No abstract

A high proportion of adults in Italy have a history of mood, anxiety or alcohol disorders. The lower than expected prevalence estimate of alcohol use disorder may be due to under-reporting or to low social harm from alcohol consumption.

Objective: Overweight has been increasing in several developed countries over the last few decades. No update information on the issue is available for Italy. Design and setting: We conducted a computer assisted personal in-house interview survey in March-April 2004, on a sample of 2932 Italian individuals (1407 men and 1525 women) aged 18 years or over, representative of the general adult Italian population. Information on weight and height was self-reported. Results: Overall, 3.4% of the Italian adult population were underweight (o18.5 kg/m 2 , 0.9% of men and 5.8% of women), 31.3% were overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m 2 , 38.4% of men, 24.7% of women), and 8.2% were obese (X30.0 kg/m 2 , 7.4% of men and 8.9% of women). Overweight or obesity was reported by 14.2% of subjects aged 18-24 years (20.6% of men and 7.6% of women). The highest proportions of overweight and obese subjects were in the 45-64 year age group for men (51.4% overweight, 10.0% obese) and in the X65 year age group for women (38.8% overweight, 13.8% obese). Age-and sex-standardised prevalence of overweight or obesity was 36.0% for more educated subjects, and 54.0% for less educated ones. It was 32.3% in northern, 44.3% in central and 47.0% in southern Italy. Overweight increased from 1983 to the early 1990s, and levelled off thereafter. Prevalence of obesity remained around 8-9% across the last 20 years. Conclusions: Trends of overweight and obesity in Italy are more favourable than in several developed countries. Still, approximately 15 million of Italian adults are overweight and 4 million obese.

Self-reported smoking prevalence is decreasing in men but not in females. There is widespread support for smoking restriction in public areas.

Self-reported smoking prevalence tends to decline in Italy, although the overall figure (26.6% of Italian adults) remains considerably higher than the USA and several Western European countries.