Estudi de l'impacte d'alguns aspectes de la normativa acadèmica general de la UPC en els resultats acadèmics de l'estudiantat

Dins d’aquest marc és quan sorgeix l’objectiu principal d’aquest projecte final de carrera, que consisteix en analitzar, d’una banda, l’impacte de les assignatures aptes per compensació a Fase Selectiva i a Fase no Selectiva, i d’una altra analitzar els abandonaments dels estudis a la UPC, tot cercant, en particular, un model de regressió que permeti determinar la tipologia dels abandonaments en aquelles titulacions amb un percentatge més elevat d’estudiants que es desvinculen del sistema universitari de la UPC. L’últim apartat vol analitzar si un dels objectius de la introducció de la avaluació curricular s’ha assolit: la reducció de les assignatures amb un percentatge d’estudiants suspesos més elevat, que provocaven autèntiques bosses de repetidors i es convertien en taps que dificultaven el progrés a l’estudiant

SARS-CoV-2 Catalonia contact tracing program : evaluation of key performance indicators

Background: Guidance on SARS-CoV-2 contact tracing indicators have been recently revised by international public health agencies. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse contact tracing indicators based on Catalonia's (Spain) real data and proposing to update them according to recommendations. Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis including Catalonia's contact tracing dataset from 20 May until 31 December 2020. Descriptive statistics are performed including sociodemographic stratification by age, and differences are assessed over the study period. Results: We analysed 923,072 contacts from 301,522 SARS-CoV-2 cases with identified contacts (67.1% contact tracing coverage). The average number of contacts per case was 4.6 (median 3, range 1-243). A total of 403,377 contacts accepted follow-up through three phone calls over a 14-day quarantine period (84.5% of contacts requiring follow-up). The percentage of new cases declared as contacts 14 days prior to diagnosis evolved from 33.9% in May to 57.9% in November. All indicators significantly improved towards the target over time (p < 0.05 for all four indicators). Conclusions: Catalonia's SARS-CoV-2 contact tracing indicators improved over time despite challenging context. The critical revision of the indicator's framework aims to provide essential information in control policies, new indicators proposed will improve system delay's follow-up. The study provides information on COVID-19 indicators framework experience from country's real data, allowing to improve monitoring tools in 2021-2022. With the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic being so harmful to health systems and globally, is important to analyse and share contact tracing data with the scientific community

Effectiveness of the Spanish plan to prevent the health effects of high temperatures

