📊 Category

epidemiology

227 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.

Paired wastewater and clinical genomics across metropolitan and hospital catchments reveals SARS-CoV-2 relevant mutations

By integrating wastewater and clinical genomics across metropolitan and hospital catchments in Valencia, this study demonstrates that while wastewater surveillance effectively tracks dominant SARS-CoV-2 lineages and can detect emerging mutations like S:V445P missed by clinical sampling, its ability to capture fine-scale diversity and hospitalization-linked mutations varies by location, necessitating integration with large-scale clinical GWAS and interaction networks to prioritize evolutionarily significant variants.

Ruiz-Rodriguez, P., Sanz-Carbonell, A., Perez-Cataluna, A., Cano-Jimenez, P., Ruiz-Roldan, L., Alandes, R., Valiente-Mullor, C., Gimeno, C., Comas, I., Sanchez, G., Gonzalez-Candelas, F., Coscolla, M.2026-04-06📊 epidemiology

Mapping high rate clusters of animal contact related human Salmonella enterica single state outbreaks in the United States, 2009 to 2022. A spatial epidemiological approach to inform public health surveillance

This study utilizes a spatial epidemiological approach to analyze 104 animal contact-related *Salmonella* outbreaks in the U.S. from 2009 to 2022, identifying significant high-risk clusters in the Mountain West, Midwest, and Northeast to guide targeted public health interventions.

Bajwa, H. U. R., Bhowmick, S., Varga, C.2026-04-06📊 epidemiology

Maternal cardiometabolic and psychiatric factors driving breastfeeding success

This study of over 72,000 mothers across four European cohorts provides robust causal evidence that higher maternal education, lower BMI, and reduced propensities for smoking, insomnia, and depression significantly improve breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity, with cardiometabolic and psychiatric factors partially mediating the protective effects of education.

Arisido, M. W., Borges, M. C., Giambartolomei, C., McBride, N., Joaquim Hofmeister, R., Kutalik, Z., Magnus, M. C., Zuccolo, L.2026-04-05📊 epidemiology

The joint effects of exposure to prenatal pesticides and psychosocial factors on epigenetic age acceleration in the first 5 years of life in a South African birth cohort.

In a South African birth cohort, joint prenatal exposure to pesticides and psychosocial stressors, particularly food insecurity and interpersonal violence, was associated with accelerated epigenetic aging during the first five years of life, with non-chemical stressors contributing most to the overall effect.

Abrishamcar, S., Eick, S. M., Everson, T., Suglia, S. F., Fallin, M. D., Wright, R. O., Andra, S. S., Chovatiya, J., Jagani, R., Barr, D. B., Lussier, A. A., Dunn, E. C., MacIsaac, J. L., Dever, K., K (…)2026-04-05📊 epidemiology

The Metabolomic Signature of Stressful Life Events

This study analyzes metabolomic data from multiple cohorts to demonstrate that stressful life events are associated with specific metabolic dysregulations, particularly in fatty acid and bile acid pathways, identifying consistent biomarkers such as glycochenodeoxycholate 3-sulfate across diverse populations.

Tian, Y., Li-Gao, R., Alshehri, T., Brydges, C. R., Arnold, M., Mahmoudiandehkordi, S., Kastenmuller, G., Mook-Kanamori, D. O., Rosendaal, F. R., Giltay, E. J., Xu, L., Wang, J., Jansen, R., Bastiaans (…)2026-04-04📊 epidemiology

Estimating the impact of Shigella vaccines on growth outcomes and implications for clinical trial design

This paper demonstrates that while standard randomized trials are underpowered to detect Shigella vaccine impacts on linear growth due to small effect sizes, focusing analysis on the "naturally infected" subgroup and optimizing trial design significantly increases statistical power and reduces the risk of misleading null or inverse results.

Codi, A. M., Rogawski McQuade, E., Benkeser, D.2026-04-04📊 epidemiology

Geographic and temporal trends in etiology-specific diarrhea burden among children in low-resource settings

A harmonized analysis of five major multisite studies reveals that while rotavirus and Shigella remain the dominant causes of moderate-to-severe diarrhea in children under three in low-resource settings, the disease burden is shifting toward Shigella following rotavirus vaccine introduction, alongside a substantial decline in overall mortality rates.

Garcia Quesada, M., Platts-Mills, J. A., Pavlinac, P. B., Powell, H., Kotloff, K. L., Rogawski McQuade, E. T.2026-04-03📊 epidemiology

Antimicrobial resistance in WHO priority bacteria from a One Health perspective in Cameroon: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis reveals that antimicrobial resistance among WHO priority bacteria in Cameroon is high, unevenly distributed across regions, and significantly increasing over time, with the highest rates observed in environmental isolates and the Littoral region, underscoring an urgent need for strengthened One Health surveillance.

Koudoum, P. L., Ateudjieu, W. D., Nana, A., Guemkam, G. W., Nditemeloung, G., Abena, J. V., Rene, E., Vigny, N. N., Joseph Magloire, T., Mbossi, A. D., Kamgno, J., Kamga, H. G.2026-04-03📊 epidemiology

Climate-driven spatiotemporal dynamics of Aedes infestation and dengue transmission in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil.

This study analyzes spatiotemporal data from Porto Alegre (2018–2025) to demonstrate how climatic variables, particularly rainfall frequency and lagged temperature, drive *Aedes* mosquito infestation and dengue transmission, ultimately validating predictive models that integrate entomological and environmental surveillance to improve public health interventions.

da Silva, A. A., Ferreira, A., Lourenco, J., Cupertino de Freitas, A.2026-04-02📊 epidemiology