Risk, determinants, and persistence of long-COVID in a population-based cohort study in Catalonia.

Background: Long-COVID has mostly been investigated in clinical settings. We aimed to assess the risk, subtypes, persistence, and determinants of long-COVID in a prospective population-based study of adults with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Catalonia.

Methods: We examined 2764 infected individuals from a population-based cohort (COVICAT) established before the pandemic and followed up three times across the pandemic (2020, 2021, 2023).

Short-term effects of air pollution and weather on physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Introduction: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) accumulate low levels of physical activity. How environmental factors affect their physical activity in the short-term is uncertain.

Aim: to assess the short-term effects of air pollution and weather on physical activity levels in COPD patients.

Risk of hematological malignancies from CT radiation exposure in children, adolescents and young adults.

Over one million European children undergo computed tomography (CT) scans annually. Although moderate- to high-dose ionizing radiation exposure is an established risk factor for hematological malignancies, risks at CT examination dose levels remain uncertain. Here we followed up a multinational cohort (EPI-CT) of 948,174 individuals who underwent CT examinations before age 22 years in nine European countries.

Validity of prognostic models of critical COVID-19 is variable. A systematic review with external validation.

Objectives: To identify prognostic models which estimate the risk of critical COVID-19 in hospitalized patients and to assess their validation properties.

Study Design And Setting: We conducted a systematic review in Medline (up to January 2021) of studies developing or updating a model that estimated the risk of critical COVID-19, defined as death, admission to intensive care unit, and/or use of mechanical ventilation during admission. Models were validated in two datasets with different backgrounds (HM [private Spanish hospital network], n = 1,753, and ICS [public Catalan health system], n = 1,104), by assessing discrimination (area under the curve [AUC]) and calibration (plots).

Brain cancer after radiation exposure from CT examinations of children and young adults: results from the EPI-CT cohort study.

Background: The European EPI-CT study aims to quantify cancer risks from CT examinations of children and young adults. Here, we assess the risk of brain cancer.

Methods: We pooled data from nine European countries for this cohort study.

Connecting real-world digital mobility assessment to clinical outcomes for regulatory and clinical endorsement-the Mobilise-D study protocol.

Background: The development of optimal strategies to treat impaired mobility related to ageing and chronic disease requires better ways to detect and measure it. Digital health technology, including body worn sensors, has the potential to directly and accurately capture real-world mobility. Mobilise-D consists of 34 partners from 13 countries who are working together to jointly develop and implement a digital mobility assessment solution to demonstrate that real-world digital mobility outcomes have the potential to provide a better, safer, and quicker way to assess, monitor, and predict the efficacy of new interventions on impaired mobility.

Gestational phthalate exposure and lung function during childhood: A prospective population-based study.

The potential effect of gestational exposure to phthalates on the lung function levels during childhood is unclear. Therefore, we examined this association at different ages (from 4 to 11 years) and over the whole childhood. Specifically, we measured 9 phthalate metabolites (MEP, MiBP, MnBP, MCMHP, MBzP, MEHHP, MEOHP, MECPP, MEHP) in the urine of 641 gestating women from the INMA study (Spain) and the forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) and FEV/FVC in their offspring at ages 4, 7, 9 and 11.

Urban environment and physical activity and capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Physical activity and exercise capacity are key prognostic factors in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but their environmental determinants are unknown.

Objectives: To test the association between urban environment and objective physical activity, physical activity experience and exercise capacity in COPD.

Methods: We studied 404 patients with mild-to-very severe COPD from a multi-city study in Catalonia, Spain.

ERS International Congress 2021: highlights from the Epidemiology and Environment Assembly.

In this article, early career members of the Epidemiology and Environment Assembly of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) summarise a selection of four sessions from the Society's 2021 virtual congress. The topics covered focus on chronic respiratory disease epidemiology, the health effects of tobacco and nicotine, and the respiratory health impact of environmental exposures and climate change. While the burden of chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD is expected to increase in the next decades, research on modifiable risk factors remains key.

Walking on common ground: a cross-disciplinary scoping review on the clinical utility of digital mobility outcomes.

Physical mobility is essential to health, and patients often rate it as a high-priority clinical outcome. Digital mobility outcomes (DMOs), such as real-world gait speed or step count, show promise as clinical measures in many medical conditions. However, current research is nascent and fragmented by discipline.

Dose Estimation for the European Epidemiological Study on Pediatric Computed Tomography (EPI-CT).

Within the European Epidemiological Study to Quantify Risks for Paediatric Computerized Tomography (EPI-CT study), a cohort was assembled comprising nearly one million children, adolescents and young adults who received over 1.4 million computed tomography (CT) examinations before 22 years of age in nine European countries from the late 1970s to 2014. Here we describe the methods used for, and the results of, organ dose estimations from CT scanning for the EPI-CT cohort members.

Pediatric SMA patients with complex spinal anatomy: Implementation and evaluation of a decision-tree algorithm for administration of nusinersen.