Exposure to ambient temperatures has been widely described as an important health hazard. The most studied effect of temperatures is an increase on mortality; however, there is less evidence on other health impacts. In response to climate change and associated extreme events, public health adaptation has become imperative. The Spanish Government implemented in 2004 a heat health prevention plan (HHPP). This thesis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Spanish HHPP in terms of reductions in mortality and cause-specific hospitalizations, and to assess the effects of weather factors on gastroenteritis and on occupational injuries. Daily maximum and average temperature, and daily precipitation in each capital of province were used as exposure measures. Daily counts of deaths, hospitalizations for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases, hospitalizations for infectious gastroenteritis and occupational injuries registered in Spain were included as health outcomes. Our results suggested that the implementation of the HHPP has reduced extreme heat-related mortality and respiratory admissions. By contrast, an increment of moderate heat-related mortality was observed. We also found that the effects of cold temperatures on mortality and respiratory admissions experienced a decrease in the second period, although this was not observed for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular admissions. Cold and heat were also associated with higher risk of gastroenteritis admissions and occupational injuries. An important economic impact of working at non-optimum temperatures has been estimated in this thesis. We observed a protective effect of heavy precipitation on gastroenteritis admissions. This thesis showed some improvements on health outcomes after the implementation of the HHPP. Nonetheless, ambient temperatures still have an important role in increasing health hazards. Public health prevention measures should consider all range of temperatures as well as target specific actions for some vulnerable groups, such as workers or children.L'exposició a temperatures ambient ha estat àmpliament descrita com un important perill per a la salut. L'efecte més estudiat de les temperatures és un augment de la mortalitat, no obstant, l’evidència sobre altres impactes en salut és més escassa. Com a resposta al canvi climàtic i als seus esdeveniments extrems associats, mesures d'adaptació en salut pública són indispensables. El Govern espanyol va implementar el 2004 un pla de prevenció dels efectes en salut de la calor (HHPP). L’objectiu d’aquesta tesi era avaluar l'efectivitat del HHPP en quant a reducció de la mortalitat i de determinades causes específiques d’hospitalitzacions, així com avaluar els efectes dels factors climatològics en les gastroenteritis i les lesions laborals. Com a mesures d’exposició es van utilitzar la temperatura màxima i mitjana diària i la precipitació diària a cada capital de la província. Es van incloure, com a indicadors de salut, el nombre diari de defuncions, hospitalitzacions per malalties cardiovasculars, cerebrovasculars i respiratòries, hospitalitzacions per gastroenteritis infeccioses i lesions laborals registrades a Espanya. Els nostres resultats van suggerir que la implementació del HHPP va reduir la mortalitat i també els ingressos hospitalaris per malalties respiratòries relacionats amb la calor extrema. Per contra, es va observar un increment de la mortalitat relacionada amb la calor moderada. També es va constatar que els efectes de les temperatures fredes sobre la mortalitat i ingressos respiratoris van experimentar una disminució en el segon període, mentre que aquesta reducció no es va observar en els ingressos cardiovasculars i cerebrovasculars. El fred i la calor també es van associar amb un major risc d'ingressos per gastroenteritis així com de les lesions laborals. En aquesta tesi es va estimar un important impacte econòmic de treballar amb temperatures no òptimes. Es va observar un efecte protector de les precipitacions intenses en els ingressos per gastroenteritis. A més, aquesta tesi va mostrar algunes millores en salut després de la implementació del HHPP. De totes maneres, actualment les temperatures ambient suposen un perill per la salut. És necessari, per tant, que les mesures de prevenció en salut pública cobreixin tot el rang de temperatures, així com que s’estableixin accions específiques per a determinats grups vulnerables de població, com ara els/les treballadors/es o els infants

Estudi de l'impacte d'alguns aspectes de la normativa acadèmica general de la UPC en els resultats acadèmics de l'estudiantat

Dins d’aquest marc és quan sorgeix l’objectiu principal d’aquest projecte final de carrera, que consisteix en analitzar, d’una banda, l’impacte de les assignatures aptes per compensació a Fase Selectiva i a Fase no Selectiva, i d’una altra analitzar els abandonaments dels estudis a la UPC, tot cercant, en particular, un model de regressió que permeti determinar la tipologia dels abandonaments en aquelles titulacions amb un percentatge més elevat d’estudiants que es desvinculen del sistema universitari de la UPC. L’últim apartat vol analitzar si un dels objectius de la introducció de la avaluació curricular s’ha assolit: la reducció de les assignatures amb un percentatge d’estudiants suspesos més elevat, que provocaven autèntiques bosses de repetidors i es convertien en taps que dificultaven el progrés a l’estudiant

Temporal changes in temperature-related mortality in Spain and effect of the implementation of a Heat Health Prevention Plan

