epidemiology

European regions with the greatest economic inequalities face a higher risk of mortality from both cold and heat, while wealthier regions face a higher risk during heat waves and a lower risk from cold. These findings come from a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and published in Nature Health. According to the authors, the greater vulnerability to heat in regions with higher GDP could be due to a greater presence of heat islands and urbanization in those areas, while the lower risk from cold could be explained by better-insulated homes and lower energy poverty. The results are based on an analysis of a mortality database covering the years 2000 to 2019 and including the urban and rural populations of 32 European countries.

The Ministry of Health has announced that Spain will receive the MV Hondius in the Canary Islands “in accordance with international law and the spirit of humanitarianism”. The government is thus responding to a request from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Union for the cruise ship, which is travelling from Argentina and has an outbreak of hantavirus on board, to dock in the Canary Islands, in the port of Granadilla, Tenerife. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has assessed which passengers should be evacuated from the ship to Cape Verde, where it is currently located, and which will continue on to the Canary Islands. Once there, they will be examined and transferred to their home countries in accordance with safety protocols. The cruise ship is expected to arrive in the archipelago in three or four days.

Between 2010 and 2020, nearly 2.6 million sudden deaths were recorded in Europe. This finding shows an upward trend in sudden death–attributable mortality of 2.9 % per year, with a significantly greater increase in women—although the majority of sudden deaths occurred in men—and clear geographic differences, with higher increases observed in Eastern and Southern Europe. Spain showed the greatest increase among the countries analysed, with an average annual rise of 3.3 %. The results were based on mortality data from the World Health Organization (WHO), covering 26 European countries and more than 53 million deaths. The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health, did not investigate the underlying causes, but the authors hypothesise that differences in cardiovascular risk profiles, access to healthcare, and emergency response systems may contribute to the observed trends.

Counties in the United States closest to operating nuclear power plants have higher cancer mortality rates than those further away, according to a new study led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, published in Nature Communications. Using data from 2000 to 2018, they assessed spatial patterns of cancer mortality in relation to proximity to nuclear facilities, taking into account socioeconomic, environmental, and health factors. Cancer mortality was higher in both men and women, with the strongest associations among men aged 65 to 74 and women aged 55 to 64. The findings do not imply causality.

Adopting a healthy diet at age 45 can add between two and three years to life expectancy in men, and between 1.5 and 2.3 years in women, according to a study based on data from more than 103,000 people in the United Kingdom. The positive impact is greater for men who follow a diabetes risk reduction diet (DRRD) and for women who follow a Mediterranean-style diet (AMED), says the article published in Science Advances.

Measles cases in Europe and Central Asia fell in 2025 compared with 2024, according to preliminary data reported by 53 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. This decline aligns with the preliminary figures published this week by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). According to the WHO, countries in Europe and Central Asia reported 33,998 measles cases in 2025, representing a decrease of nearly 75 % compared with the 127,412 cases recorded in 2024. In Spain, however, the number of cases has increased, as shown by data from the Carlos III Health Institute. A few weeks ago, the WHO announced that Spain had lost its measles-free status.

In 2022, approximately four out of every 10 new cancer cases worldwide were due to modifiable risk factors, primarily tobacco or alcohol consumption and infections, including those caused by the human papillomavirus or H. pylori bacteria. These are some of the conclusions of a global study led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in Nature Medicine. In Spain, 41.8% of cancer cases in men are attributed to modifiable external factors, compared to 26.1% in women, with smoking remaining the main factor (28.5% and 9.9%, respectively). The analysis is based on data from 185 countries.

The prevalence—proportion of cases—of hypertension in minors has almost doubled worldwide between 2000 and 2020, rising from 3.4% to 6.53% in boys and slightly less in girls, according to a systematic review published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. The study brings together data from nearly 444,000 children and adolescents up to the age of 19 in 21 countries.

Between 2003 and 2017, the incidence of six types of cancer—thyroid, breast, colorectal, kidney, endometrial, and leukaemia—increased in young adults in three-quarters of 42 countries included in a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. For all of these types of cancer, except colorectal, diagnoses also increased in adults over the age of 50. The study analyses data on 13 types of cancer and notes that those with increasing incidence include some of the most obesity-related cancers, such as endometrial and kidney cancer.

More than 54,600 children under the age of five in Gaza are in need of medical care for acute malnutrition, according to estimates from a study published in The Lancet, which shows that the prevalence of malnutrition decreases during a ceasefire and increases during Israeli blockades of access to food, water, or medicine. For example, after four months of severe aid restrictions—between September 2024 and January 2025—malnutrition increased from 8.8% to 14.3%, with a higher incidence in Rafah and among children between 24 and 59 months of age. The study, conducted by UNRWA, is based on data from more than 219,000 children between the ages of six and 59 months from various locations in the Gaza Strip, collected between January 2024 and August 2025.