The approval of nusinersen for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has significantly changed the natural history of the disease. Nevertheless, scoliosis secondary to axial muscle weakness occurs at some point in most of patients with SMA and a conventional posterior interlaminar approach for intrathecal administration of nusinersen can be particularly challenging to perform in patients with severe scoliosis and/or previous spine fusion surgeries. We developed a protocol for the administration of nusinersen in pediatric patients, which includes a decision-tree algorithm that categorizes patients according to the estimated technical difficulty for the intrathecal administration.

Walking-related digital mobility outcomes as clinical trial endpoint measures: protocol for a scoping review.

Introduction: Advances in wearable sensor technology now enable frequent, objective monitoring of real-world walking. Walking-related digital mobility outcomes (DMOs), such as real-world walking speed, have the potential to be more sensitive to mobility changes than traditional clinical assessments. However, it is not yet clear which DMOs are most suitable for formal validation.

Neurodevelopmental effects of low dose ionizing radiation exposure: A systematic review of the epidemiological evidence.

Background: The neurodevelopmental effects of high doses of ionizing radiation (IR) in children are well established. To what extent such effects exist at low-to-moderate doses is unclear. Considering the increasing exposure of the general population to low-to-moderate levels of IR, predominantly from diagnostic procedures, the study of these effects has become a priority for radiation protection.

Subtle excess in lifetime cancer risk related to CT scanning in Spanish young people.

Background: CT scan is a life-saving medical diagnostic tool, entailing higher levels of ionising radiation exposure than conventional radiography, which may result in an increase in cancer risk, particularly in children. Information about the use and potential health effects of CT scan imaging among young people in Spain is scarce.

Objective: This paper aims to estimate the number of radiation-related cancer cases which can be expected due to the use of CT scanning in Spanish children and young adults in a single year (2013).

CT scan exposure in Spanish children and young adults by socioeconomic status: Cross-sectional analysis of cohort data.

Recent publications reported that children in disadvantaged areas undergo more CT scanning than others. The present study is aimed to assess the potential differences in CT imaging by socioeconomic status (SES) in Spanish young scanned subjects and if such differences vary with different indicators or different time point SES measurements. The associations between CT scanning and SES, and between the CT scan rate per patient and SES were investigated in the Spanish EPI-CT subcohort.

Trends and patterns in the use of computed tomography in children and young adults in Catalonia - results from the EPI-CT study.

Background: Although there are undeniable diagnostic benefits of CT scanning, its increasing use in paediatric radiology has become a topic of concern regarding patient radioprotection.

Objective: To assess the rate of CT scanning in Catalonia, Spain, among patients younger than 21 years old at the scan time.

Materials And Methods: This is a sub-study of a larger international cohort study (EPI-CT, the International pediatric CT scan study).

EPI-CT: design, challenges and epidemiological methods of an international study on cancer risk after paediatric and young adult CT.

Computed tomography (CT) has great clinical utility and its usage has increased dramatically over the years. Concerns have been raised, however, about health impacts of ionising radiation exposure from CTs, particularly in children, who have a higher risk for some radiation induced diseases. Direct estimation of the health impact of these exposures is needed, but the conduct of epidemiological studies of paediatric CT populations poses a number of challenges which, if not addressed, could invalidate the results.

Empirical analyses of the influence of diet on human concentrations of persistent organic pollutants: a systematic review of all studies conducted in Spain.

Background: Numerous studies analyzed concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in human samples, and in many types of foods; however, food consumption is less commonly included in studies on the determinants of POP concentrations in humans, and these approaches are rarely integrated with surveys of food intake to estimate the amount and safety of human POP intake from food.

Objective: To analyze the main characteristics and findings of all studies conducted in Spain that quantitatively assessed the influence of diet on human concentrations of POPs.

Methods: Studies published until December 2010 (with no other time restrictions) were identified through Medline/PubMed, ISI-Thomson, ScienceDirect, and SciELO databases.

Relationships between occupational history and serum concentrations of organochlorine compounds in exocrine pancreatic cancer.

Background: Previous studies investigating associations between occupational history and risk of exocrine pancreatic cancer (EPC) did not use biomarkers of exposure. The only two studies that measured internal concentrations of organochlorine compounds (OCs) in EPC did not analyse their relationship with occupation.

Objective: To analyse the relationship between occupational history and blood concentrations of seven OCs in patients with EPC.

Distribution of blood concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in a representative sample of the population of Catalonia.

Background: Although virtually all populations worldwide are commonly exposed to numerous persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and human concentrations vary widely, only a few countries conduct nationwide surveillance programs of POP concentrations in representative samples of the general population.

Objective: To evaluate the distribution of serum concentrations of nineteen POPs and their main predictors in a representative sample of the general population of Catalonia.

Methods: Participants in the Catalan Health Interview Survey aged 18-74 years were interviewed face-to-face, gave blood, and underwent a physical exam.