Other chronic medical disease included cardiovascular disorders, renal disease, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory disease, endocrine disorders, neurologic disease, blood dyscrasias and miscellaneous illnesses.
The control group comprised 433 Italian individuals consisting of randomly selected children admitted to the Gaslini Children's Hospital for miscellaneous illnesses and healthy young adults who contributed samples to the blood bank of the Gaslini Institute.
Among non-smoking controls, 25% had traumatic conditions, 24% non-traumatic orthopaedic disorders, 29% acute surgical conditions, and 22% miscellaneous other illnesses.
Among non-drinking controls, 14% had traumatic conditions, 31% non-traumatic orthopaedic disorders, 34% acute surgical conditions, and 21% miscellaneous other illnesses.
Among controls, 32% had nontraumatic orthopaedic disorders, 21% traumas, 17% surgical conditions and 29% miscellaneous other illnesses, such as eye, ear and dental disorders.
Controls were admitted for traumatic orthopaedic disorders (34%), other orthopaedic disorders (32%), acute surgical conditions (22%), and miscellaneous other illnesses (12%).
Overall, 30% were admitted for traumas, 21% for non-traumatic orthopaedic disorders, 33% for acute surgical conditions, and 16% for miscellaneous other illnesses, including eye, ear, nose, throat, skin, or dental disorders.
Among the controls, 27% were admitted for traumas, 22% for other orthopaedic disorders, 29% for acute surgical conditions, and 23% for miscellaneous other illnesses, including eye, nose, ear, skin or dental disorders.
Twenty-seven per cent of the controls were admitted for traumas, 22% for other orthopaedic disorders, 29% for acute surgical conditions and 23% for miscellaneous other illnesses, including eye, ear, nose and throat, skin or dental disorders.
Controls were patients hospitalized for a wide spectrum of acute non-neoplastic conditions (overall, 23% had nonalcohol-related traumas, mostly fractures and sprains, 26% nontraumatic orthopedic disorders, 30% acute surgical conditions and 21% miscellaneous other illnesses such as eye, ear or skin diseases).
Another 21 refused for the following reasons: too tired (5), too busy dealing with their illness (5), not yet ready to talk about their illness (5), and miscellaneous reasons (6).
