News – Page 2 – EpiCenter

Sensitivity and specificity of antigen-based self-testing in Austrian schools

November 22, 2021
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This study evaluates the performance of the antigen based anterior nasal screening programme that was used at Austrian schools to detect SARS-CoV-2 infections. We combined nationwide antigen-based screening data obtained in March 2021 from 5,370 schools (Grade 1 to 8) with an RT-qPCR-based prospective cohort study comprising a representative sample of 244 schools. Considering a […]

Prevalence of RT-PCR-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection at schools: First results from the Austrian School-SARS-CoV-2 Study

January 6, 2021
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There is much debate about the role of schools and children in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In a consortium of four Austrian universities (Medical University of Innsbruck, Medical University of Graz, Medical Faculty of the JKU Linz, University of Vienna), we set out to reliably quantify the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections at schools detected with reverse-transcription […]

Design and rationale of the Proof-ATHERO consortium

January 5, 2021
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This paper – published in Gerontology – outlines the broad aims of the Proof-ATHERO consortium and describes the principal methodology of data management and analysis of study data. The Proof-ATHERO consortium collates individual-participant data of studies with information on atherosclerosis measures, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and incident cardiovascular events. More details about the consortium […]

Carotid intima-media thickness progression as surrogate marker for cardiovascular risk

January 5, 2021
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In this paper – published in Circulation – we quantified the association between the intervention effects on carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) progression and the intervention effect on cardiovascular risk. Therefore, we systematically reviewed the literature and collected aggregated literature based data and individual participant data from 119 randomised controlled trials involving a total of […]

Which body mass index is associated with the greatest survival?

October 2, 2019
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Overweight and obesity are increasing worldwide. To help assess their relevance to mortality in different populations we meta-analysed prospective studies of body-mass index, limiting confounding and reverse causality by restricting analyses to never-smokers and excluding pre-existing disease and the first 5 years of follow-up. Of 10 625 411 participants in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and […]

Reductions in life expectancy with cardiometabolic disease

October 2, 2019
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Cardiometabolic diseases often occur in one and the same individual. In this paper published in JAMA, we aimed to estimate by how much life expectancy is reduced in individuals suffering from cardiometabolic multimorbidity. In our analysis, we calculated mortality rates and hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for age and sex using individual participant data from the […]

Improving cardiovascular disease prediction with lipoprotein(a)

October 2, 2019
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Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a causal risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In this paper published in JACC we aimed to investigate whether Lp(a) modifies clinical risk assessment in the general community. We measured Lp(a) in 826 men and women (age range, 45 to 84 years) and recorded incidence of cardiovascular diseases over 15 years of follow-up. […]

Leukocyte telomere length is linked to cardiovascular risk

October 2, 2019
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Leading on from our work on telomeres in the Bruneck Study, we have conducted in this paper published in the BMJ a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between leucocyte telomere length and cardiovascular risk. Our analysis included studies published up to March 2014 identified through searches of Medline, Web of Science, and […]

Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption

October 2, 2019
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Recommendations about the limits for low risk for alcohol consumption vary substantially across different national guidelines. In this large collaborative paper published in the Lancet, we aimed to define thresholds associated with lowest risk for mortality and cardiovascular disease, by analysis of data from 599912 drinkers without previous cardiovascular disease. In our analysis, we combined […]

NT-proBNP assessment improves prediction of cardiovascular events

October 4, 2018
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Current guidelines for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases focus on the prediction of coronary heart disease and stroke. However, in a significant proportion of people, heart failure is the first presentation of cardiovascular disease, which is not included in prediction models. In this study published in Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, we aimed to test whether […]