Elena Ronda

• Ph.D., M.D., M.P.H
• Professor (Associate) at University of Alicante

The data presented here derives from the STAIRCASE survey on researcher mental health. The survey reached 4,296 researchers predominantly from European countries who completed an online questionnaire about mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, and well-being, as well as working conditions and leadership behaviour. Dat...

Background The number of physiotherapy sessions needed to treat musculoskeletal conditions varies in the literature; age and gender may partly explain the discordant reports. However, no research has analysed whether occupation may influence this outcome in the working population. Objectives To assess the number of physiotherapy sessions performed...

Background and Objectives Despite alcohol use being very common in older adults, studies are scarce and suggest alcohol use may be increasing. Furthermore, despite the known relationship between education and alcohol consumption, there is limited evidence of educational differences in older adults. Our objective was to describe trends in alcohol co...

Simple Summary The therapeutic landscape of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) has dramatically changed in recent years, with a shift from chemoimmunotherapy towards many new targeted agents, such as Bruton Tyrosine Kinase inhibitors (BTKi) and anti-BCL-2. We now need an accurate re-definition of prognostic/predictive parameters to support clinicia...

Objective: Interventions through telerehabilitation have shown positive effects in various clinical conditions, facilitating the return to work of the working population. This study aimed to compare conventional, center-based physiotherapy versus an intervention combining home- and center-based treatment for whiplash syndrome in workers enrolled in...

Adolescents’ extensive use of digital devices raises significant concerns about their visual health. This study aimed to adapt and validate the computer vision syndrome questionnaire (CVS-Q©) for adolescents aged 12–17 years. A mixed-method sequential design was used. First, a qualitative study was involved two nominal groups to assess the instrume...

Background/Objectives: Employees with essential jobs showed the highest mortality due to COVID-19. However, this evidence does not clarify the impact of the pandemic on different occupational skills compared to the pre-pandemic period. The objective was to examine changes in mortality during the COVID-19 period compared to the pre-pandemic period i...

Introduction Data on the increase in mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic based on individuals' socioeconomic positions are limited. This study examines this increase in mortality in Spain during the epidemic waves of 2020 and 2021. Methods We calculated the overall and cause-specific mortality rates during the 2017–2019 pre-pandemic period and...

Healthcare workers are people who work in health activities, whether or not they have direct contact with citizens. Currently, around 1.3 million people (70% women) work in healthcare activities in Spain. This represents around 10% of the active population, having increased by 33% since 2008, especially the number of women, which has doubled. Healt...

The objective of universal health care systems is to achieve equality in the use of health services at the same level of care need. This study evaluates the relationship of socioeconomic position with the frequency of doctor visits in subjects with and without chronic diseases in Germany and Spain. The dependent variables included number of consult...

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) present a global public health challenge, contributing to high morbidity and mortality and substantial economic burdens. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) ranks as the second most prevalent HAI in intensive care units (ICUs), emphasizing the need for economic analyses in this context. This retrospective c...

Purpose: As digital devices are increasingly used at work, valid and reliable tools are needed to assess their effect on visual health. This study aimed to translate, cross-culturally adapt, and validate the Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q©) into Portuguese. Methods: A 5-phase process was followed: direct translation, synthesis of...

Background The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were more pronounced among migrants than in the majority population and went beyond those directly caused by the virus. Evidence suggests that this overburden is due to complex interactions between individual and structural factors. Some groups of working migrants were in vulnerable positions, overrep...

Aim This study aims to evaluate the trend of avoidable mortality and of mortality from all other causes of death in urban and rural areas in Spain, throughout the first 2 decades of the twenty-first century. Methods Data deaths and population by age and sex, according to the area of residence, were obtained from the National Institute of Statistic...

Background The Spanish version of the Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q©) is a validated instrument, with good psychometric properties, to measure Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) in workers using Video Display Terminals (VDTs). To date, there are no known valid instruments in Chinese for the assessment of CVS despite the high exposure to...

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and periodontitis (PD) are chronic diseases that are associated with connective tissue and bone destruction, which affects the quality of life of the people suffering from these conditions. The identification of social conditions and the determinants of RA and PD would permit the elaboration of policies and st...

Background Computer vision syndrome (CVS) is a common occupational health problem, but its clinical definition, prevalence and risk factors are not well defined. In general, non-validated diagnostic instruments have been used to assess its prevalence. For this reason, the aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence and potential risk factors fo...