Exposure to extreme ambient temperatures has been widely described to increase mortality. Exploring changes in susceptibility to temperatures over time can provide useful information for policy planning and can provide insights on the effectiveness of health preventive plans. The aims of this study were i) to compare changes in temperature-related mortality in Spain during a 20-year period and ii) to assess whether the number of actions implemented in each region as part of a Heat Health Prevention Plan (HHPP) was associated with the temporal changes in heat-related mortality. Daily counts of deaths and daily maximum temperature were obtained for each Spanish province (1993-2013). We used time-varying distributed lag non-linear models to estimate the relationship between temperature and mortality. We compared the risk of death due to extreme temperatures (cold and heat) in the two periods (1993-2002 and 2004-2013), assuming a constant temperature distribution and different temperature-mortality function. Results were reported as mortality attributable fraction (%) (AF). Overall, there was a decrease in mortality attributable to temperature in period 2, more remarkable for extreme cold (from 1.01% to 0.52%), while for moderate heat there was an increase (from 0.38% to 1.21%). Provinces with more actions implemented in their HHPP showed stronger decreases in mortality attributable to extreme heat. Other variables (e.g. average temperature) could explain this association. The highest mortality-AF reductions were detected among the elderly, in mortality for cardiovascular causes and in towns with high socioeconomic vulnerability. Our results suggest that the implementation of the Spanish HHPP could help reduce heat-related mortality

Temporal changes in the effects of ambient temperatures on hospital admissions in Spain

Background: The exposure to extreme ambient temperatures has been reported to increase mortality, although less is known about its impact on morbidity. The analysis of temporal changes in temperature-health associations has also focused on mortality with no studies on hospitalizations worldwide. Studies on temporal variations can provide insights on changes in susceptibility or on effectiveness of public health interventions. We aimed to analyse the effects of temperature on cause-specific hospital admissions in Spain and assess temporal changes using two periods, the second one characterized by the introduction of a heat health prevention plan. Methods: Daily counts of non-scheduled hospital admissions for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases and daily maximum temperature were obtained for each Spanish province for the period 1997-2013. The relationship between temperature and hospitalizations was estimated using distributed lag non-linear models. We compared the risk of hospitalization due to temperatures (cold, heat and extreme heat) in two periods (1997-2002 and 2004-2013). Results: Cold temperatures were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory hospital admissions. Hot temperatures were only associated with higher hospital admissions for respiratory causes while hospitalizations for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases did not increase with heat. There was a small reduction in heat-related respiratory admissions in period 2. Whereas cold-related hospitalizations for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases increased in period 2, a significant reduction for respiratory hospitalizations was reported. Conclusions: Our results suggested that heat had an adverse impact on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases, while cold increased the risk of the three studied cause-specific hospitalizations. Public health interventions should also focus on morbidity effects of temperature

Weather and gastrointestinal disease in Spain: A retrospective time series regression study

BACKGROUND: A few studies in high-income countries have investigated the relationship between ambient temperature and/or precipitation and the occurrence of gastroenteritis. In most of the cases, hot temperatures and heavy precipitation events have been related to increases in infections. This is of concern as climate change predictions indicate an increase of those extreme events. Our aim was to evaluate the association between meteorological variables and daily gastroenteritis hospitalizations in Spain for the period 1997-2013. METHODS: We obtained data on all hospitalizations which occurred in Spain for the study period from administrative databases and selected those with gastroenteritis as the main diagnosis. Meteorological data was obtained from the European Climate Assessment & Dataset. Daily counts of hospitalizations were linked to meteorological variables in a retrospective ecological time series study using quasi-Poisson regression models with overdispersion and applying the Distributed Lag Non-linear Model (DLNM) framework. RESULTS: Both high and cold temperatures increased the risk of gastroenteritis hospitalizations (relative risk (RR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.34; and RR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.15, respectively), whereas heavy precipitation was found protective for those hospitalizations (RR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63, 0.86). Hot temperatures increased hospitalizations for gastroenteritis classified as foodborne or idiopathic but not those in the group of Others, which were composed mainly of infections by rotavirus and were associated with cold temperatures. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest an important role of ambient temperatures, especially hot temperatures, in increasing gastroenteritis hospitalizations, while the exposure to heavy precipitation events pose opposite and unexpected effects on these infections

Weather and gastrointestinal disease in Spain: A retrospective time series regression study

