This analysis makes use of economic forecasts for 2020 issued by the European Commission in Autumn 2019 and Spring 2020, and of a counterfactual under a no-policy change assumption, to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on EU households´ income. Additionally, our analysis assesses the cushioning effect of discretionary fiscal policy measures taken by the EU Member States. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to affect significantly households’ disposable income in the EU, with lower income households being more severely hit. However, our results show that due to policy intervention, the impact of the crisis is expected to be similar to the one experienced during the 2008–2009 financial crisis. In detail, our results indicate that discretionary fiscal policy measures will play a significant cushioning role, reducing the size of the income loss (from −9.3% to −4.3% for the average equivalised disposable income), its regressivity and mitigating the poverty impact of the pandemic. We conclude that policy interventions are therefore instrumental in cushioning against the impact of the crisis on inequality and poverty.

SSI incidences, characteristics, and risk factors seem to be different among RCS, LCS, and RS. A tailored SSI surveillance program should be applied for each of the three groups, leading to a more competent SSI recognition and reduction of SSI incidence and related costs.

BackgroundAlthough several meta-analyses showed the positive effects of follow-up on the prognosis of colon cancer (CC), international guidelines are not in accordance on appropriate tests and their time frequency to optimize surveillance. Furthermore, stratified strategies based upon risk grading have not been implemented. This approach may be useful to rationalize resources.MethodsFrom 2006, all patients operated for an early stage CC (I, IIA, IIB) according to the 7th edition of the AJCC-2010 classification entered in a prospective surveillance program in accordance to our local guidelines. Patients who underwent surgical resection after 2009 have been excluded to guarantee at least a 5-year follow-up. Classic histopathologic prognostic factors such as grade, T and N status, lymphatic and vascular invasion were assessed. Moreover, tumor budding and tumor-to-stroma proportion were evaluated.ResultsWe had complete records of 196 patients. Distribution was as follows: 65 (33.2 %) in stage I, 122 (62.2 %) in stage IIA, and 9 (4.6 %) in stage IIB. Eleven patients (5.6 %) had a disease recurrence (local or distant). The median recurrence time was 20 months (range 6–48). Nine patients (82 %) had recurrence with 24 months, and 91 % were asymptomatic and detected by ultrasound or CT scan. According to the log-rank test, the risk factors with significant effect on the disease-free survival (DFS) were the number of lymph nodes <12 (p = 0.027) and the vascular invasion (p = 0.021), while for the overall (OS), only the vascular invasion was significant (p = 0.043). By the univariate and multivariate analyses, DSF was significantly lower in patients with less than 12 nodes removed, with vascular invasion, and with left of double cancer. OS was negatively affected only by vascular invasion despite the hazard ratios were similar to DSF. Stage IIB was associated with a threefold-increased risk of reduced OS and DSF.ConclusionsStages I and IIA appear to behave similarly and should be considered as true early stages. The detection of fibrosis and budding do not seem to add valuable information for prognosis. In early CC stages, the surveillance program should be maximized within the first two years.

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In this paper, we investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on German household income using a micro-level approach. We combine a microsimulation model with labour market transition techniques to simulate the COVID-19 shock on the German labour market. We find the consequences of the labour market shock to be highly regressive with a strong impact on the poorest households. However, this effect is nearly entirely offset by automatic stabilisers and discretionary policy measures. We explore the cushioning effect of these policies in detail, showing that short-time working schemes and especially the one-off payments for children are effective in cushioning the income loss of the poor.