Since 2006, epidemiological surveillance of populations living in Italian contaminated sites has been ongoing (SENTIERI Project). Updated global estimates of mortality (2013-2017) and hospitalization (2014-2018) are reported. The excess deaths (observed-expected) for the main groups of diseases were calculated for all the 46 sites together. Through a random-effect meta-analysis of the standardized mortality and hospitalization rates (SMR/SHR), the pooled SMR/SHR for all the sites and their groupings were estimated. In the 46 sites, 8,342 exceeding deaths (1,668/year) were estimated, 4,353 in males and 3,989 in females, resulting in an excess risk of 2% in both genders. The risk of hospitalization for all causes was in excess of 3%. These excesses are mainly attributable to malignant tumours. In subgroups of sites, exceeding SMRs were observed for all mesotheliomas and pleural mesotheliomas, lung and colorectal cancers in both genders. SHR for all causes were observed in excess in the first year of life (+8%), in the group 0-19 and 20-29 years (+3-5%); no excesses of mortality were observed in the group 0-29 years.
Keywords: contaminated sites; global estimates; hospitalization; metanalyses; mortality.