📄 Category

public and global health

384 papers

Public and global health examines how we protect communities from disease, manage outbreaks, and improve well-being across the world. This vital field connects diverse research on everything from infectious disease control and vaccination strategies to the social factors that shape our collective health. Because these studies often impact policy and daily life, understanding them quickly is more important than ever.

At Gist.Science, we track every new preprint published in this category on medRxiv to ensure you never miss a breakthrough. We process each submission to provide both plain-language explanations for general readers and detailed technical summaries for experts, making complex findings accessible to everyone.

Below are the latest papers in public and global health, freshly summarized from the most recent medRxiv releases.

📄 public and global health

Neonatal mortality risk of large-for-gestational age and macrosomic live births in low- and middle-income subnational birth cohorts: An individual participant meta-analysis (2000-2017)

This individual participant meta-analysis of 16 low- and middle-income birth cohorts reveals that large-for-gestational-age infants, particularly those above the 97th percentile, face significantly elevated neonatal mortality risks compared to appropriate-for-gestational-age infants, whereas absolute macrosomia shows a weaker association, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced surveillance and delivery planning as these conditions are projected to rise with ongoing nutritional transitions.

Kirakoya Samadoulougou, F., Barche, B., Ukwishaka, J., Subedi, S., Erchick, D. J., Suarez Idueta, L., Hamer, D. H., Semr (…)2026-06-06
📄 public and global health

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials examining the effect of ultra-processed food on energy intake and weight gain

This systematic review and meta-analysis of ten randomized controlled trials suggests that ultra-processed foods may increase energy intake and body weight, though these effects appear to be largely driven by differences in energy density rather than the level of food processing itself.

Robinson, E., Jones, A., Evans, R., Finlay, A., Brealey, J., Gough, T., Cummings, J., Fisher, E., Jutla, M., Morenikeji- (…)2026-06-05
📄 public and global health

Estimating Infectious Disease Importation Risk during the 2026 FIFA World Cup

This study presents a reproducible Poisson importation framework using publicly available data to estimate infectious disease risks for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, revealing that dengue fever poses the highest importation threat to most US host cities while background tourism, rather than the event itself, drives the majority of overall risk.

Herrera-Diestra, J. L., Bi, K., Ertem, Z., Al-amery, A., Harris, M.2026-06-05
📄 public and global health

Shifting patterns of importation risk of Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease to Europe under outbreak expansion scenarios

This study uses air travel data to demonstrate that while localized Bundibugyo Ebola outbreaks in eastern DRC pose limited importation risk to Europe, the virus's spread to major regional hubs like Kampala, Kigali, and Kinshasa would substantially increase and reshape the exposure landscape, with France, Italy, and the UK remaining the most vulnerable nations.

Fanelli, F., Parino, F., Poletto, C., Colizza, V.2026-06-04
📄 public and global health

Reduction of Microbial Diversity During Artisanal Fermentation and Detection of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella in Commercially Imported Beef in Puerto Rico

This study demonstrates that while artisanal fermentation reduces microbial diversity in Puerto Rican embutidos, it fails to eliminate multidrug-resistant Salmonella and Enterobacter isolates found in imported beef and local pork, respectively, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced microbiological oversight of these products.

Carmona-Ortiz, M., Cartagena-Teruel, J. A., Maldonado-Maldonado, A. N., Martinez-Pacheco, L. G., Ortiz-Cartagena, L. G. (…)2026-06-03
📄 public and global health

Diverging Pre-Pandemic Mortality Trends: Age-Specific and Cause-Specific Patterns Across High-Income Countries

This study reveals that contrary to the perception of isolated crises, pre-pandemic mortality increases among working-age populations in high-income countries were geographically widespread and driven by a recurring mix of external causes, chronic conditions, and poorly characterized ill-defined causes, indicating a systemic challenge to health progress across many societies.

Perez-Reche, F., Summers, J., Jones, G. T., Macfarlane, G. J.2026-06-03
📄 public and global health

Preventive psychosocial services and collaboration for children and families: protocol for a mixed-methods intersectoral mapping study at community level

This mixed-methods intersectoral mapping study protocol aims to comprehensively analyze and visualize the preventive psychosocial support system and collaboration networks across health, education, and social sectors for children aged 4 to 10 in two socioeconomically disadvantaged German city districts, with the goal of identifying service gaps and informing targeted interventions to improve child mental health prevention.

Reinhart, A., Beierle, S., Popp, L., Voigt, B., Schneider, S., Reissig, B., Walper, S., Kuger, S., Alayli, A., De Bock (…)2026-05-28
📄 public and global health

Short-term Air Pollution Exposure and Risk of Airway Inflammatory Response in Children (CHERISH): Protocol for a Randomised Mixed Factorial Study

The CHERISH study is a randomized mixed factorial protocol designed to assess the acute effects of short-term air pollution exposure on lung function and airway inflammation in 330 primary school-aged children exercising in London school playgrounds.

Moloney, S., Hajmohammadi, H., Wood, H. E., Mead, M. I., Mudway, I. S., Mosler, G., Thomson, A. C., Gonzalez Calvo, I. (…)2026-05-28
📄 public and global health

Accounting for place: confounding via geography obscures polygenic evidence on mental health and environmental exposures in the UK Biobank

This study demonstrates that explicitly accounting for local geographic context using multilevel models is crucial in UK Biobank analyses, as it reveals that traditional single-level models adjusted only for genetic principal components can produce biased associations between polygenic scores for mental health and environmental exposures like greenspace due to unaddressed geographic confounding.

Reed, Z. E., Morris, T. T., Davis, O. S. P., Davey Smith, G., Munafo, M. R., Griffith, G. J.2026-05-27
📄 public and global health

Dynamic Topic Alignment and Sentiment between Official Health Communication and General Public Discourse during COVID-19: A Comprehensive Infoveillance Framework

This study introduces a comprehensive infoveillance framework to analyze the dynamic alignment and sentiment between CDC communications and public discourse on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing that increased topic alignment correlates with heightened negative emotional responses rather than public agreement.

Yin, S., Xin, W., Chen, S., Ge, Y.2026-05-27