The restriction of sugar during the first 1,000 days of life, starting from gestation, may protect against diabetes and hypertension in adulthood, according to a study published in Science. The research uses data from sugar rationing implemented in the United Kingdom after World War II. The findings highlight the long-term benefits of reduced sugar intake during early development.
A study published today in Nature Genetics examines AstraZeneca's new tool, MILTON, which uses artificial intelligence to detect biomarkers and predict diseases before they are diagnosed. According to this analysis, the tool could potentially predict over a thousand diseases and may even be more effective than the currently available polygenic risk scores.
Mice with Alzheimer's disease are more resistant to the development of colorectal tumors, a study shows. An inverse relationship between Alzheimer's and cancer has already been shown in epidemiological studies in humans. An imbalance in certain intestinal bacteria contributes to this negative correlation in mice, adds the article published in PNAS.
The number of patients who suffered harm associated with medical procedures, treatments and contact with healthcare systems increased by 59% worldwide between 1990 and 2019, according to a study published in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety. This is higher than the population growth of 45 % over the same time period. Older people suffer the most adverse effects, with the main increase occurring in those aged 65-69 years.
Research with Spanish participation concludes that, in European countries, tropospheric ozone pollution from beyond national borders was associated with 88% of ozone-attributable deaths, and only 12% were due to domestic sources. The authors, whose research is published in Nature Medicine, used epidemiological and air quality modelling to quantify the burden of mortality in Europe associated with ozone pollution from various geographical sources. This included more than six million deaths in 813 regions in 35 European countries - including Spain - in the 2015-2017 warm seasons.
In Spain, both in the child and adult populations, excess weight and obesity are more prevalent among men. Additionally, lower educational levels, lower income, disability, and the presence of individuals with obesity in the household are factors associated with a higher prevalence of excess weight and obesity. These are some of the conclusions drawn from two scientific articles and two complementary reports prepared by the National Center for Epidemiology of the Carlos III Health Institute and the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN). The data is derived from the ENE-COVID survey, which investigated the seroprevalence of COVID-19 infection in Spain.
Living as a private renter is associated with faster biological ageing than owning a home, according to a study using a UK database with data available on 1,420 people. The team, whose research is published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, used DNA methylation data - chemical modifications - to measure people's biological age, and says this correlation is stronger than the association between biological ageing and unemployment, or having been a smoker. Apart from blood samples from the database, the research also used historical data from a national survey.
In 64 % of the cases, the temperature thresholds that define a heatwave according to the Ministry of Health are below the heatwave threshold established by AEMET. This implies that the population does not perceive situations of risk to their health when they do exist.
The heat waves that took place in Europe during the summer of 2022 were associated with more than 61,000 deaths on the continent, more than 11,000 of them in Spain. These are the results of a modelling study published in the journal Nature Medicine and led by ISGlobal researchers.
Living near green spaces over a long period of time is associated with better health, an association more marked in women and white people than in men and black people, according to a study conducted in four US cities. The analysis concludes that exposure to urban green space between 1985 and 2006 is associated with slower epigenetic ageing, and that this association is stronger in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The international team publishing this paper in Science Advances includes a researcher from ISGlobal in Barcelona.