Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

The Italian andrology patient is changing. Broader cultural knowledge is needed!

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 33, pages 572–573 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

The inexorable process of globalization has been taking place for decades and is slowly changing the European demography. In particular, the last two decades have been characterized by a critical migratory flow of people mainly coming from Africa and moving towards Europe. Many countries such as Italy and Germany count hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing their borders every year in search of better opportunities and a new life [1].

Migrations are a natural process of human history and are known to influence the epidemiology of certain diseases both in the migrant groups and in nations receiving them [2]. For this reason and given the important globalization phenomenon that has been taking place in recent years, migratory medicine is emerging and growing in importance [3]. However, although most migrant populations generally consist of relatively young age groups, there are no studies focused on the andrological field.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Mantica G, Van der Merwe A, Terrone C, Gallo F, Zarrabi AD, Vlok AL. et al. Awareness of European practitioners toward uncommon tropical diseases: are we prepared to deal with mass migration? Results of an international survey. World J Urol. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-019-02957-7.

  2. Rechel B, Mladovsky P, Ingleby D, Mackenbach JP, McKee M. Migration and health in an increasingly diverse Europe. Lancet. 2013;381:1235–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Mantica G, Van der Merwe A, Bonkat G. Greetings from Africa: the emergence of tropical urological diseases in Europe. We had better be prepared! Eur Urol. 2019;76:140–1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Heinemann J, Atallah S, Rosenbaum T. The impact of culture and ethnicity on sexuality and sexual function. Curr Sex Health Rep. 2016;8:144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Heald AH, Ivison F, Anderson SG, Cruickshank K, Laing I, Gibson JM. Significant ethnic variation in total and free testosterone concentration. Clin Endocrinol. 2003;58:262–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Dr Heidi Van Deventer for the English editing of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology—Policlinico San Martino Hospital, University of Genova, Genova, Italy

    Guglielmo Mantica, Aldo Franco De Rose, Francesca Ambrosini, Felice Durand & Carlo Terrone

  2. Department of Urology, San Paolo Hospital, Savona, Italy

    Fabrizio Gallo

  3. Department of Urology—San Raffaele Turro Hospital, San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

    Franco Gaboardi

  4. Department of Urology, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa

    André Van der Merwe

Authors
  1. Guglielmo Mantica
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aldo Franco De Rose
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Francesca Ambrosini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fabrizio Gallo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Franco Gaboardi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Felice Durand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. André Van der Merwe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Carlo Terrone
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guglielmo Mantica.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mantica, G., De Rose, A.F., Ambrosini, F. et al. The Italian andrology patient is changing. Broader cultural knowledge is needed!. Int J Impot Res 33, 572–573 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-020-0280-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-020-0280-2

Search

Advanced search

Quick links