The duration of protection of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection has been evaluated in previous studies, but uncertainty remains about the persistence of effectiveness over time and the ideal timing for booster doses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate BNT162b2 vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection in health care worke...

Objective: To analyse the prevalence and progression of computer vision syndrome in secondary and high school students with the CVS-Q© adapted and validated for adolescents, depending on whether they use textbooks or digital books. Method: The CVS-Q© will be adapted by a pilot study in adolescents and a nominal group of visual health specialists...

En tres meses Archivos de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales cumple un cuarto de siglo. En 1998, la entonces Societat Catalana de Seguretat i Medicina del Treball, hoy Associació Catalana de Salut Laboral, presidida por Jaume de Montserrat, anunciaba una nueva revista, que nacía con 35 años de historia y 120 números publicados en la extinguida Medicin...

Background: Heat stress is associated with adverse health outcomes among workers, including acute kidney injury. We aimed to estimate the incidence of acute kidney injury over the course of the work shift and the association with heat stress among agricultural workers in Spain, where summer temperatures are high and heatwaves are expected to be fr...

BACKGROUND: Heat stress is associated with adverse health outcomes among workers, including acute kidney injury. We aimed to estimate the incidence of acute kidney injury over the course of the work shift and the association with heat stress among agricultural workers in Spain, where summer temperatures are high and heatwaves are expected to be fre...

Objective To compare avoidable mortality for causes amenable to medical care and suicide in physicians versus other professionals with similar university studies and socioeconomic position in Spain.Methods All people aged 25–64 years who were employed on 1 November 2001 (8,697,387 men and 5,282,611 women) were included. Their vital status was follo...

Objective: To gather the available scientific evidence about the oral health of migrants in south-south contexts. Methods: A scoping review methodology was applied through a comprehensive search in databases of scientific and grey literature: PubMed/Medline, Scopus, LILACS, EMBASE, Google Scholar and the International Centre for Migration, Healt...

Abstract Purpose: To translate, cross-culturally adapt and validate the Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q©) into Persian. Methods: This study was carried out in 2 phases: (1) the CVS-Q© was translated and cross-culturally adapted into Persian and (2) the validity and reliability of CVS-Q FA© were assessed in a cross-sectional validation...

Objectives Early chimerism analysis is important to assess engraftment in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantations. Methods We retrospectively investigated the impact of T‐cell chimerism at day 30 in bone marrow on acute graft‐versus‐host disease (aGVHD), relapse, and overall survival in 142 adult allo‐transplanted patients. Results Th...

The use of digital devices affects eye health; this can influence the performance of workers. To assess this impact, validated patient-reported outcome questionnaires are needed. The purpose of this study was to validate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q©) using Rasch analysis. T...

Background Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is the third leading aetiological agent in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and the one most frequently found in patients with pneumonia associated with mechanical ventilation. In intensive care units (ICU), its appearance is associated with higher mortality, an increase in the days spent on ventilation...

Background The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and control measures adopted have had a disproportionate impact on workers, with migrants being a group specifically affected but poorly studied. This scoping review aims to describe the evidence published on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical and mental health of migrant workers. Met...

Al igual que ya sucedió en 2020, 2021 ha estado dominado por la pandemia de COVID-19. Si hace un año escribíamos esta Nota Editorial con gran preocupación por la evolución de la situación de la infección originada por el SARS-CoV-2 y, a su vez, con grandes esperanzas puestas en las vacunas como estrategia preventiva, la actual viene marcada por la...

Este trabajo es un comentario del artículo: Proper KI, van Oostrom SH. The effectiveness of workplace health promotion interventions on physical and mental health outcomes - a systematic review of reviews. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2019;45(6):546-559. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3833.

This study aims to explore the perceptions of the Venezuelan immigrant population in Medellín, Colombia, regarding their employment, working and health conditions (physical, mental and psychosocial). A qualitative study was conducted (focused ethnography perspective). Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 31 Venezuelans and 12 key inform...

Among healthcare-associated infections, surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most frequent in Spain. The aim of this work was to estimate the costs of SSIs in patients who underwent a cholecystectomy at the Hospital General Universitario de Alicante (Spain) between 2012–2017. This was a prospective observational cohort study. The Active Epidemio...

