U.S. Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research ProgramW81XWH-12–1-0561W81XWH-19–1-0346National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of HealthR01 CA258679U01 CA164973Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of HealthNational Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health1U01CA152939World Cancer Research Fund10.13039/5011000003212009/93Ardmore

Low blood pressure (BP) is associated with frailty in older adults. Our aim was to explore how BP predicts transitions between frailty states.

A health gap results from different rates of change for disease trends within a population. There are two ways to reduce such a gap: it could result from a general increase in health, with those faring worse catching up and improving their health faster; or through a widespread decline in health, when the advantaged lose their gains.

Abstract BackgroundExposure to high doses of ionizing radiation is among the few well-established brain tumour risk factors. We used data from the Interphone study to evaluate the effects of exposure to low-dose radiation from diagnostic radiological examinations on glioma, meningioma and acoustic neuroma risk. MethodsBrain tumour cases (2644 gliomas, 2236 meningiomas, 1083 neuromas) diagnosed in 2000–02

BACKGROUND Studies have suggested increased risks of childhood leukaemia after prenatal exposure to antibiotics, particularly nitrofurantoin. However, these findings may be related to the underlying maternal infection. This multinational study aimed to investigate the association between prenatal nitrofurantoin exposure and childhood leukaemia while accounting for maternal infection. METHODS In a population-based

Key Features The Alberta Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Survivor Study is the first population-based cohort created to comprehensively assess the risk of late effects in AYA cancer survivors aged 15–39 years at diagnosis in Canada. The cohort was formed in collaboration with the Alberta Cancer Registry using data on all AYA first primary malignant neoplasms diagnosed in Alberta between January

National Key Research and Development Program of China10.13039/501100012166grand nos 2017YFC0907200, 2017YFC0907201, 2017YFC0907202, 2017YFC0907203, 2017YFC0907204 and 2017YFC0907205

Abstract MotivationStudying the role of the exposome in human health and its impact on different omic layers requires advanced statistical methods. Many of these methods are implemented in different R and Bioconductor packages, but their use may require strong expertise in R, in writing pipelines and in using new R classes which may not be familiar to non-advanced users. ExposomeShiny provides a bridge

Abstract BackgroundExercise may increase the inhalation and deposition of air pollutants, which may counteract its beneficial effects. We thus examined the combined effects of chronic exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and habitual exercise on the risk of death from cancer in Taiwan. Patients and methodsA total of 384 128 adults (≥18 years of age) were recruited for a medical screening programme

National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia301916McKnight Bequest, Sydney Medical School Foundation

We know an outlier

Mendelian randomization has been previously used to estimate the effects of binary and ordinal categorical exposures—e.g. Type 2 diabetes or educational attainment defined by qualification—on outcomes. Binary and categorical phenotypes can be modelled in terms of liability—an underlying latent continuous variable with liability thresholds separating individuals into categories. Genetic variants influence

Variations in the age patterns and magnitudes of excess deaths, as well as differences in population sizes and age structures, make cross-national comparisons of the cumulative mortality impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic challenging. Life expectancy is a widely used indicator that provides a clear and cross-nationally comparable picture of the population-level impacts of the pandemic on mortality.

Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)

Atrial fibrillation (AF) has a higher prevalence in men than in women and is associated with measures of adiposity and lean mass (LM). However, it remains uncertain whether the risks of AF associated with these measures vary by sex.

Mendelian randomization, a commonly adopted approach in genetic epidemiology, is of value in distinguishing causal from non-causal associations.1 There are, however, limitations to the conclusions that can be drawn from this approach when the underlying relationship between an outcome and an exposure is non-linear.2 In this paper we explore a consequence of these limitations, illustrating these using

We studied the impact of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure due to a remote wildfire event in the Pacific Northwest on daily outpatient respiratory and cardiovascular physician visits during wildfire (24-31 August, 2015) and post-wildfire period (1-30 September, 2015) relative to the pre-wildfire period (1-23 August, 2015) in the city of Calgary, Canada.

Preclinical studies have suggested that antidepressant drugs may possess antineoplastic properties. In a nationwide case–control study, we examined the association between use of antidepressants and endometrial-cancer risk with a particular focus on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

In India, as elsewhere, the incidence of gall-bladder cancer (GBC) is substantially higher in women than in men. Yet, the relevance of reproductive factors to GBC remains poorly understood.

