Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) – Campus Mar

The Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal, is the fruit of an innovative alliance between the "la Caixa" Foundation", academic institutions and government bodies to contribute to the efforts undertaken by the international community to address the challenges in global health. In 2016, the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) completed a successful merging process. As a result, today ISGlobal is a cutting-edge institution with capacity to address global health challenges trough research, translation and education.

URI permanent per a aquesta comunitat http://hdl.handle.net/10230/20719

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    Perinatal maternal mental health and offspring internalizing and externalizing difficulties from early childhood through adolescence: Rhea mother-child cohort in Crete, Greece
    (Springer, 2025) Koutra, Katerina; Mouatsou, Chrysi; Margetaki, Katerina; Roumeliotaki, Theano; Mavroeides, Georgios; Psoma, Sofia; Kampouri, Mariza; Karachaliou, Marianna; Kogevinas, Manolis; Chatzi, Lida Vaia
    Longitudinal research assessing childhood mental health is limited, particularly in terms of tracking how early-life factors influence the development of emotional and behavioral disorders over time. The present study aimed to examine the influence of both antenatal and postnatal maternal mental health on children's emotional and behavioral development, with a focus on the trajectory of internalizing, externalizing and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms from early childhood through adolescence. The present study included 434 mother-child pairs of the Rhea mother-child cohort in Crete, Greece. Maternal depressive symptoms (EPDS), trait anxiety (STAI-Trait), and personality traits (EPQ-R) were assessed during the third trimester of pregnancy, while postnatal depressive symptoms (EPDS) were evaluated 8-10 weeks after childbirth. Children's internalizing, externalizing and ADHD-related symptoms were assessed at ages 4 (using the SDQ and ADHDT, respectively), and at ages 6, 11, and 15 (using the CBCL and CPRS-R:S, respectively). Multivariate mixed regression models, incorporating a random intercept for each child and a random slope for age at follow-up, were used to analyze the trajectories of symptoms from ages 4 to 15. Significant long-term associations were found between maternal mental health and child outcomes between the ages of 4 and 15. Specifically, higher levels of maternal trait anxiety and neuroticism were associated with an increase in children's internalizing, externalizing, and ADHD symptoms. Both antenatal and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms were linked to a greater likelihood of internalizing and externalizing symptoms over time, but only postnatal depression was related to a rise in ADHD symptoms. The findings emphasize the importance of perinatal maternal mental health in children's emotional and behavioral development and suggest the need for prevention and early intervention programs to support the mental health of both mothers and children.
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    Associations between light at night and mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis
    (Elsevier, 2025) Deprato, Andy; Haldar, Prasun; Navarro, José Francisco; Harding, Barbara N.; Lacy, Paige; Maidstone, Robert; Moitra, Saibal; Palomar Cros, Anna; Durrington, Hannah; Kogevinas, Manolis; Moitra, Subhabrata; Adan, Ana
    Light at night (LAN) disrupts the circadian rhythm by altering the natural light-dark cycle. With increasing interest in the relationship between LAN and mental health, there is value in an updated systematic review and meta-analysis considering prominent mental health conditions that also critically appraises LAN exposure assessment. We conducted a systematic review of six databases, two registries, and Google Scholar to identify studies examining the associations between indoor and outdoor LAN exposure (high vs. low exposure) and mental health outcomes (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia), completing inverse-variance random-effects meta-analyses. Nineteen studies with a total population of 556,861 were included in the review. LAN exposure was associated with increased odds of depression prevalence (odds ratio [OR]: 1.18; 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.09 to 1.28), with stronger associations for bedside (OR: 1.45; 95 % CI: 1.03 to 2.04) or wrist-measured indoor LAN (OR: 1.30; 95 % CI: 1.22 to 1.38) than satellite-measured outdoor LAN exposure (OR: 1.10; 95 % CI: 1.04 to 1.17) and in older adults (OR: 1.56; 95 % CI: 1.24 to 1.96) compared to general adults (OR: 1.16; 95 % CI: 1.06 to 1.28) or youth (OR: 1.07; 95 % CI: 0.99 to 1.16). LAN exposure was also associated with an increased prevalence of bipolar disorder (OR: 1.19; 95 % CI: 1.08 to 1.31) and anxiety (OR: 1.10; 95 % CI: 1.02 to 1.20) and increased incidence of anxiety (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.08; 95 % CI: 1.02 to 1.15) and schizophrenia (HR: 1.55; 95 % CI: 1.01 to 2.39); however, the incidence of depression did not achieve statistical significance (HR: 1.53; 95 % CI: 0.98 to 2.38). Overall, our results suggest that LAN exposure influences adverse mental health conditions, with differences in results appreciated for depression prevalence depending on how LAN exposure was measured. Additional research is needed on the effects of LAN given its undoubted interest in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders.
