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. 2021 Oct 11;18(20):10621.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182010621.

Differences in the Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Access to Care between Italians and Non-Italians in a Social-Housing Neighbourhood of Milan, Italy

Gabriele Pagani  1 , Federico Conti  2   3 , Andrea Giacomelli  3 , Letizia Oreni  2 , Martina Beltrami  2   3 , Laura Pezzati  2   3 , Giacomo Casalini  2   3 , Rossana Rondanin  4 , Andrea Prina  4 , Antonino Zagari  5 , Stefano Rusconi  1   2 , Massimo Galli  2   3
Affiliations

Differences in the Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Access to Care between Italians and Non-Italians in a Social-Housing Neighbourhood of Milan, Italy

Gabriele Pagani et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The northern Italian region of Lombardy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since its arrival in Europe. However, there are only a few published studies of the possible influence of social and cultural factors on its prevalence in the general population. This cross-sectional study of the San Siro social-housing neighbourhood of Milan, which was carried about between 23 December 2020 and 19 February 2021, found that the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies in the population as a whole was 12.4% (253/2044 inhabitants), but there was a more than two-fold difference between non-Italians and Italians (23.3% vs. 9.1%). Multivariable analyses showed that being more than 50 years old, living in crowded accommodation, being a non-Italian, and having a low educational level were associated with higher odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, whereas a higher level of education, retirement, and being a former or current cigarette smoker were inversely associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our findings are in line with previous observations indicating that a lower socio-economic status may be a risk factor for COVID-19 and show that non-Italians are disproportionately affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection. This suggests that public health policies should focus more on disadvantaged populations.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; migrants; prevalence; social housing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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