Healthy aging and the expanding role of Artificial Intelligence in health issues are two areas drawing attention and concern among Italians.
Data from the sixth edition of the STADA Health Report reveal this, presented in Milan in recent days. A survey that involved over 2,000 fellow citizens, aged 18 to 76, together with as many representatives from twenty European countries. The Report analyzed the public’s perception of health and the concrete behaviors people undertake in daily life, as well as the role of Artificial Intelligence in the present and the future.
Live Better to Live Longer
The passing years scare 58% of the population, specifically 65% of women, linked to several fears: cognitive decline and the need for assistance, chronic illnesses (57%), difficulties accessing economically sustainable healthcare (55%), alongside worry about personal financial issues. Italians envision and propose various solutions and, stepping into the shoes of the Health Minister, would prioritize as urgent to systematize the reduction of waiting times (73%), increasing the number of healthcare workers, including pharmacists.
However, Italians are aware that promoting longevity—healthy and extended—also requires individual participation, and they express willingness to some sacrifices: sacrificing sugars (84%), reducing screen time (78%), alcohol (73%), smoking (56%), and fast food (77%). These virtuous attitudes place Italy in a higher position than the European average.
The Dilemma: See a Doctor or Ask Artificial Intelligence?
The adoption of Artificial Intelligence is having a cross-cutting impact on the entire health care chain. Italians consult it across various domains: prevention, diagnosis, pharmaceutical research. On the clinical side, its usefulness is perceived in bureaucratic aspects: hospital organization, substantially streamlined, the promotion of personalized medicine, more accurate diagnoses, thus as a consultancy tool to support the clinician, not as a replacement.
From the citizen-patient perspective, the digitalization of healthcare is seen as an effective support to improve speed and decision-making, hoping to use it as a back-office support function, speeding up processes.
3 in 5 Italians Ready for AI-Based Consultation
There is an openness to using new technologies, especially among younger segments of the population and men, to request/receive AI-based consultation, but only if it is ultimately validated by a human professional ready to interpret the data.
More than 4 in 10 Italians are, instead, skeptical and say they do not use Artificial Intelligence for their health. The remaining turn to it to better understand the diagnosis (31%), to prepare for a visit, seek a second opinion.
Concerns are not lacking: the main one is privacy; just under half of Italians are willing to feed their health data to Artificial Intelligence, also worried about the risk of an incorrect diagnosis (52%), of data use without consent (36%), of the absence of human presence and interaction (36%). They do find Artificial Intelligence useful and helpful in managing appointments and follow-ups.
«230 million people worldwide query Artificial Intelligence every day – says Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research – and seven thousand people worldwide die each day from medical errors. AI, in many contexts, can help because it surpasses the physician in clinical reasoning. Some studies comparing highly skilled doctors and AI’s diagnostic capability have highlighted the machine’s superiority. This is because, for example, AI in an MRI can see what the human eye cannot perceive or can synthesize biological and clinical data in real time. Therefore, a competent clinician who knows how to use it will very soon replace clinicians who ignore it».
A Hybrid Model Is Ideal
One in two Italians already trusts Artificial Intelligence or would be willing to if the diagnosis, as noted, were endorsed by healthcare professionals, who are also considered the main health-education authorities by 74% of Italians. Regarding the creation of personalized treatment plans, the mixed model is ideal for Italians, cited by 53%, higher than the European average (44%) where several roles have a part. For example, 45% of respondents think pharmacists could offer more remote consultations, help interpret AI guidance, and be even more important as reliable human anchors.
In this context, health literacy takes on a decisive role, with physicians central in disseminating information and education, starting from the younger segments of the population: «From the data of the report, which also examined Italians’ satisfaction with the National Health Service, it emerges that only 49% are satisfied, and considering that ours is a universal system, where the state provides free services to citizens, a value often forgotten or taken for granted, it means we must enhance the level of education, health literacy. – comments Ugo Tamborini, secretary of the board of the Provincial Order of Surgeons and Dentists of Milan – Perhaps the school physician should be reintroduced to educate citizens starting in school, even on the concept of “free,” which can obscure the value of what one enjoys. We cannot deny current challenges, such as waiting lists due to a shortage of doctors. It’s not that they are lacking, but there are fewer doctors integrated into our NHS. Abroad, doctors integrated into health systems are paid more, and often it is the Italians who are retained. It is therefore necessary to strengthen dialogue among the different actors in the system, which today is still not optimal for better synergy and integration in the community».