Resumen Objetivo Analizar las variaciones en las prevalencias de diferentes conductas de riesgo para la salud, según la ocupación, en la población empleada en España. Método Estudio transversal con datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud española de 2017. El análisis incluye adultos de 18-65 años con empleo en el momento de la encuesta. Las conduc...

The COVID-19 pandemic is clearly showing the importance for the surveillance and protection of human health of acting in all settings of life: family, community, education, leisure or work, among others, as well as addressing the multiple determinants that influence the health and well-being of the population: demographic, healthcare, environmental...

Purpose Accommodative support (AS) lenses are a low add progressive addition spectacle lens designed to ease symptoms in computer vision syndrome (CVS). The study aims to investigate if (1) AS lenses improve CVS symptoms; (2) binocular/accommodative functions predict a benefit from AS lenses and (3) wearing AS lenses for six months impacts on binoc...

Background and aims: Free treatments for HCV infection with direct-acting antivirals became widespread in Spain in April 2015. We aimed to test whether, after this intervention, there was a more favorable change in population mortality from HCV-related than from non-HCV-related causes. Approach and results: Postintervention changes in mortality...

RESUMEN Objetivo: Conocer la efectividad de la vacuna BNT162b2 en personal sanitario de un departamento de salud. Método: Estudio de casos y controles con prueba negativa. Se incluyó personal sanitario con sospecha de COVID-19 y personal sanitario que fue contacto estrecho de casos de COVID-19 entre el 25 de enero y el 6 de junio de 2021. Se les re...

La Acción ReMO del programa COST es una red de colaboradores de todos los niveles de la comunidad científica que ha redactado un Manifiesto sobre la salud mental y el bienestar de los investigadores que requiere la evaluación sobre cómo se pueden nutrir y fomentar de la mejor forma la salud mental y el bienestar, a través de acciones e iniciativas...

Background: The analysis of mortality offers an important indicator for assessing the state of workers' occupational health. Workers involved in the extraction, refining, alloying and manufacturing of metals are frequently exposed to occupational risks that can lead to their death. The objective of this work was to synthesize the scientific eviden...

To analyze compliance with dietary recommendations (DR) based on the Mediterranean Diet among natives and immigrants in Spain. A cross-sectional study was carried out using the Platform of Longitudinal Studies of Immigrant Families comparing immigrant workers from Colombia, Ecuador and Morocco with Spanish workers. Adjusted odds ratios (ORa) of suf...

Background Following the 2008 economic crisis many countries implemented austerity policies, including reducing public spending on health services. This paper evaluates the trends and equity in the use of health services during and after that period in Spain – a country with austerity policies – and in Germany – a country without restriction on hea...

Objective: The objective of the study is to assess the health status of immigrant men and women from non-EU countries living in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and to identify the social determinants of health from a gender perspective. Method: Cross-sectional analysis from a cohort of immigrant families recruited in Badalo...

This study explored the general and oral health perceptions in the Venezuelan immigrant population in Medellín (Colombia) and its conditioning factors. A qualitative study involving Venezuelan immigrants ≥18 years with a minimum stay of six months in Colombia was conducted. Dentists, dental students, and other health professionals also participated...

En el momento de la redacción de esta nota editorial, seguimos mirando con preocupación y temor la evolución de la situación de la infección originada por el SARS-CoV-2, pero también con esperanza por el comienzo de la vacunación. Los retos que la pandemia ha representado y representa para la salud laboral son inmensos: cambios en las condiciones d...

The present study aims to examine the differences in daily fruit and vegetable consumption in the working population in Spain. A cross-sectional study was conducted, using data from the 2017 National Health Survey (n = 10,700 workers aged between 18 and 65 years). The daily consumption of fruit and vegetables was evaluated using two items included...

Background Employment and working conditions are considered as an element that impacts on health inequalities, especially among vulnerable groups such as the immigrant population. This study aims to describe the characteristics of precarious employment in the Venezuelan immigrant population in Medellín (Colombia) according to its theoretical model...

Precarious employment is increasing and adversely affects health. We aimed to investigate how perception of precariousness in current employment impacts gender and migrant workers in Australia. Using cross-sectional interviews of 1292 workers born in Australia, New Zealand, India and the Philippines, data were collected on self-reported health, emp...