AbstractInverse probability weights are increasingly used in epidemiological analysis, and estimation and application of weights to address a single bias are well discussed in the literature. Weights to address multiple biases simultaneously (i.e. a combination of weights) have almost exclusively been discussed related to marginal structural models in longitudinal settings where treatment weights (estimated

Abstract BackgroundEstimates indicate that household air pollution caused by solid fuel burning accounted for about 1.03 million premature mortalities in China in 2016. In the country’s rural areas, more than half the population still relies on biomass fuels and coals for cooking and heating. Understanding the health impact of indoor air pollution and socioeconomic indicators is essential for the country

Tennant et al. make the bold claim that ‘analyses of “change scores” do not estimate causal effects in observational data’.1 However, it seems to me that this claim is related to the definition of the effect of interest (the estimand) and not the estimation. It is well established, under the potential outcomes framework, that ‘the causal effect is the comparison of the potential outcomes, for the same

Abstract BackgroundLow levels of circulating 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] have been shown to associate with prevalent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but few studies have examined the association between 25(OH)D during fetal development and risk of childhood ADHD. MethodsMaternal plasma 25(OH)D was measured at 10–18 and 32–38 weeks of gestation, with sufficiency defined as 25(OH)D

Both parental and neighbourhood socio-economic status (SES) are linked to poorer health independently of personal SES measures, but the biological mechanisms are unclear. Our objective was to examine these influences via epigenetic age acceleration (EAA)—the discrepancy between chronological and epigenetic ages.

Growing evidence supports a link between ultra-processed food consumption and human health outcomes. However, the association between ultra-processed food consumption and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is not known. We aimed to explore the association between ultra-processed food consumption and risk of NAFLD.

Abstract BackgroundStudies are sparse and inconclusive about the association between maternal education and cognitive development among children born very preterm (VPT). Although this association is well established in the general population, questions remain about its magnitude among children born VPT whose risks of medical and developmental complications are high. We investigated the association

Our hypothesis was that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is related to abnormal cord insertion, which is categorized as a form of placental implantation abnormality. We investigated the association between exposure to total PM2.5 and its chemical components over the first trimester and abnormal cord insertion, which contributes to the occurrence of adverse birth outcomes.

Previous epidemiological studies have found positive associations between maternal infections and childhood leukaemia; however, evidence from prospective cohort studies is scarce. We aimed to examine the associations using large-scale prospective data.

Canada Research Chair in Population Data Analytics and Data CurationCanada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data QualityCanada Research Chair in Applied Population HealthCanadian Institutes of Health Research10.13039/501100000024PJT-162111

Abstract BackgroundBiannual azithromycin distribution to children 1–59 months old reduced all-cause mortality by 18% [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74, 0.90] in an intention-to-treat analysis of a randomized controlled trial in Niger. Estimation of the effect in compliance-related subgroups can support decision making around implementation of this intervention in

Abstract BackgroundThere is considerable variation in mortality rates from myocardial infarction (MI) across high-income countries, some of which may be artefactual. MethodsTime trends in mortality rates from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and MI were analysed for a set of high-income countries from the end of the 1970s. Using individual-level mortality data from Russia (2005–2017) and Norway (2005–2016)

In a recent International Journal of Epidemiology article, Tennant et al. (2021) asserted that regressions with change score estimators (i.e. ‘gain scores’, ‘difference scores’) do not estimate causal treatment effects in observational data.1 Their argument—aided by directed acyclic graphs (DAGs)—relies on within-person models with a single treatment measure and causally related outcomes. Whereas this

Abstract BackgroundHeat exposure is a risk factor for urologic diseases. However, there are limited existing studies that have examined the relationship between high temperatures and urologic disease. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between heat exposure and hospitalizations for urologic diseases in Queensland, Australia, during the hot seasons of 1995–2016 and to quantify the

Abstract BackgroundResearch documents social and economic antecedents of adverse birth outcomes, which may include involuntary job loss. Previous work on job loss and adverse birth outcomes, however, lacks high-quality individual data on, and variation in, plausibly exogenous job loss during pregnancy and therefore cannot rule out strong confounding. MethodsWe analysed unique linked registries in Denmark

Abstract BackgroundDescribing the SARS-CoV-2 viral-load distribution in different patient groups and age categories. MethodsAll results from first nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) swabs from unique patients tested via SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) collected between 1 January and 1 December 2020 predominantly in the Public Health Services regions Kennemerland

BACKGROUND Evidence is accumulating that high dietary glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) are potential risk factors for several metabolic disorders (e.g. type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases), but remains limited concerning cancer risk. Although, mechanistic data suggest that consuming high-GI foods may contribute to carcinogenesis through elevated blood glucose levels, insulin resistance

The UN General Assembly in September 2021 will bring countries together at a critical time for marshalling collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis. They will meet again at the biodiversity summit in Kunming, China, and the climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow, UK. Ahead of these pivotal meetings, we—the editors of health journals worldwide—call for urgent action to keep average

Questions remain about the effect on mortality of physical activity and sedentary behaviour over time. We summarized the evidence from studies that assessed exposure from multiple time points and critiqued the analytic approaches used.

