Epidemiology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High numbers of COVID-19-related deaths have been reported in the United States, but estimation of the true numbers of infections is challenging. Here, the authors estimate that on 1 June 2020, 3.7% of the US population was infected with SARS-CoV-2, and 0.01% was infectious, with wide variation by state.

    • H. Juliette T. Unwin
    • , Swapnil Mishra
    •  & Seth Flaxman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Environmental and dietary factors are known to play a role in the development of coronary heart disease. Here the authors apply a genomic-inspired methodology to Nurses’ Health Study data to explore comprehensively and agnostically the association of 257 nutrients and 117 foods with coronary heart disease risk.

    • Soodabeh Milanlouei
    • , Giulia Menichetti
    •  & Albert-László Barabási

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors present a genomic surveillance of avian influenza genomes sampled from live poultry markets in China. They report that a number of variants have emerged since 2016 that pose an increased risk to humans. They highlight the importance of continuous genome surveillance of circulating influenza strains.

    • Yuhai Bi
    • , Juan Li
    •  & Weifeng Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite its importance for the targeting of interventions, little is known about the degree to which cardiovascular risk factors cluster within different socio-geographic levels in South Asia. Here the authors report on a cross-sectional study identifying wide variations in the clustering between risk factors and socio-geographic levels in India.

    • Anne C. Bischops
    • , Jan-Walter De Neve
    •  & Pascal Geldsetzer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors present a SARS-CoV2 seroepidemiological observational study from a random, household-based study population in a small town in Germany, showing the effect of a super-spreading event on infection rate, severity, and potentially infection fatality rate.

    • Hendrik Streeck
    • , Bianca Schulte
    •  & Gunther Hartmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Yellow fever is absent from the Asia/Pacific region, despite presence of the mosquito vector. Here, the authors demonstrate that mosquitoes collected from field sites across the region are capable of transmitting yellow fever virus, indicating that vector competence is not a barrier to disease spread.

    • Lucy de Guilhem de Lataillade
    • , Marie Vazeille
    •  & Pei-Shi Yen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent evidence has suggested that blood type may be associated with severe COVID-19. Here, the authors use data from ~14,000 individuals tested for SARS-CoV-2 at a New York City hospital, and find that certain ABO and Rh blood types are associated with infection, intubation, and death.

    • Michael Zietz
    • , Jason Zucker
    •  & Nicholas P. Tatonetti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Netherlands is a country highly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, Slot, Hogema and colleagues report a low SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence one month into the outbreak and provide insights into virus exposure by region and age group when widespread non-pharmaceutical interventions are in place.

    • Ed Slot
    • , Boris M. Hogema
    •  & Hans L. Zaaijer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many published studies of the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic have analysed data from non-representative samples from populations. Here, using UK BioBank samples, Gibran Hemani and colleagues discuss the potential for such studies to suffer from collider bias, and provide suggestions for optimising study design to account for this.

    • Gareth J. Griffith
    • , Tim T. Morris
    •  & Gibran Hemani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is ongoing debate about the effective combination of strategies for COIVD-19 control. Here, the authors use an agent-based model to quantify and compare several intervention strategies, and identify minimal levels of social distancing compliance required to control the epidemic in Australia.

    • Sheryl L. Chang
    • , Nathan Harding
    •  & Mikhail Prokopenko

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diverse toxicological mechanisms may mediate the impact of environmental toxicants on pregnancy outcomes. In this study the authors introduce an analytical framework for multivariate mediation analysis to identify mediation pathways in the relationship between environmental toxicants and gestational age at delivery.

    • Max T. Aung
    • , Yanyi Song
    •  & Bhramar Mukherjee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors present an analysis of 247 full-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences obtained from two communities in Wisconsin, USA, and report distinct patterns of viral spread. Their results suggest that patterns of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and spread may vary substantially, even between neighbouring communities.

    • Gage K. Moreno
    • , Katarina M. Braun
    •  & Thomas C. Friedrich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, Adi Stern and colleagues use full genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 to look at the rate of infections in Israel. They report that social distancing had a significant effect on minimising the rate of transmission, and find evidence for transmission heterogeneity (superspreading events).

    • Danielle Miller
    • , Michael A. Martin
    •  & Adi Stern

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors analyze disease burden and clinical severity of COVID-19 during the first wave in Wuhan, China in comparison to past influenza virus pandemics and COVID-19 in the US and Canada. These estimates of symptomatic cases, medical consultations, hospitalizations and deaths should guide preparedness for this disease.

    • Juan Yang
    • , Xinhua Chen
    •  & Prof Hongjie Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Observationally, lower birthweight is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. Using Mendelian Randomization, the authors investigate whether maternal genetic factors that lower offspring birthweight also increase offspring cardiometabolic risk and show that the observational correlation is unlikely to be due to the intrauterine environment.

