Leader: Massimiliano Panella (UPO); Other collaborator(s):
The platform developed in Task1 will help to drive the development of a new framework for the adaptation and the implementation of clinical and lifestyle guidelines for prevention and health promotion in the elderly. The main goal is to design a new model of integrated care pathways that can enable elders (both healthy and at-risk population) to better access evidence-based prevention and health promotion interventions. The Task will focus on the definition of specific methods and tools that will be implemented in an integrated complex intervention able to close the existing gaps in information, autonomy, adherence, and compliance of older people when accessing preventive and health promotion programs. As a major output, a pilot study will be performed to evaluate the effectiveness and the scalability of the developed model pathways.
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
During the period November ‘23 to March ’24 the group involved in task 4.4 has been working on mapping evidence based information related to the key intervention for the preventive pathway.
We conducted a scoping review among national territory, actually submitted to the Journal of Aging and physical activity. We are finishing to prepare the systematic review manuscript focused on the methodology and effectiveness of existing preventive programs implemented to date on a target population of over 65s. The first results of these literature review process have been presented in a meeting in Milan (Boccon - Feb 26th) and in national conferences (AIE Associazione Italiana di Epidemiologia, Riccione 16-19 Aprile, SISMES Società Italia di Scienze Motorie, Napoli 2-4 novembre).
Based on literature results we are currently working on developing the Preventive Pathway able to close the existing gaps in information, autonomy, adherence, and compliance of older people when accessing preventive and health promotion programs.
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
Our preliminary results suggested that all the existing preventive pathway in the included studies were based on healthy lifestyle intervention including physical activity program (i.e., group/individual exercise session, walking group, fall prevention) healthy nutrition program (i.e.,tailored program, nutrition counseling), cognitive program (i.e., memory training, digital literacy) and stress management. The professional figures involved were different health promoters like nurse, general practitioners, kinesiologists, physiotherapist, nutritionist, psychologist and religion expert. The preventive pathway applied in the majority of the included studies were performed in community dwelling/centers and primary care settings.
As regards the efficacy, the preventive pathway improved the physical activity levels, increased the cognitive performance, positively impacted cardiofitness status and in some studies even lowered depressive symptoms improving quality of life and self-efficacy.
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
- Finalizing the tool for the health profile assessment
- Developing the preventive pathway content
- Made contact with an IT agency for the development of the Age-It lifestyle medicine platform for the preventive pathway pilot study
- Participation in the AGE-IT General Meeting held in Venice, May 20th-22nd, 2024 https://ageit.eu/wp/convegno-venezia-2024/
- Submission of the manuscript “What is the Current Knowledge and Experience on Preventive Pathway for Healthy Ageing in Italy? A Scoping Review by Alice Masini, Irlanda Pighini, Andrea Conti, Antonio Isabella, Niccolò Cherasco, Massimiliano Panella in the Annali di Igiene Journal
- Submission of the manuscript “Preventive Pathway for healthy ageing: A systematic review” by Alice Masini, Niccolò Cherasco, Andrea Conti, Irlanda Pighini, Francesco Barone-Adesi, Massimiliano Panella in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
- Implementation of the health profile assessment tool on a small group of subjects
- Development of the Age-It lifestyle medicine platform to manage health assessment tool and related preventive pathways
- Finalizing the preventive pathway content
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
- Preventive Pathway content finished and organized in the lifestyle medicine platform with the specific tool to assess the health profile and obtain the relative preventive pathway tailored with guideline, suggestions and program to improve the lifestyle, reduce the risk and increase the motivation
- Revision of the scoping review manuscript to finalize the publication
- Participation in the Congress AGING PROJECT 2024 – Aging in progress: from basic research to application on the territory. https://www.agingproject.uniupo.it/eventi/aging_in_progress_2024/
- Work to finalize the Age-It lifestyle medicine platform to manage the pilot study
- Study protocol preparation and submission to the Ethics Committee of Novara for review and approval.
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
- Pilot testing the preventive Pathway in a selected group of people in order to have feedback and comments to define the ultimately details
- Publication of the Systematic Review on preventive Pathway
- Age-It Lifestyle Medicine Platform launched online
- Approval of the Study Protocol from the Ethics Committee of Novara
- Approval to conduct the quasi-experimental study from the Alessandria Hospital. SSD Formazione, Comunicazione, Fundraising e Processi Amministrativi DAIRI
- Oral presentation in the Italian Association of Epidemiology National Congress held in Rimini,16-19 April 2024. “Age-it: invecchiare bene in una società che invecchia sempre di più. Percorso preventivo per un invecchiamento in buona salute: una revisione sistematica” by Alice Masini, Niccolò Cherasco, Andrea Conti, Irlanda Pighini, Francesco Barone- Adesi, Massimiliano Panella.
- Poster presentation in the AGE-IT General Meeting held in Venice, May 20th-22nd, 2024 “What is the current knowledge and experience on preventive Pathway for healthy ageing in Italy? A scoping review” by Alice Masini, Irlanda Pighini, Andrea Conti, Antonio Isabella, Niccolò Cherasco, Massimiliano Panella.
- Paper published: Masini A, Pighini I, Conti A, Isabella A, Cherasco N, Panella M. What is the Current Knowledge and Experience on Preventive Pathway for Healthy Ageing in Italy? A Scoping Review. Ann Ig. 2024 Dec 18. doi: 10.7416/ai.2024.2669. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39698865.
- Oral presentation in the Aging congress, 3-5 October 2024. Valutazione dello stato di salute e relativi percorsi preventivi rivolti all’Healthy Ageing: progetto PNRR Age-It. Alice Masini, Fabrizia Risi, Andrea Conti, Vittoria Taddi, Irlanda Pighini, Niccolò Cherasco, Riccardo Rescinito, Massimiliano Panella.
- Paper published: Masini A, Cherasco N, Conti A, Pighini I, Barone-Adesi F, Panella M. Preventive Pathways for Healthy Ageing: A Systematic Literature Review. Geriatrics (Basel). 2025 Feb 18;10(1):31. doi: 10.3390/geriatrics10010031.