Ana Isabel Ribeiro

Institute of Public Health, University of Porto

Background: There is considerable literature on the psychological and behavioural benefits of green space. However, less is known about its health-promoting effects, as expressed on biological markers. Additionally, incorporating biomarkers into pediatric research may help elucidate the links between exposures to environmental stressors and lifelo...

Background: Effective place-based interventions for childhood obesity call for the recognition of the high-risk neighbourhoods and an understanding of the determinants present locally. However, such an approach is uncommon. In this study, we identified neighbourhoods with elevated prevalence of childhood obesity ('hotspots') in the Porto Metropoli...

Objectives. To examine the association between residence in different housing ty-pologies and all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and to compare with the 25 · 25 risk factors defined by the World Health Organization. Methods. We used data from EPIPorto cohort (Porto, Portugal; n = 2485). We georeferenced and matched participants to a housing ty...

Evidence on the effect of natural environments on atopy in children is limited and inconsistent, disregarding the time-varying and cumulative exposures throughout the life course. To assess critical periods of exposure as well as the effect of longitudinal trajectories of exposure to green and blue spaces on the development of allergic sensitizatio...

Background Few studies have examined the interactions between individual socioeconomic position and neighbourhood deprivation and the findings so far are heterogeneous. Using a large sample of diverse cohorts, we investigated the interaction effect of neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation and individual socioeconomic position, assessed using educ...

Background The incidence of mosquito-borne infections has increased worldwide. Mainland Portugal’s characteristics might favour the (re)emergence of mosquito-borne diseases. This study aimed to characterize the spatial distribution of vectors and notification rates of imported cases of mosquito-borne infections in mainland Portugal and demarcate th...

Power Point presentation of a survey of major earthquakes felt in Mainland Portugal in the mid-twentieth century. For each of the 33 earthquakes considered, a summary of the main features, a map of seismic intensities and reports drawn from the contemporary press, documenting the impact of the event in the population is presented. (Previous version...

Background Previous studies have explored associations of exposure to natural spaces with specific adverse health outcomes over childhood. However, knowledge is lacking on its effects on multimorbidity, defined as the co-occurrence of two or more diseases in the same individual. We aimed to assess the associations between exposure to green and blue...

Background As cities face challenges posed by urbanisation, it becomes essential to understand how city planning can contribute to protecting public health. In this study, we aimed to assess the liveability of different areas in Lisbon, Portugal, by developing a liveability index at the parish level. Secondly, we aimed to explore its association wi...

Background Evidence on the effects of exposure to green and blue spaces on childhood cardiometabolic health is inconsistent, limited and mostly cross-sectional. Objectives To assess the associations of exposure to green and blue spaces, at birth, 4, 7, and 10 years (to identify vulnerable periods of exposure) and as longitudinal trajectories (to i...

Just as the conditions within individual homes significantly affect health, the conditions in the surrounding neighborhoods can also profoundly impact health and well-being. The social and physical characteristics of neighborhoods have been associated with various health outcomes such as mortality, mental health, chronic diseases, health behaviors,...

The MOVE-Air study was designed to explore the role of movement behaviours on the association between air pollutants and health outcomes in Portuguese children. Secondarily, it aims to characterize the settings (both indoor and outdoor) where children are exposed to air pollutants and to co-create solutions with participants to mitigate the exposur...

Using 2022 data from 600 adults (≥ 60 years) in Porto, Portugal, we explored the association between housing insecurity and various health outcomes. We examined housing conditions, affordability, and stability in relation to loneliness, quality of life, cognitive function, perception of healthy ageing, and sleep using regression models. Older adult...

Introduction: Climate change is a pressing public health issue. Urban populations, especially in coastal areas, are highly vulnerable. As climate change progresses, local adaptation becomes increasingly important. We present a case study about the inclusion of public health concerns in local climate change adaptation in Porto (Portugal). Methods: W...

COVID-19 was one of the biggest public health problems in the world. It also had an impact on people’s mental health, both as a direct result of the viral infection and because of the social and economic transformations largely caused by the decisions made to contain the global spread of the virus. In this context, it is essential to understand how...