BACKGROUND: A few studies in high-income countries have investigated the relationship between ambient temperature and/or precipitation and the occurrence of gastroenteritis. In most of the cases, hot temperatures and heavy precipitation events have been related to increases in infections. This is of concern as climate change predictions indicate an increase of those extreme events. Our aim was to evaluate the association between meteorological variables and daily gastroenteritis hospitalizations in Spain for the period 1997-2013. METHODS: We obtained data on all hospitalizations which occurred in Spain for the study period from administrative databases and selected those with gastroenteritis as the main diagnosis. Meteorological data was obtained from the European Climate Assessment & Dataset. Daily counts of hospitalizations were linked to meteorological variables in a retrospective ecological time series study using quasi-Poisson regression models with overdispersion and applying the Distributed Lag Non-linear Model (DLNM) framework. RESULTS: Both high and cold temperatures increased the risk of gastroenteritis hospitalizations (relative risk (RR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.34; and RR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.15, respectively), whereas heavy precipitation was found protective for those hospitalizations (RR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63, 0.86). Hot temperatures increased hospitalizations for gastroenteritis classified as foodborne or idiopathic but not those in the group of Others, which were composed mainly of infections by rotavirus and were associated with cold temperatures. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest an important role of ambient temperatures, especially hot temperatures, in increasing gastroenteritis hospitalizations, while the exposure to heavy precipitation events pose opposite and unexpected effects on these infections

The Geography of the Alzheimer’s Disease Mortality in Spain: Should We Focus on Industrial Pollutants Prevention?

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has a high worldwide prevalence but little is known about its aetiology and risk factors. Recent research suggests environmental factors might increase AD risk. We aim to describe the association between AD mortality and the presence of highly polluting industry in small areas in Spain between 1999 and 2010. We calculated AD age-adjusted Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR), stratified by sex, grouped by industrial pollution density, compared for each small area of Spain. In the small areas with the highest mortality, the SMR among women was at least 25% greater than the national average (18% in men). The distribution of AD mortality was generally similar to that of high industrial pollution (higher mortality in the north, the Mediterranean coast and in some southern areas). The risk of AD mortality among women was 140% higher (123% among men) in areas with the highest industrial density in comparison to areas without polluting industries. This study has identified a geographical pattern of small areas with higher AD mortality risk and an ecological positive association with the density of highly polluting industry. Further research is needed on the potential impact of this type of industry pollution on AD aetiology and mortality.This study was partially funded by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation for research into Alzheimer’s. We are grateful to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics and to the Register of Emissions and Pollutant Sources for providing the data on which this study was based. We thank José Miguel Martínez for providing useful advice in the methodology, and for contributing on an early version of this manuscrip

Seasonality reversal of temperature attributable mortality projections due to previously unobserved extreme heat in Europe

In this Comment, we show for the first time the contribution of previously unobserved extreme heat to the trends and seasonality changes of temperature-attributable mortality (TAM) projections in 147 contiguous regions in 16 European countries.Acknowledgments MQ-Z, HA, DP, and JB gratefully acknowledge funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 865564 (European Research Council Consolidator Grant EARLY-ADAPT). MQ-Z, ÈM-S, DP, and JB gratefully acknowledge funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 727852 (project Blue-Action). HA gratefully acknowledges funding from the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia (grant numbers B00391 [FI-2018], B100180 [FI-2019], and B200139 [FI-2020]). JB gratefully acknowledges funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 956396 (project EDIPI), and from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIU) under grant agreements no RYC2018-025446-I (programme Ramón y Cajal) and EUR2019-103822 (project EURO-ADAPT). JR gratefully acknowledges funding from the EU Community Action Program for Public Health (grant agreement no 2005114). ISGlobal acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019–2023 Program (CEX2018-000806-S) and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA programme. The authors also acknowledge the E-OBS dataset from the EU-FP6 project UERRA and the Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the data providers in the ECA&D project. For their roles in producing, coordinating, and making available the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP) input data and impact model output, the authors acknowledge the modelling groups, the ISIMIP sector coordinators, and the ISIMIP cross-sectoral science team for the health sector