Coronavirus e cronicità, due battaglie da vincere sullo stesso campo (il territorio) e anche con una "nuova" figura (l’infermiere di famiglia e di comunità)

Until just a month ago, it was clear a challange against chronic diseases. It is useless to extend life if you cannot increase the quality, both in a social and more strictly sanitary sense. Today, due to Covid-19, much of the resources and attention are concentrated on the hospital phase. In addition, people make fewer visits, resulting in their health worsening. But if it is in the territory that we must continue "to hold on" for the fight against chronic diseases, it is always in the territory that we can win the "battle" against the infectious emergency, favoring home management as much as possible. Furthermore, it has been shown that patients with obesity-related diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, have an increased risk of developing complications if affected by Covid- 19. But obesity itself can be a risk factor for the development of complications related to the pro-inflammatory state. The problem is that most Healthcare Systems do not consider it a disease and are therefore not focused on its management. At this point the battles against Coronavirus and chronic diseases are faced with widely overlapping tools and organizational models. This document proposes the Chronicity Plan relaunch and the investment in the figure of the family and community nurse.

Keywords: Covid-19, house assistance, chronic degenerative diseases, obesity, Chronicity Plan.

Antonino De Lorenzo, Ernesto Esposito, Claudio Maria Maffei, Giuseppe Zuccatelli, Coronavirus e cronicità, due battaglie da vincere sullo stesso campo (il territorio) e anche con una "nuova" figura (l’infermiere di famiglia e di comunità) in "MECOSAN" 113/2020, pp 201-210, DOI: 10.3280/MESA2020-113025