COVID-19 was classified as a pandemic disease by the World Health Organization on March 12, 2020, caused by theSARS-CoV-2 virus and was one of the biggest public health problems in the world (Silva et al., 2022). Having alsoaffected people's mental health, partly because of the viral infection itself but also as a result of social and economicchang...

This study investigated the associations between exposure to different types of natural spaces and depression among urban older adults and explored the potential mediators. We used data on 631 participants aged ≥60 from the EPIPorto cohort (Porto, Portugal). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale. We assessed greenne...

Diabetes poses a substantial disease burden, prompting preventive interventions. Physical inactivity, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, can potentially be mitigated by enhancing area-level walkability. Despite this, limited population-based studies have investigated the link between walkability and objective diabetes measures. Our study aims...

Objective: Using different perspectives and methods to investigate the links between the urban phenomenon and health is critical in an urbanizing world. This review discusses qualitative methods in the context of urban health research. Methods: We conducted a narrative review following these steps: We identified the qualitative data collection, ana...

Background Estimates of demographic metrics are crucial to assess levels and trends of population health outcomes. The profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on populations worldwide has underscored the need for timely estimates to understand this unprecedented event within the context of long-term population health trends. The Global Burden of D...

Green spaces are essential urban infrastructures. They represent cost-effective interventions to reduce health inequities and contribute to climate-resilient cities and adolescents' health and well-being. Nevertheless, evidence suggests they are underused by adolescents, especially in Southern Europe. We explored the perspectives of adolescents on...

Views on gentrification and intersections with health and well-being were explored via semi-structured interviews with nineteen residents (≥60 years) in Porto (Portugal). Participants acknowledged that gentrification led to noticeable transformations in recreational areas, food/beverage establishments, housing, and commercial activities. Participan...

Dogs spontaneously develop mammary gland tumors (MGT) and exhibit striking similarities in clinical and epidemiological characteristics to human breast cancer (HBC). Descriptive and comparative analysis of HBC and canine MGT with a focus on evaluating similarities and geographical distribution were the aims of this study. HBC cases were obtained fr...

Powerpoint presentation of a survey of major earthquakes felt in Mainland Portugal in the first two decades of the twentieth century, a period marked by the earthquake of Benavente. For each of the 34 earthquakes considered, a summary of the main features, a map of seismic intensities and reports drawn from the contemporary press, documenting the i...

Resumo: A incidência de infeções transmitidas por mosquitos tem aumentado devido, entre outros fatores, às alterações climáticas, à degradação ambiental e ao aumento da mobilidade humana (Núcio, M. S. & Alves, M. L., 2019). Os Sistemas de Informação Geográfica e os métodos de análise espacial são cada vez mais utilizados na vigilância e na investig...

Resumo: A gentrificação urbana é um fenómeno complexo (Carvalho et al., 2019) que pode desencadear consequências importantes na saúde física e mental (Schnake-Mahl et al., 2020). Este estudo utiliza uma abordagem inovadora que integra o Photovoice e os StoryMaps para investigar a relação entre gentrificação e saúde das comunidades (Davis et al., 20...

Background Portugal is amongst the European countries with the largest share of older adults and highest prevalence of depression. Natural environments may play an important role promoting population-level mental health. We investigated the associations between the exposure to green and blue spaces and depression among older adults from Porto (Port...

Background Neighbourhood transformations like gentrification can affect health outcomes. Gentrification is understood as a set of processes of sociospatial change driven by investments in the built environment oriented to the preferences of affluent people. However, little is known about the impact of gentrification on older adults. We aimed to und...

Diabetes is responsible for a high burden of disease, yet there is a great potential for prevention. Physical inactivity is one of the major risk factors for type 2 diabetes which can be tackled by increasing area-level walkability. That said, there are still few population-based studies exploring the association between area-level walkability and...

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a great deal of controversy regarding the role of schools in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the relative contribution of students, teachers, and others. To quantify the clustering effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection within classes and schools considering the seroprevalence of specific antibodi...

Gentrification is currently shaping the urban environment in important ways. It also contributes to shaping the health of the inhabitants of gentrifying cities, although it is still unclear how. Gentrification processes are often linked to different drivers and have specific local translations, further complicating the study of the relationship bet...