    • Gunn-Helen Moen
    • , Ben Brumpton
    •  & David M. Evans

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Since 1970, several cholera outbreaks caused by the “seventh pandemic” (7PET) lineage have been reported in Europe. Here, the authors demonstrate that the outbreaks were caused by repeated introductions of 7PET into Europe, rather than local environmental sources.

    • Mihaela Oprea
    • , Elisabeth Njamkepo
    •  & François-Xavier Weill

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are a growing number of reports of neonatal SARS-CoV-2 infections. Here, De Luca and colleagues systematically analyse 176 published cases to better understand the route of transmission, as well as the clinical features and outcomes of neonatal COVID-19.

    • Roberto Raschetti
    • , Alexandre J. Vivanti
    •  & Daniele De Luca

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Healthcare workers may be at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection than the general population. Here, the authors report 19% seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among 2,149 employees in a Swedish hospital. Seroprevalence was associated with patient contact and higher than the seroprevalence in the community in same time period.

    • Ann-Sofie Rudberg
    • , Sebastian Havervall
    •  & Charlotte Thålin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although SARS-CoV-2 has spread rapidly, the contribution of super-spreading events to transmission is unclear. Here, the authors show that the number of secondary infections arising from an individual infection in the early phase of the outbreak was highly skewed, indicating that super-spreading events occurred.

    • Liang Wang
    • , Xavier Didelot
    •  & Yuhai Bi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    COVID-19-related travel restrictions were imposed in China around the same time as major annual holiday migrations, with unknown combined impacts on mobility patterns. Here, the authors show that restructuring of the travel network in response to restrictions was temporary, whilst holiday-related travel increased pressure on healthcare services with lower capacity.

    • Hamish Gibbs
    • , Yang Liu
    •  & Rosalind M. Eggo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Detailed knowledge of the characteristics of COVID-19 patients helps with public health planning. Here, the authors use routinely-collected data from seven databases in three countries to describe the characteristics of >30,000 patients admitted with COVID-19 and compare them with those admitted for influenza in previous years.

    • Edward Burn
    • , Seng Chan You
    •  & Patrick Ryan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Highly accurate antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 are needed for surveillance in low-prevalence populations. Here, the authors find seroprevalence of less than 1% in two San Francisco Bay Area populations at the beginning of April, and that seroreactivity is generally predictive of in vitro neutralising activity.

    • Dianna L. Ng
    • , Gregory M. Goldgof
    •  & Charles Y. Chiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    New York City is one of the areas most affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the United States, and there has been large variation in rates of hospitalisation and death by city borough. Here, the authors show that boroughs with the largest reduction in daily commutes also had the lowest SARS-CoV-2 prevalence.

    • Stephen M. Kissler
    • , Nishant Kishore
    •  & Yonatan H. Grad

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Emergence of tigecycline-resistance tet(X) genes is of concern. Here, the authors determine tet(X) prevalence in more than 6,000 clinical Gram-negative bacterial isolates collected between 1994 to 2019 in hospitals in China and suggest that Flavobacteriaceae could be the potential ancestral source of the tigecycline resistance genes.

    • Rong Zhang
    • , Ning Dong
    •  & Sheng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Schizophrenia has been associated with increased risk of breast cancer, yet the risk of schizophrenia following breast cancer is unclear. Here, the authors show a bidirectional association between breast cancer and schizophrenia in Sweden and a shared genetic contribution to both diseases.

    • Donghao Lu
    • , Jie Song
    •  & Unnur A. Valdimarsdóttir

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Prediabetes has been associated with diabetes complications, but these relationships may be confounded. Here the authors show, using genetic data in causal inference analyses, that prediabetes raises risk of coronary heart disease, but not other diabetes complications.

    • Pascal M. Mutie
    • , Hugo Pomares-Millan
    •  & Paul W. Franks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Influenza exposure in early childhood can affect the immune response to distinct viral strains later in life. Here, Gouma et al. show that contemporary 3c2.A H3N2 virus infections boost non-neutralizing H3N2 antibodies in middle-aged individuals, potentially leaving them vulnerable to recurrent infections.

    • Sigrid Gouma
    • , Kangchon Kim
    •  & Scott E. Hensley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Estimating the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a population is challenging due to the limitations of testing. Here, the authors estimate that the true number of infections in the United States in mid-April was up to 20 times higher than the number of confirmed cases.

    • Sean L. Wu
    • , Andrew N. Mertens
    •  & Jade Benjamin-Chung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Identification of individuals at risk of severe COVID-19 disease could inform treatment and public health planning. Here, the authors develop and validate a risk prediction model for COVID-19 mortality in Israel by building a model for severe respiratory infection and recalibrating it using COVID-19 case fatality rates.

