Recent Submissions

Device-measured movement behaviors and cardiac biomarkers in older adults without major cardiovascular disease: the Seniors-ENRICA-2 study 

Background: High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are biomarkers of myocardial infarction and heart failure, respectively, and indicate cardiovascular risk. Since low physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) are also associa...

CASCADE protocol: exploring current viral and host characteristics, measuring clinical and patient-reported outcomes, and understanding the lived experiences and needs of individuals with recently acquired HIV infection through a multicentre mixed-methods observational study in Europe and Canada 

Introduction: Despite the availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy (ART), 21 793 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Europe in 2019. The Concerted action on seroconversion to AIDS and death in Europe study aims to understand current drivers of the HIV epidemic;...

Air Pollution and Birth Outcomes: Health Impact and Economic Value Assessment in Spain 

Air pollution is considered an ongoing major public health and environmental issue around the globe, affecting the most vulnerable, such as pregnant women and fetuses. The aim of this study is to estimate the health impact and economic value on birth outcomes, such as low birthweight (LBW), preterm...

Comparison of circulation patterns of mumps virus in the Netherlands and Spain (2015-2020) 

Background: Mumps is a viral infection mainly characterized by inflammation of the parotid glands. Despite of vaccination programs, infections among fully vaccinated populations were reported. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends molecular surveillance of mumps based on sequencing of the ...

Estimates of mpox effective reproduction number in Spain, April-August 2022 

We analysed the transmission of the human mpox virus in Spain by estimating the effective reproduction number of the disease from official surveillance data. Our computations show that this decreased steadily after an initial burst phase, dropping below 1 on July 12, and thus the outbreak was expec...

West Nile virus emergence in humans in Extremadura, Spain 2020 

In Spain, the largest human West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak among humans was reported in 2020, constituting the second most important outbreak in Europe that season. Extremadura (southwestern Spain) was one of the affected areas, reporting six human cases. The first autochthonous human case in Spain...

Residential proximity to industrial pollution and mammographic density 

Background: Mammographic density (MD), expressed as percentage of fibroglandular breast tissue, is an important risk factor for breast cancer. Our objective is to investigate the relationship between MD and residential proximity to pollutant industries in premenopausal Spanish women. Methods: A cro...

La desconocida mortalidad de la población en las residencias de personas mayores de España 

[ES] Es necesario conocer la mortalidad de las personas mayores que viven en residencias para evaluar sus determinantes, incluyendo las características estructurales y organizativas de estos centros y su relación con la utilización de servicios sanitarios y sociales. Al querer investigar la mortali...

Consumption of aspartame and other artificial sweeteners and risk of cancer in the Spanish multicase-control study (MCC-Spain) 

Use of artificial sweeteners (AS) such as aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin and sucralose is widespread. We evaluated the association of use of aspartame and other AS with cancer. In total 1881 colorectal, 1510 breast, 972 prostate and 351 stomach cancer and 109 chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) ca...

Epidemic thresholds and human mobility 

A comprehensive view of disease epidemics demands a deep understanding of the complex interplay between human behaviour and infectious diseases. Here, we propose a flexible modelling framework that brings conclusions about the influence of human mobility and disease transmission on early epidemic g...

Subjective well-being, happiness, and environmental health factors related to women planning a pregnancy or pregnant, using mobile health intervention 

Objectives: To compare the environmental health results in women trying to get pregnant or pregnant using a mobile health application (Green Page) through healthcare professionals or self-completed by women, and to explore the relationship between the subjective well-being of these women with their...

First cross-border outbreak of foodborne botulism in the European Union associated with the consumption of commercial dried roach (Rutilus rutilus) 

Botulism outbreaks due to commercial products are extremely rare in the European Union. Here we report on the first international outbreak of foodborne botulism caused by commercial salt-cured, dried roach (Rutilus rutilus). Between November and December 2016, an outbreak of six foodborne botulism ...

Evolución de las preocupaciones, percepciones y actitudes de la población española ante la pandemia de COVID-19 

[ES] En la pandemia de COVID-19, tanto el comportamiento individual como el colectivo son determinantes en el control de la propagación de la enfermedad, pero las restricciones adoptadas para atajar esta crisis de salud pública han afectado al bienestar físico y mental de la población. Conocer las ...

A community outbreak of Legionnaires' disease caused by outdoor hot tubs for private use in a hotel 

During the period October-November 2017, an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease involving 27 cases occurred in the tourist area of Palmanova (Mallorca, Spain). The majority of cases were reported by the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as travel associated cases of Legionnaire...

Encuesta de prevalencia de las infecciones relacionadas con la asistencia sanitaria y uso de antimicrobianos en los hospitales de España, 2022 

[ES]Las infecciones relacionadas con la asistencia sanitaria (IRAS) son un problema de Salud Pública prioritario en España y constituyen un marcador de calidad asistencial. La vigilancia de las IRAS ayuda a conocer la epidemiología de estas infecciones para orientar la implementación de adecuadas m...

The real-life effect of catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibition on non-motor symptoms in levodopa-treated Parkinson's disease: opicapone versus entacapone 

Objective: To evaluate the long-term, real-life effects on non-motor symptoms (NMS) of opicapone compared to entacapone in levodopa-treated people with Parkinson's disease (PwP). Methods: A retrospective data analysis, with pre- and post-opicapone initiation data of 17 PwP with motor fluctuations c...

Contribution of alcohol use in HIV/hepatitis C virus co-infection to all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A collaboration of cohort studies 

Among persons with HIV (PWH), higher alcohol use and having hepatitis C virus (HCV) are separately associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We investigated whether the association between alcohol use and mortality among PWH is modified by HCV. Data were combined from European and North Am...

Selection bias due to conditioning on a collider 

Effect estimates may be biased when the study design or the data analysis is conditional on a collider—a variable that is caused by two other variables. Causal directed acyclic graphs are a helpful tool to identify colliders that may introduce selection bias in observational research.

Utility of MF-non coding region for measles molecular surveillance during post-elimination phase, Spain, 2017-2020 

Background: In countries entering the post-elimination phase for measles, the study of variants by sequencing of 450 nucleotides of the N gene (N450) does not always allow the tracing of chains of transmission. Indeed, between 2017 and 2020, most measles virus sequences belonged to either the MVs/D...