Antecedentes/Objetivos: Analisar as perspetivas de adultos mais velhos (60 ou mais anos) sobre os processos de gentrificação, envelhecimento saudável e as relações entre ambos. Métodos: Neste estudo qualitativo foram convidados a participar numa entrevista semi-estruturada elementos da coorte EPIPorto através de uma chamada telefónica. Utilizou-se...

Background/Objectives: Porto is currently undergoing a fast process of transnational gentrification. Interest about how gentrification impacts health is still recent. Existing research has produced mixed results and this relationship is still poorly understood. Qualitative and participatory research may help to better understand this topic and to e...

Objective: Children are an important demographic group for understanding overall tuberculosis epidemiology, and monitoring of childhood tuberculosis is essential for appropriate prevention. The present study sought to characterize the spatial distribution of childhood tuberculosis notification rates in continental Portugal; identify high-risk area...

Green spaces are an essential element in cities. They can significantly contribute to adolescents' health and wellbeing in the urban setting, being at the same time a cost-effective intervention to reduce health inequities and contributing to climate-resilient cities. Adolescents needs and desires regarding the planning and design of urban green sp...

Our aim was to determine the relationship between urban green spaces (UGS) number and greenness amount close to school with physical activity (PA) and body mass index (BMI) of adolescents. Participants (n = 194, aged 13–18 years) were recruited in 75 public secondary schools in the Porto Metropolitan Area. We used a self administered questionnaire...

Florestas.pt seminar: https://florestas.pt/academia/a-influencia-dos-espacos-naturais-na-saude-fisica-e-mental-por-ana-isabel-ribeiro/

Background Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities is an essential human right, recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals as crucial for preventing disease and improving human wellbeing. Comprehensive, high-resolution estimates are important to inform progress towards achieving this goal. We aimed to produce high-res...

Cities have become the predominant living environments of human beings worldwide. In an era of social-ecological crisis intensified by climate change, loss of biodiversity, and socio-environmental injustice, the shaping of responsive cities is crucial for fostering healthy and regenerative urban societies and nature preservation beyond the instrume...

Background Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is still among the leading causes of disease burden and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and the world is not on track to meet targets set for ending the epidemic by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Sustaina...

Despite substantial declines since 2000, lower respiratory infections (LRIs), diarrhoeal diseases, and malaria remain among the leading causes of nonfatal and fatal disease burden for children under 5 years of age (under 5), primarily in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The spatial burden of each of these diseases has been estimated subnationally across S...

The shape and morphology of the city can be determinants of well-being, and it is essential to determine which factors can contribute to achieving this objective, in order to design the city in this sense. The transformation of urban space, simultaneously with the digitization of society, enables knowledge about how much individual well-being is in...

Neighbourhood and health research often relies on personal location data (e.g., home address, daily itineraries), despite the risks of geoprivacy breaches. Thus, geoprivacy is an important emerging topic, contemplated in international regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation. In this mini-review, we briefly assess the potential ri...

Commuting flows and long-distance travel are important spreading factors of viruses and particularly airborne ones. Therefore, it is relevant to examine the association among diverse mobility scenarios and the spatial dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 cases. We intended to analyze the patterns of virus spreading linked to different mobility scenarios, in...

Background Onchocerciasis is a disease caused by infection with Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to humans via the bite of several species of black fly, and is responsible for permanent blindness or vision loss, as well as severe skin disease. Predominantly endemic in parts of Africa and Yemen, preventive chemotherapy with mass drug admini...

Background/Objectives: The proportion of older adults keepsgrowing worldwide. Elderly people are mostly concentrated in urbanareas and are thought to be particularly affected by the residentialenvironment. Cities are unequal and segregated places. The currenthousing crisis catalyses neighbourhood change processes such asgentrification and displacem...

Climate change presents an unprecedented public health challenge as it has a great impact on population health outcomes across the global population. The key to addressing these health challenges is adaptation carried out in cities through collaboration between institutions, including public health ones. Through semi-structured interviews (n = 16),...