    • Noam Barda
    • , Dan Riesel
    •  & Noa Dagan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Genome sequencing can be used to infer pathogen transmission dynamics and inform public health responses. Here, the authors sequence >1,200 SARS-CoV-2 samples from Victoria, Australia and find genomic support for the effectiveness of social restrictions in reducing transmission.

    • Torsten Seemann
    • , Courtney R. Lane
    •  & Benjamin P. Howden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    COVID-19 disease is less common in children than adults, but the extent to which SARS-CoV-2 infections are missed through symptom-driven testing is not well understood. In this study, the authors show that approximately 1% of children seeking care for reasons other than COVID-19 at a Seattle hospital in March/April 2020 were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2.

    • Adam S. Dingens
    • , Katharine H. D. Crawford
    •  & Jesse D. Bloom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The current Syrian conflict is considered a major humanitarian crisis. Here, the authors show a decline in population well-being with the onset of the conflict, and show how this decline compares to other populations experiencing wars, civil unrest or natural disasters.

    • Felix Cheung
    • , Amanda Kube
    •  & Gabriel M. Leung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cytokine storm seems to be a common feature of severe COVID-19 pathology. Here, the authors show a reduced rate of SARS-CoV2 positivity in a large population of patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases if they are already being treated with cytokine or JAK inhibitors, indicating these treatments are safe to continue and are possibly protective against COVID19.

    • David Simon
    • , Koray Tascilar
    •  & Georg Schett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Family-based study designs have been applied to resolve confounding by population stratification, dynastic effects and assortative mating in genetic association analyses. Here, Brumpton et al. describe theory and simulations for overcoming such biases in Mendelian randomization through within-family studies.

    • Ben Brumpton
    • , Eleanor Sanderson
    •  & Neil M. Davies

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Health care workers (HCW) are a high-risk population for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, the authors determine seroprevalence against SARS-CoV-2 in HCWs of a large Spanish reference hospital and find a cumulative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection (presence of antibodies or past or current positive rRT-PCR) of 11%.

    • Alberto L. Garcia-Basteiro
    • , Gemma Moncunill
    •  & Carlota Dobaño

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an emerging arbovirus, but cross-reactivity with other alphaviruses makes analysis of its epidemiology difficult. Here, the authors develop an analytical framework to assess MAYV epidemiology and find evidence for an important sylvatic cycle and seroprevalences of up to 18% in some areas of French Guiana.

    • Nathanaël Hozé
    • , Henrik Salje
    •  & Simon Cauchemez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) in controlling carriage needs to be evaluated to inform vaccine policy. Here, Swarthout et al. show in a prospective rolling cross-sectional study in Malawi a high residual prevalence of vaccine-serotype S. pneumoniae 7 years after PCV introduction.

    • Todd D. Swarthout
    • , Claudio Fronterre
    •  & Robert S. Heyderman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multidrug resistance of the opportunistic pathogen Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an increasing problem. Here, analyzing strains from 22 countries, the authors show that the S. maltophilia complex is divided into 23 monophyletic lineages and find evidence for intra-hospital transmission.

    • Matthias I. Gröschel
    • , Conor J. Meehan
    •  & Thomas A. Kohl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Epidemiological studies have shown an association between sedentary behaviours and cardiovascular disease risk. Here, van de Vegte et al. perform GWAS for self-reported sedentary behaviours (TV watching, computer use, driving) and Mendelian randomization analyses to explore potential causal relationships with coronary artery disease.

    • Yordi J. van de Vegte
    • , M. Abdullah Said
    •  & Niek Verweij

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Incidence of food allergy in westernized populations is associated with low abundance of Prevotella. Here, the authors analyse the microbiome of a mother-infant prebirth cohort and find that maternal carriage, but not infant carriage, of P. copri during pregnancy predicts the absence of food allergy in the offspring.

    • Peter J. Vuillermin
    • , Martin O’Hely
    •  & Esther Bandala Sanchez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In Mendelian randomization (MR) studies, one typically selects SNPs as instrumental variables that do not directly affect the outcome to avoid violation of MR assumptions. Here, Cho et al. present a framework, MR-TRYX, that leverages knowledge of such outliers of horizontal pleiotropy to identify putative causal relationships between exposure and outcome.

    • Yoonsu Cho
    • , Philip C. Haycock
    •  & Gibran Hemani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    HIV prevalence varies throughout Africa, but the contribution of migration remains unclear. Using population-based data from ~22,000 persons, Grabowski et al. show that HIV-positive migrants selectively migrate to high prevalence areas and that out-migrants from these areas geographically disperse.

    • Mary Kate Grabowski
    • , Justin Lessler
    •  & Ronald H. Gray

Browse broader subjects

Browse Epidemiology across other nature.com journals