Health care articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The relationship between circadian function and frailty is not well understood. Here, the authors show that disturbances in circadian rest-activity rhythms were associated with an elevated frailty risk and faster progress of frailty in older adults.

    • Ruixue Cai
    • , Lei Gao
    •  & Peng Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors develop a mathematical modelling framework to estimate the impacts of non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccination on COVID-19 incidence. The model accounts for changes in SARS-CoV-2 variant and population immunity, and here they use it to investigate epidemic dynamics in French Polynesia.

    • Lloyd A. C. Chapman
    • , Maite Aubry
    •  & Adam J. Kucharski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Temporalis muscle thickness is a promising marker of lean muscle mass but has had limited utility due to its unknown normal growth trajectory and lack of standardized measurement. Here, the authors develop an automated deep learning pipeline to accurately measure temporalis muscle thickness from routine brain magnetic resonance imaging.

    • Anna Zapaishchykova
    • , Kevin X. Liu
    •  & Benjamin H. Kann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fetal biometry and amniotic fluid volume are essential but strenuous measurements in fetal ultrasound screening. Here, the authors show that deep learning models can automate these measurements with high accuracy, using a large and diverse dataset of Moroccan fetal ultrasound images.

    • Saad Slimani
    • , Salaheddine Hounka
    •  & El Houssine Bouyakhf

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    The superspreading that characterized SARS and now COVID-19 can be rapidly quantified; however, its implications for outbreak control were never well understood. Recent studies point to its profound impact on outbreak dynamics and prospects for effective control of a future Disease X. These insights necessitate research into the mechanisms, impact and different modes of superspreading more widely.

    • Bjarke Frost Nielsen
    • , Kim Sneppen
    •  & Lone Simonsen

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    In this Comment, the authors describe recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in cat shelters in Seoul, South Korea. They discuss potential routes of transmission and describe implications for surveillance of spillover infections in animals in non-agricultural settings.

    • Younjung Kim
    • , Guillaume Fournié
    •  & Pierre Nouvellet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study assesses the effectiveness of a second COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccine against severe disease using data from Chile. The authors find that the effectiveness of the second mRNA booster was high with a range of different background vaccination schemes, but there was evidence of waning over time.

    • Alejandro Jara
    • , Cristobal Cuadrado
    •  & Rafael Araos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Identification of areas with risk factors for spillover of viruses from animals to humans could assist with early detection of emerging infectious diseases. In this study, the authors characterise potential risks for spillover of SARS-like viruses from bats to humans and identify geographical regions in which multiple risk factors cluster together.

    • Renata L. Muylaert
    • , David A. Wilkinson
    •  & David T. S. Hayman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding disease progression dynamics is critical for diagnostics and treatment, but capturing dynamics is difficult. Here, the authors present a method for modelling disease progression from high dimensional molecular data that enables patient stratification and high-risk disease state identification, showcased in bladder cancer.

    • Amit Frishberg
    • , Neta Milman
    •  & Shai S. Shen-Orr

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The duration of symptomatic COVID-19 and its impacts on health and quality of life are not well understood. In this study, the authors report results from a survey of ~275,000 adults in England and find that persistent COVID-19 is relatively rare but is associated with poorer mental health and health-related quality of life.

    • Christina J. Atchison
    • , Bethan Davies
    •  & Paul Elliott

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Digital proximity tracing apps were widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic but have not been thoroughly evaluated. Here, the authors use data from students in Leuven, Belgium and estimate that apps notified only ~4% exposed contacts, had a 1–2 day delay for notification, and identified fewer infected contacts than manual contact tracing.

    • Caspar Geenen
    • , Joren Raymenants
    •  & Emmanuel André

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-falciparum malaria may cause a significant disease burden in highly endemic regions, but epidemiological data is limited. In this study, the authors estimate the incidence and prevalence of P. malariae, P. ovale spp., in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and compare to P. falciparum, which known to be common in the region.

