286 papers
Epidemiology is the study of how diseases spread through populations and what factors influence their patterns. Rather than focusing on individual patients, this field examines broader trends to identify outbreaks, track transmission, and guide public health decisions. By analyzing data on infection rates and risk factors, researchers work to prevent future health crises and protect communities worldwide.
On Gist.Science, we process every new preprint in this category directly from medRxiv to make these critical findings instantly accessible. For each study, we provide both a plain-language explanation for general readers and a detailed technical summary for specialists. This dual approach ensures that vital insights into disease dynamics are understood clearly and quickly by everyone who needs them.
Explore the latest research below to see how scientists are currently mapping disease trends and developing strategies to safeguard global health.
This study reveals that while Lassa virus poses a high biological spillover risk to the peri-urban fringes of West African cities, dense urban infrastructure acts as a socio-economic shield that decouples this hazard from human incidence in city centers, suggesting that current surveillance significantly underestimates annual infections and overlooks silent transmission zones.
This retrospective cohort study utilizing TriNetX data found no statistically significant difference in the risk of developing interstitial lung disease between COVID-19 patients with autoimmune diseases treated with Paxlovid versus those treated with Molnupiravir, suggesting both antivirals are safe options regarding this specific complication for this vulnerable population.
This ecological study of 31,397 leptospirosis cases in Brazil from 2015 to 2024 reveals that disease incidence and lethality are driven by socio-environmental vulnerabilities, such as poor sanitation and low education, and are significantly influenced by regional climatic variations linked to El Niño events.
This prospective study demonstrates that blood-based biomarkers, particularly the novel brain-derived p-tau 217, can effectively identify individuals at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease up to two decades before clinical diagnosis.
Using causal discovery on a large Danish birth cohort, this study reveals that while childhood weight strongly influences future weight status, there is no direct causal link between weight and mental health, suggesting their observed association is likely driven by confounding factors rather than a direct causal mechanism.
This study analyzes UK Biobank data to demonstrate that APOE ε4 and ε2 genotypes exert broad, often age-dependent effects on the circulating plasma proteome across diverse ancestries, revealing early biomarkers of neurodegeneration decades before typical Alzheimer's disease diagnosis.
Using 2024 National Health Interview Survey data, this study reveals that approximately 12 million US adults experience frequent loneliness, which is significantly associated with poorer general health, reduced social support, functional limitations, and decreased healthcare engagement.
This study demonstrates that targeted metagenomics (tNGS) using capture-based enrichment enables highly sensitive, culture-independent detection and serotyping of *Streptococcus pneumoniae* in pleural fluid samples, significantly outperforming standard molecular methods and enhancing surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease.
This longitudinal study in Kenya demonstrates that early childhood exposure to malaria causes durable, long-term suppression of antibody responses to unrelated pathogens and vaccines, even years after the initial infection.
This study developed and validated a novel scale measuring research fatigue and beneficence among transgender women in the US and Puerto Rico, revealing that perceptions of being over-researched negatively impact retention while feelings of empowerment vary by race/ethnicity, underscoring the need for culturally tailored, participant-centered research practices.