Climate change presents an unprecedented public health challenge as it has a great impact on population health outcomes across the global population. The key to addressing these health challenges is adaptation carried out in cities through collaboration between institutions, including public health ones. Through semi-structured interviews (n = 16),...

Exposure to natural environments may affect respiratory health. This study examined the association of the exposure to green and blue spaces with lung function in children, and assessed the mediation effect of air pollution and physical activity. The study used data from the Generation XXI, a population-based birth cohort from the Porto Metropolit...

Mosquito-borne infections are increasing in endemic areas and previously unaffected regions. In 2020, the notification rate for Dengue was 0.5 cases per 100,000 population, and for Chikungunya <0.1/100,000. In 2019, the rate for Malaria was 1.3/100,000, and for West Nile Virus, 0.1/100,000. Spatial analysis is increasingly used in surveillance and...

Elderly citizens are concentrated in urban areas and are particularly affected by the immediate residential environment. Cities are unequal and segregated places, where there is an intensification of urban change processes such as gentrification and displacement. We aimed to understand how neighbourhood socioeconomic processes and dynamics influenc...

One Health: Challenges for the 21st Century is a transdisciplinary approach to health, considering the interdependency of human, animal, and environmental health. This approach to health promotion and disease prevention calls for integrative and interdisciplinary cooperation. From zoonotic diseases to environmental degradation, this book introduces...

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the interactions between individual socioeconomic position and neighbourhood deprivation and the findings so far are heterogeneous. Using a large sample of diverse cohorts, we investigated the interaction effect of neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation and individual socioeconomic position, assessed using edu...

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human health in the 21st century. Global surface temperatures are rising and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms, are expected to increase in the upcoming decades. Humans, animals, and the overall environment, will be impacted by clima...

One Health is a collaborative and transdisciplinary approach which intends to preserve human, animal, and environmental health through surveillance, prevention, and mitigation. The main objective of One Health is to attain optimal health and sustainability for humans, animals, and the environment simultaneously. This chapter addresses the history,...

Background: Multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a recognized threat to global efforts to TB control and remains a priority of the National Tuberculosis Programs. Additionally, social determinants and socioeconomic deprivation have since long been associated with worse health and perceived as important risk factors for TB. This study aimed...

Objectives To use data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019) to estimate mortality and disability trends for the population aged ≥70 and evaluate patterns in causes of death, disability, and risk factors. Design Systematic analysis. Setting Participants were aged ≥70 from 204 countries and terri...

Overview of the historical seismicity of Paredes municipality in NW Portugal, from 1755 to 2021 - a total of 72 earthquakes and its impact in Paredes is characterized and described.

Land use mix (LUM) in the neighbourhoods has been associated with healthier lifestyles. However, less is known about the association between LUM and health outcomes, namely during childhood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between different LUM indexes for Porto Metropolitan Area and asthma and respiratory symptoms in ch...

Objective/Background To describe and characterize insomnia symptoms and nightmare profiles in Portugal during the first six weeks of a national lockdown due to COVID-19. Patients/Methods An open cohort study was conducted to collect information of the general population during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. We analyzed...

Background Loss to follow-up is a major challenge for very preterm (VPT) cohorts; attrition is associated with social disadvantage and parents with impaired children may participate less in research. We investigated the impact of loss to follow-up on the estimated prevalence of neurodevelopmental impairment in a VPT cohort using different methodolo...

Green and blue spaces have numerous health benefits. It has been hypothesized that contact with these spaces can have an important role in cognitive development, because it provides children with unique stimuli that can help develop curiosity, creativity, awareness, and control. This study aimed to estimate the association between exposure to green...

Background Socioeconomic differences have been observed in the risk of acquiring infectious diseases, but evidence regarding SARS-CoV-2 remains sparse. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the association between SARS-CoV-2 infection risk and socioeconomic deprivation, exploring whether this association varied according to different phases of the...

A disseminação rápida do SARS-CoV-2 levou à implementação de restrições à mobilidade em inúmeros países. Estas medidas incluem a suspensão de atividades não essenciais ou a redução do limite máximo de passageiros nos transportes públicos, entre outras (Linka et al., 2020). Neste estudo, foi analisada a dinâmica de disseminação do vírus SARS-CoV-2 e...