    • Rachel Sendor
    • , Kristin Banek
    •  & Jonathan B. Parr

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Genotype patterns may modify diet effects on weight loss, with greater weight loss on genotype-concordant diets. Here, the authors show that with the current ability to genotype participants as fat- or carbohydrate-responders, evidence does not support greater weight loss on genotype-concordant diets.

    • Christoph Höchsmann
    • , Shengping Yang
    •  & Corby K. Martin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deep learning models can reflect and amplify human bias, potentially resulting inaccurate missed diagnoses. Here, the authors show that by leveraging the marginal pairwise equal opportunity, their model reduces bias in medical image classification by over 35% compared to baseline models, with minimal impact on AUC values.

    • Mingquan Lin
    • , Tianhao Li
    •  & Yifan Peng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors compare the viral kinetics of first and second SARS-CoV-2 infections using data from an occupational surveillance scheme in the National Basketball League. They find that second infections tend to have a faster clearance time, and that clearance times in first and second infections were positively correlated.

    • Stephen M. Kissler
    • , James A. Hay
    •  & Yonatan H. Grad

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    In this Review article, the authors discuss emerging efforts to build ethical governance frameworks for data science health research in Africa and the opportunities to advance these through investments by African governments and institutions, international funding organizations and collaborations for research and capacity development.

    • Clement A. Adebamowo
    • , Shawneequa Callier
    •  & Sally N. Adebamowo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multiple myeloma (MM) is a haematological malignancy that is preceded by monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). Here, the authors use a mechanistic model fitted to surveillance data from the United States to investigate whether variation in MM is best explained by incidence of MGUS or rate of progression to MM.

    • John H. Huber
    • , Mengmeng Ji
    •  & Su-Hsin Chang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been developed to provide broader protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants. In this cohort study based on electronic health records from the United States, the authors estimate the effectiveness of bivalent, compared to monovalent, vaccines and no vaccination against a range of COVID-19-related outcomes.

    • Hung Fu Tseng
    • , Bradley K. Ackerson
    •  & Lei Qian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Benefits of breastfeeding are well established, but a comprehensive study about its impacts on hospitalizations is lacking. Here, the authors use Korean nationwide birth cohort data (n = 1,608,540) and find that breastfeeding for at least 6 months was associated with a lower risk for subsequent hospital admissions.

    • Jeong-Seon Lee
    • , Jae Il Shin
    •  & Dong Keon Yon

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    WHO guidelines for classification of malaria elimination in a country require that the risk of human infection from zoonotic, as well as nonzoonotic, malaria parasites is negligible. In this Comment, the authors discuss the implications of this policy for countries, such as Malaysia, with no recent reported nonzoonotic cases but ongoing zoonotic transmission.

    • Kimberly M. Fornace
    • , Chris J. Drakeley
    •  & Kamruddin Ahmed

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The 21st Century has witnessed a series of global food crises, though little is known about how rising food prices affect child nutrition. The authors show that increases in the real price of food elevate the risk of a child being wasted, which in turn poses a serious risk for their survival.

    • Derek Headey
    •  & Marie Ruel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Severe malarial anaemia is a clinical manifestation of severe malaria, with the burden highly concentrated in children. In this work, authors statistically model household survey and in-hospital data to estimate the proportion of severe malarial anaemia cases that access hospital care.

    • Peter Winskill
    • , Aggrey Dhabangi
    •  & Lucy C. Okell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the causal impact that risk factors have on healthcare cost is critical to evaluate healthcare interventions. Here, authors show that waist circumference, body mass index, and blood pressure have robust causal impact on healthcare cost.

    • Jiwoo Lee
    • , Sakari Jukarainen
    •  & Andrea Ganna

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assessment of different iron compounds in the living brain remains an open challenge. Here, the authors present a magnetic resonance imaging method which is sensitive to the iron homeostasis in the brain, and increases the detection of tumor tissue.

