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 pediatric appendicitis mortality exhibits strong, persistent geographic clustering in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia from 2000 to 2019, with significant spatial spillover effects suggesting that regional surgical capacity coordination is more effective than isolated national investments.
Based on a cross-sectional analysis of NHANES 2007-2010 data involving 9,173 US adults, this study suggests that purchasing organic food is associated with lower odds of hypertension, though this relationship may reflect either the direct benefits of organic consumption or the broader health-seeking behaviors of the purchasers.
This study employs a discrete-time stochastic SEIRD model calibrated with an Ensemble Adjustment Kalman Filter to analyze a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, revealing a high basic reproduction number of 2.76 and the critical risk posed by unidentified exposed individuals, thereby underscoring the necessity of rapid surveillance and targeted quarantine in confined travel settings.
This paper proposes using the eigendecomposition of the non-stationary covariance matrix as an improved early warning signal for detecting epidemic transitions in metapopulation disease models, demonstrating its theoretical validity and practical application through simulations and SARS-CoV-2 case data from England.
This study employs a distance-modulated metapopulation SEIR model to demonstrate that despite high vaccination coverage, canine rabies persists in NDjamena due to dog mobility and spatial heterogeneity, necessitating exhaustive, intensified vaccination across the entire urban network to achieve elimination.
This individual participant data meta-analysis of Phase III trials in Kenya, Mali, and Zambia found that while the Westham Sarabi v1.2 ATSB intervention did not significantly reduce malaria incidence or entomological outcomes at the tested deployment levels, a post-hoc analysis revealed a significant 19% reduction in clinical malaria for every 10 bait stations per hectare increase in spatial density, suggesting that higher coverage or optimized dosing strategies may be required for efficacy.
This study combines mathematical modeling and genomic epidemiology to demonstrate that increasing dengue outbreaks in Florida are driven by frequent viral introductions from the Caribbean and rising climate suitability for transmission, rather than by the establishment of local endemic persistence.
A 2024 national cross-sectional survey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo revealed that 11.87% of adolescents currently use tobacco or nicotine products, with usage significantly influenced by gender, parental status, household education, and exposure to public smoking, thereby highlighting the urgent need for strengthened regulatory policies to curb accessibility and appeal.
A multi-site study in South Africa reveals that Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence is highly heterogeneous, varying significantly by age group and location with the highest rates observed in adults and notable differences between clinical sites, underscoring the need for enhanced surveillance to better understand transmission patterns.
Based on a large UK Biobank cohort study, Type 2 diabetes significantly accelerates the progression of multimorbidity, particularly among younger individuals, underscoring the critical need for early intervention to slow chronic disease accumulation.