This study assesses whether farmers’ suicides were associated with the pesticide use in Spain. The cohort study followed 9.5 million men aged 20–64 years who were employed in 2001. The mortality among farmers and non-farmers during the period 2001–2011 was estimated in a geographical area with high pesticide use and in an area with low pesticide us...

Background and Objectives: The prolonged use of digital screens can cause a set of visual and ocular symptoms known as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), which is a common health issue among computer users. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of CVS among university employees and graduate students in their occupational environment in Iran. Met...

Background: We studied the frequency of physician visits in the native and immigrant populations in Spain before and after implementation of a governmental measure to restrict the use of public healthcare services by undocumented immigrants beginning in 2012. Methods: Data were taken from the 2009 and 2014 European Health Surveys carried out in...

Resumen Objetivo Estudiar la frecuencia de consultas médicas en las poblaciones autóctona e inmigrante en España, antes y después de una medida del Gobierno del 2012 que restringió el uso de servicios sanitarios públicos a los inmigrantes indocumentados. Material y métodos Los datos proceden de las Encuestas Europeas de Salud en España de 2009 y...

This study analyzes associated factors to self-perceived oral health and use of oral health services in native and immigrant adults from the PELFI cohort in Spain. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted (401 adults ≥ 18 years, from Spain, Ecuador, Colombia and Morocco). Frequencies for sociodemographic, self-perceived general and oral health vari...

Background Disparities in exposure to occupational hazards may be linked to social position as well as the type of job a person holds. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of exposure to workplace hazards among three migrant worker groups and to assess whether social disparities in exposure for these groups remain after adjusting for occupat...

Objective The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between bullying in migrants and Australians and types of workplace Iso-strain, by gender. Design and setting Two descriptive cross-sectional surveys of the Australian working population. Participants Australian-born workers of Caucasian ancestry (n=1051, participant response ra...

Resumen Objetivo Comparar las principales características académicas y los contenidos de los distintos programas de máster en salud pública ofertados actualmente en España. Método Se realizó una búsqueda sistemática en el Registro de Universidades, Centros y Títulos del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Se analizaron las principales car...

Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare mortality rates for the main causes of death and the most frequent sites of cancer in firefighters and all other occupations. Methods: Mortality was calculated from a longitudinal study conducted between 2001 and 2011 following a total of 9.5 million men aged 20-64 years old who were in empl...

Iniciamos esta nota editorial de 2019, con el anuncio de un cambio relevante para los lectores, los diferentes comités, los evaluadores y, claro está, los autores, de Archivos de prevención de Riesgos Laborales y es la adopción de la herramienta de gestión editorial de la revistas científicas Open Journal Systems (OJS). Se trata del sistema de gest...

Objective: to understand the perceptions of domestic workers on the legislative changes and impacts on their working and health conditions. Method: a qualitative study, conducted in a city in the inland of São Paulo, between December 2016 and March 2017, conducted through individual interviews with 15 domestic workers, using the snowball strategy...

Background and Objectives: The prolonged use of digital screens can cause a set of visual and ocular symptoms known as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), which is a common health issue among computer users. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of CVS among university employees and graduate students in their occupational environment in Iran. Met...

Objective: To characterize the diet and eating habits of adult immigrants of Chinese origin residing in Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona, Spain), and to identify the factors that influence the changes in diet and eating habits. Method: Qualitative study conducted in 2017 through a discussion group with eight adults of Chinese origin (one man...

The main aim of the present study was to summarize the available literature on the topic of occupational health and safety (OH&S) among immigrant workers (IMWs) in Italy and Spain. We conducted a scoping review, searching Medline, Social Sciences Citation Index, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, SciELO, and EMBASE for peer-reviewed articles, published in Engl...

Los estudiantes chinos en el extranjero representan el 25% del alumnado internacional. Proceden de un entorno cultural y un sistema educacional diferentes al occidental. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar propuestas para mejorar la inclusión de estos estudiantes en la Universidad de Alicante. Estudio exploratorio mediante análisis de conten...

A high burden of kidney diseases, including acute kidney injury (AKI), has been reported among agricultural workers in tropical areas. Dehydration caused by strenuous work at high temperatures has been suggested as a risk factor for AKI. In the Mediterranean region, agricultural workers are exposed during the summer months to temperatures similar t...