    • Shir Filo
    • , Rona Shaharabani
    •  & Aviv A. Mezer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors investigate immune responses following a third (booster) SARS-CoV-2 vaccination dose in a cohort of healthcare professionals in Denmark. They find stronger immune responses among those with a prior infection, and correlation between lower antibody responses and higher risk of subsequent breakthrough infection.

    • Laura Pérez-Alós
    • , Cecilie Bo Hansen
    •  & Peter Garred

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Control of rabies in Africa through mass vaccination of dogs may be compromised by cross-border transmission. Here, the authors use mathematical modelling and a benefit-cost analysis to demonstrate that coordinating rabies control measures across borders could lead to the elimination of dog rabies in Africa.

    • A. Bucher
    • , A. Dimov
    •  & J. Zinsstag

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A/H5N1 has recently emerged in the Americas and has been implicated in mass die-off events of pelicans and sea lions. Here, the authors report sampling and characterisation of HPAI A/H5N1 genomes from five marine mammal and seabird species in Peru.

    • Mariana Leguia
    • , Alejandra Garcia-Glaessner
    •  & Jesus Lescano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors present Distributed Synthetic Learning, a system that addresses data privacy, isolated data islands, and heterogeneity concerns in healthcare analytics by learning to generate state-of-the-art synthetic data for downstream tasks.

    • Qi Chang
    • , Zhennan Yan
    •  & Dimitris N. Metaxas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 immunity decreases transmission through reduction in contagiousness of cases or susceptibility of contacts. Here, the authors use testing and contact data from Geneva, Switzerland and find that increased protection of contacts was the main driver of reduced transmission.

    • Denis Mongin
    • , Nils Bürgisser
    •  & Delphine Sophie Courvoisier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rapid identification of pathogens in neonatal infection, and corresponding antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, would improve patient outcomes and assist in antibiotic stewardship. In this work, the authors utilize metagenomic next-generation sequencing of post-mortem tissue samples to identify pathogens associated with neonatal deaths.

    • Vicky L. Baillie
    • , Shabir A. Madhi
    •  & Courtney P. Olwagen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    China maintained a ‘zero-COVID’ policy from early in the pandemic until late 2022 that employed various public health interventions with the aim of COVID-19 containment. Here, the authors use data from 131 outbreaks in China to estimate the effects of a range of interventions against different SARS-CoV-2 variants in diverse settings.

    • Yong Ge
    • , Xilin Wu
    •  & Shengjie Lai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    White-tailed deer are an important reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 in the USA and continued monitoring of the virus in deer populations is needed. In this genomic epidemiology study from Ohio, the authors show that the virus has been introduced multiple times to deer from humans, and that it has evolved faster in deer.

    • Dillon S. McBride
    • , Sofya K. Garushyants
    •  & Andrew S. Bowman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Estimating health burden of air pollution against the background of population aging is of significance for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.9. Here, the authors show that population aging is expected to be the leading contributor to increased deaths attributable to PM2.5 in China by 2035, which will counter the positive gains achieved by improvements in air pollution and healthcare.

    • Fangjin Xu
    • , Qingxu Huang
    •  & Brett A. Bryan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bone marrow adiposity is linked to disease, and it is unknown how it is modulated during space travel. Here, the authors show that astronauts returning from ISS missions had decreased marrow fat and increased hematopoiesis and bone formation, suggesting that adipose reserves in the bone marrow might be used as an energy source to counteract anemia and bone loss associated with space flight.

    • Tammy Liu
    • , Gerd Melkus
    •  & Guy Trudel

  • Editorial
    | Open Access

    One Health refers to the interconnectedness of the health of humans, animals, and the environment. It recognises that coordination across sectors is needed for effective prevention, detection, and management of infectious disease threats. Although the concept of One Health is not new, it has gained increased prominence following the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting national and international institutions to adopt One Health policies aimed at preventing disease spillover1–4. At Nature Communications, we have launched a Collection and call for papers in recognition of the need for better scientific evidence to support One Health policy ambitions.

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