Swedish Breast Cancer Association, the Percy Falk Foundation, the VISARE NORR funding of the Northern County Councils Regional FederationVISARENORR750491VISARENORR931408Swedish Cancer Society10.13039/501100002794160622

As the proportion of children being born as a result of medically assisted reproductive (MAR) technologies increases rapidly across the globe, epidemiologists are increasingly interested in understanding how these complex and evolving interventions that have provided welcome solutions to subfertility for so many parents also contribute to offspring wellbeing beyond the perinatal period.

Long-term care facilities (LTCF) worldwide have suffered high rates of COVID-19, reflecting the vulnerability of the persons who live there and the institutional nature of care delivered. This study describes the impact of the pandemic on incidences and deaths in LTCF across England.

Abstract BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that consuming coffee may lower the risk of death, but evidence regarding tea consumption in Asians is limited. We examined the association between coffee and tea consumption and mortality in Asian populations. MethodsWe used data from 12 prospective cohort studies including 248 050 men and 280 454 women from the Asia Cohort Consortium conducted in

The epidemiological association between type 2 diabetes and cataract has been well established. However, it remains unclear whether the two diseases share a genetic basis, and if so, whether this reflects a putative causal relationship.

Although seasonal variations in mortality have been recognized for millennia, the role of temperature remains unclear. We aimed to assess seasonal variation in mortality and to examine the contribution of temperature.

Healthcare trajectoriesCanadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)longitudinal administrative datachronic diseases

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when lockdowns and home office were enforced, cities suddenly became much quieter. In recent months, however, traffic and associated noise levels have almost returned to pre-pandemic ‘normality’.

Long-term exposure to traffic-borne noise and air pollution has been variably associated with incidence of acute vascular events, namely acute myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke and haemorrhagic stroke. This study aims at exploring this association within a highly urbanized city.

We read with great interest the nationwide cohort study from Boudigaard and colleagues, recently published in the IJE and exploring the association of occupational exposure to crystalline silica with systemic autoimmune diseases.1 In this study, the authors show an exposure-dependent association between respirable silica and rheumatic diseases such as systemic sclerosis (SSc) and rheumatoid arthritis

The world is experiencing local/regional hotspots and spikes in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19 disease. We aimed to formulate an applicable epidemiological model to accurately predict and forecast the impact of local outbreaks of COVID-19 to guide the local healthcare demand and capacity, policy-making and public health decisions.

Danish Working Environment Research Fund34–2016-09Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung to elaborate SYNJEM

As of 20 May 2021, Brazil was the country with the second-highest number of COVID-19 deaths and the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases in absolute numbers in the world. In relative numbers, on 20 May 2021, the 7-day daily rolling average of deaths was 9.08 per million people in Brazil. From the beginning of the pandemic until 20 May 2021, the Brazilian cumulative mortality rate was 2078 per million

First published online: 4 January 2021, Int J Epidemiol 2020; doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyaa238

First published online: 1 September 2014, Int J Epidemiol 2015;44:819–825. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyu181

Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Infectious disease outbreaks present unique challenges to study designs for vaccine evaluation. Test-negative design (TND) studies have previously been used to estimate vaccine effectiveness and have been proposed for Ebola virus disease (EVD) vaccines. However, there are key differences in how cases and controls are recruited during outbreaks and pandemics of novel pathogens, whcih have implications

Abstract BackgroundThe history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been associated with breast cancer risk in some studies, particularly in young women, but results of cohort studies are conflicting. MethodsWe pooled data from 257 290 young (age <55 years) women from five cohorts. We used multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals

AbstractCollinearity can be a problem in regression models. When examining the effects of an exposure at different time points, constrained distributed lag models can alleviate some of the problems caused by collinearity. Still, some consequences of collinearity may remain and they are often unexplored. We aimed to illustrate the effects of collinearity in the context of distributed lag models, and

Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966NFBC1966cohort profilebirth cohortlife course epidemiologyearly lifehealth and well-beinggrowth modelling