Background: Decreases in circulatory/respiratory morbimortality after the January-2006 Spanish partial smoke-free law have been found using designs without control groups, such as single-group interrupted time series (ITS), which are prone to biases. The aim was to reassess the law's impact on mortality using ITS designs with robustness checks. M...

Objective: The objective of the study is to describe the level of exposure to psychosocial risk factors by occupation in the Spanish working population and analyze their relationship with sociodemographic characteristics and employment conditions. Methods: The Spanish Job-Exposure Matrix (MatEmESp) is used to describe the levels of exposure to p...

Due to the healthy worker effect, mortality increases in individuals who were employed or unemployed and decreases in those economically inactive at baseline. To determine if such trends continue during economic recessions, we analysed mortality in Spain before and during the Great Recession in these subgroups. We included 29,933,351 individuals wh...

The healthy migrant effect and its impact on mental health has been reported in the general population of many countries. Information is limited about its impact on working populations. The aim of this study is to estimate the incidence of common mental disorders over a one-year follow-up period among a cohort of Colombian and Ecuadorian employees...

The search for work is one of the largest drivers of migration. Globally there are an estimated 244 million migrants. It is known that occupational accidents are higher in migrant compared with native-born workers; however, there is a lack of information about the reason for these differences. The aim of this study was to use the vulnerability inde...

Quality of life and its relationship to oral health is an important consideration in the determinants of health of vulnerable groups. The aim of this study is to assess oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and its related factors in native and immigrant population families from the Platform of Longitudinal Studies on Immigrant Families (PEL...

Objectives To compare mortality by cancer sites and by other specific causes of death, and the prevalence of risk behaviors in farmers and non-farmers in Spain. Methods Mortality by cause of death was calculated based on a longitudinal study with 10-years follow-up of 9.5 million men and 6 million women aged 20–64 years who were employed in 2001....

Diet is a principal determinant of health and is interrelated with socioeconomic factors and the acculturation of immigrants. The aim of this study was to examine the existing evidence on food, nutrition, and diet amongst immigrant populations in Spain, its relationships with their countries of origin, and to evaluate the methodological quality of...

Introduction Numerous epidemiological studies have been conducted among farmers, but very few of them have included female farmers. Therefore, the health status of female farmers remains understudied. Our aim is to compare the mortality rates and the prevalence of risk behaviours in a cohort of female farmers and female non-farmers in Spain. Metho...

Introduction There is considerable interest in the potential relation of suicide with the pesticide. Agriculture is the leading professional sector for pesticide use in the world with a turnover of about 40 billion US dollars in 2010. According to the WHO report in 2014, autointoxication with agricultural pesticides contributes greatly to the globa...

Introduction Firefighters are exposed to different occupational risks in their work, some of which are carcinogenic. However, there has no studies on investigating the mortality of this group of workers in Spain. The objective of this study is to compare the mortality rate of all cancer sites in firefighters with the rest of employed workers. Meth...

Background: Previous studies on economic recessions and mortality due to cancer and other chronic diseases have yielded inconsistent findings. We investigated the trend in all-disease mortality and mortality due to several specific diseases before and during the Great Recession of 2008 in individuals who were employed in 2001, at the beginning of...

Objective: To compare mortality from the leading causes of death in farmers and in all other workers. Methods: Mortality by cause of death was calculated from a longitudinal study in which 9.5 million men were followed up for 10 years. We estimated the contribution of the causes of death to the difference in all-cause mortality. Results: Most...

BACKGROUND The original Spanish version of the Computer Vision Syndrome Questionnaire (CVS-Q©) is a validated instrument with good psychometric properties to measure the Computer Visual Syndrome (CVS) in workers exposed to video display terminals (VDT). The Italian version would facilitate research and its use in clinical practice the prevention of...

This study aims to understand the migratory experience and the employment, work and health conditions of the returned migrants from Spain to Colombia. A qualitative study was conducted by means of 23 semi-structured interviews with Colombian returned migrant workers. Qualitative narrative content analysis was performed using Atlas.Ti software. Main...

The objective of this article is to analyze the influence of employment conditions on adherence to dietary recommendations among those born in Spain and immigrants by their time of residence. Data were used from the Platform of Longitudinal Studies of Immigrant Families (PELFI) cohort (n = 215) to compare Spaniards and immigrants with <14 and >14 y...