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    Heat-related mortality in Europe during 2024 and health emergency forecasting to reduce preventable deaths
    (Nature Research, 2025) Janoš, Tomáš; Quijal-Zamorano, Marcos; Shartova, Natalia; Gallo, Elisa; Méndez Turrubiates, Raúl Fernando; Beltrán Barrón, Nadia Denisse; Peyrusse, Fabien; Ballester, Joan
    Successive record-breaking summer temperatures, both globally and in Europe, raise the urgent question of how to better protect vulnerable populations. Here we quantified the heat-related mortality burden during the summers of 2022-2024, and assessed the forecast skill of a new generation of continental-wide, impact-based early warning systems during health emergencies. We fitted epidemiological models with the newly created, format-homogeneous daily mortality database of the EARLY-ADAPT project, covering 654 contiguous regions across 32 European countries, which represents the entire urban and rural population of 539 million people. We estimated 62,775 (95% confidence interval = 36,765-84,379) heat-related deaths in 2024, largely exceeding the burden in 2023 (50,798; 29,442-68,610), but somewhat smaller than that of 2022 (67,873; 38,465-92,455). We demonstrated that health emergencies can be forecast with high confidence at least 1 week in advance, even for highly vulnerable regions and population subgroups. These findings have implications for public health agencies and end users, given that the adoption of the system would enable reliable heat-health emergency alerts within the time window that is relevant for stakeholders to take effective actions to reduce preventable deaths.
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    Do the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet increase with a higher proportion of whole plant-based foods?
    (Springer, 2025) López-Moreno, Miguel; Fresán, Ujué
    Purpose of Review: This review aims to explore the potential health effects of increasing the proportion of whole plant-based foods within a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), summarize the available evidence, and provide recommendations for future research on this topic. Recent Findings: Replacing animal-based foods by whole plant-based foods may enhance the health benefits of diets. Beyond evidence on individual food substitutions, an emerging body of literature points out that adopting a plant-forward Mediterranean diet may further amplify the positive health effects of the overall dietary pattern. Additionally, although the MedDiet is recognized as an environmentally sustainable pattern, a fully plant-based version could further reduce its environmental impact and resource use compared to an omnivorous diet. Summary: The MedDiet is widely recognized for its health benefits, particularly in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and other chronic conditions. These benefits are largely attributed to its emphasis on whole, plant-based foods. Although evidence is limited, current findings suggest that reducing the animal-based content of the traditional MedDiet, along with the increase in whole plant-based food, could lead to enhanced health benefits. Furthermore, the reduction in environmental pollution and resources overused could contribute to broader public health and sustainability. Long-term randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the comparative health effects of these dietary patterns.
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    Analysis methods for diagnosing rare neurodevelopmental diseases with episignatures: a systematic review of the literature
    (MDPI, 2025) Alegret-García, Albert; Cáceres, Alejandro; Sevilla-Porras, Marta; Pérez Jurado, Luis Alberto; González, Juan Ramón
    Background: Rare diseases (RDs) and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) remain under-researched due to their low prevalence, leaving significant gaps in diagnostic strategies. Beyond next-generation sequencing, epigenetic profiling and particularly episignatures have emerged as a promising complementary diagnostic tool and for reclassifying variants of uncertain significance (VUS). However, clinical implementation remains limited, hindered by non-standardized methodologies and restricted data sharing that impede the development of sufficiently large datasets for robust episignature development. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review following PRISMA 2020 guidelines to identify all studies reporting episignatures published between 2014 and 2025. The review summarizes methodological approaches used for episignature detection and implementation, as well as reports of epimutations. Results: A total of 108 studies met the inclusion criteria. All but three employed Illumina methylation arrays, mostly 450 K and EPIC versions for patient sample analysis. Three main methodological phases were identified: data quality control, episignature detection, and classification model training. Despite methodological variability across these stages, most studies demonstrated high predictive capabilities, often relying on methodologies developed by a small number of leading groups. Conclusions: Epigenetic screening has significant potential to improve diagnostic yield in RDs and NDDs. Continued methodological refinement and collaborative standardization efforts will be crucial for its successful integration into clinical practice. Nevertheless, key challenges persist, including the need for secure and ethical data-sharing frameworks, external validation, and methodological standardization.