIV+ status correlates with a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19. Conclusions: as the pandemic can adversely impact the HIV care with increasing loss to follow-up, vaccination is essential to contrast infection in HIV+ patients. Our findings suggested that some HIV+ patients refuse vaccination against COVID-19.

Background Over the past 20 years, Social Media (SM) have become fundamental tools for quickly and effectively spreading health information in Europe. One of the most popular topics in the health sector is food and nutrition. TikTok is one of the most recent-born and most popular SM. Our study aims to analyze how healthcare professionals in the nutrition sector communicate through TikTok, and to assess characteristics of their accounts and videos. Methods We included in the present study 53 Italian healthcare professionals who post videos on TikTok through a search on this SM using nutrition-related keywords. For each tiktoker, we described the characteristics of their last 10 videos, through an ad hoc checklist. We performed multilevel multivariable linear regression models in order to identify factors (healthcare professional or video related) that could be associated with a higher popularity of the video. Results The 67.7% of the tiktokers considered were female; 46% had more than 30 years, 62.3% were biologists. The median number of likes was 300 (IQR 75 - 1070). The linguistic register was “formal” in the 11.3% of the videos. In the 31.9% of them, the location was the office of the healthcare professional. In the 67.3%, the topic was “diet-related”. Multilevel multivariable linear regression models showed that “diet-related” topics were associated with more likes (coeff 1111.63, p = 0.048), and comments (coeff 13.42, p = 0.018). Conclusions Many Italian nutrition professionals are present on TikTok, and perform videos in their offices discussing mainly diet-related topics. There are no specific factors associated with the popularity of their videos, other than the presence of “diet-related” topics. Since the TikTok audience is very young, and wrong messages on this topic could lead to serious health-related consequences, there is the need to pay a specific attention on the contents of the videos, to avoid the spread of potentially dangerous information. Key messages • Italian healthcare nutrition professionals are present on TikTok and perform videos with diet-related contents in their workplaces. • Since wrong information on diet and nutrition could lead to serious health consequences for the audience, it is important to monitor the content of the videos to avoid the spread of dangerous messages.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practises (KAP) of individuals living with HIV (PLWH) regarding vaccines and their trust in the Italian national health system (NHS). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at Amedeo di Savoia Hospital in Turin, Italy, involving 160 HIV-positive patients. Descriptive statistics were utilised to analyse variables such as vaccination status and intention, perceived risk of infection, and disease severity. The infections were categorised into sexually transmitted diseases and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Results: Except for the perceived severity of infection, there were no significant differences in the percentages between the two infection groups for the variables examined. Concerning patients’ perception of the Italian NHS, a high percentage of the sample believed in the information provided by healthcare workers (HCWs) (95.6%) and considered HCWs up-to-date on vaccines (93.1%). However, a considerable proportion expressed concerns about insufficient information on vaccine risks from HCWs (33.3%), perceived judgement by HCWs for vaccine refusal (40.3%), and suspected financial interests of HCWs in vaccination (19.5%). Conclusions: Some HIV+ patients may hesitate to be vaccinated or hold misconceptions about the severity of certain infectious diseases. Additionally, there are concerns about trust in the Italian NHS and communication by HCWs.

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