Pedro Plans-Rubió

College of Physicians of Barcelona

Background Diabetes can be detected at the primary health-care level, and effective treatments lower the risk of complications. There are insufficient data on the coverage of treatment for diabetes and how it has changed. We estimated trends from 1990 to 2022 in diabetes prevalence and treatment for 200 countries and territories. Methods We used da...

COVID-19 vaccines have reduced the negative health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by preventing severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths. In the new socio-economic normality, the COVID-19 vaccination strategy can be universal or high-risk and seasonal or not seasonal, and different vaccines can be used. The universal vaccination st...

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare hepatitis A outbreak-associated healthcare and epidemiological surveillance costs in Spain in two types of autonomous regions during 2010–2018: (1) regions with a prevention strategy based on universal hepatitis A vaccination of children and vaccination of high-risk population groups (Catalonia) and...

Summary Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of index case vaccination on SARS-CoV-2 transmission to household contacts. In our epidemiological cohort study (May 2022–November 2023), we surveyed registered index case vaccination status and test results for contacts (testing on day 0, and on day 7 for negative contacts) and calculated the second...

The aim of the study was to identify factors associated with non-adherence to tuberculosis (TB) preventive treatment among contacts with latent TB infection of new cases of pulmonary TB cases reported in Catalonia in 2019-2021. All contacts aged 18 years or older with a latent TB infection who received a TB preventive treatment were included in the...

The emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants has raised concerns about the ability of COVID-19 vaccination programs to establish adequate herd immunity levels in the population. This study assessed the effectiveness of adapted vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection and the ability of the adapted vaccines to establish herd immunity against emergi...

Background: The control of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) encompasses multiple stages. The objective was to calculate the losses in the LTBI care cascade for pulmonary TB contacts in Catalonia (Spain). Methods: The LTBI care cascade was studied for pulmonary TB contacts reported from 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2021, considering three dependent...

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are both used to diagnose diabetes, but these measurements can identify different people as having diabetes. We used data from 117 population-based studies and quantified, in different world regions, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, and whether those who were previously undiagnosed and de...

Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6 . Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural an...

The pandemic associated with SARS-CoV-2 is a worldwide public health challenge. The WHO has proposed to achieve 70% COVID-19 vaccination coverage in all countries by mid-2022. Nevertheless, the prevention strategy based on COVID-19 vaccination and other applied prevention measures have not been sufficient to prevent SARS-CoV-2 epidemic waves. The s...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic could have negative effects on tuberculosis (TB) control. The objective was to assess the impact of the pandemic in contact tracing and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in contacts of patients with pulmonary TB in Catalonia (Spain). Methods: Contact tracing was carried out in cases of pulmonary TB detected d...

Avian mutations in vaccine strains obtained from embryonated eggs could impair vaccine effec-tiveness. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the adjusted relative vaccine effectiveness (arVE) of seed cell-cultured influenza vaccines (ccIV) compared to egg-based influ-enza vaccines (eIV) in preventing laboratory-confirmed influenza r...

Background Hypertension can be detected at the primary health-care level and low-cost treatments can effectively control hypertension. We aimed to measure the prevalence of hypertension and progress in its detection, treatment, and control from 1990 to 2019 for 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 1990 to 2019 on people aged 30...

In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Global Vaccine Action Plan with the objective to promote essential vaccinations in all countries and achieve at least 90% vaccination coverage for all routine vaccines by 2020. The study assessed the mean percentages of vaccination coverage in 2019 for 13 routine vaccines, vaccination cov...

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...

We retrospectively assessed the effectiveness of azithromycin in preventing transmission of pertussis to a patient's household contacts. We also considered the duration between symptom onset in the primary patient and azithromycin administration. We categorized contacts into 4 groups: those treated within <7 days, 8-14 days, 15-21 days, and >21 day...

Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled ana...

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world³ and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein...

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) proposed two-dose measles vaccination coverage of at least 95% of the population and percentages of measles immunity in the population of 85%−95% in order to achieve measles elimination in Europe. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the measles vaccination coverage required to establis...

Several factors may explain why measles persisted in the European Union in 2017–2018. The study assessed mean measles vaccination coverage and anti-measles herd immunity levels in the target measles vaccination population in countries of the European Union during the 2015–2017 period. The study found that the measles vaccination coverage with two d...

Background: Although high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and non-HDL cholesterol have opposite associations with coronary heart disease, multi-country reports of lipid trends only use total cholesterol (TC). Our aim was to compare trends in total, HDL and non-HDL cholesterol and the total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio in Asian and Western countries. Metho...

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities1,2. This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity3–6. Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and...

Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive pop...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess direct health costs in children with pertussis aged 0-9 years who were vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated during childhood, and to assess the association between pertussis costs and pertussis vaccination in Catalonia (Spain) in 2012-2013. Methods: Direct healthcare costs included pe...

Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hyp...

BACKGROUND:Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends...

Background Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare tr...

Several reasons may explain why measles was not eliminated by 2015 and continues to persist in Europe, including low measles vaccination coverage, low anti-measles herd immunity levels, and the mobility of individuals with measles across Europe. The study assessed the mean measles vaccination coverage in the European Union and the WHO European regi...

Objectives: We assessed the value of the clinical symptoms included in the case definition of pertussis in household contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases. Methods: A prospective epidemiological study was made in two Spanish regions. Household contacts were identified for each confirmed case reported during 2012 and 2013. Two clinical samples w...

Background: Raised blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney disease. We estimated worldwide trends in mean systolic and mean diastolic blood pressure, and the prevalence of, and number of people with, raised blood pressure, defined as systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher or diastolic blood...

Pertussis vaccination with 4–5 doses of acellular vaccines is recommended in Spain to all children at 2 months to 6 years of age. The effectiveness of the acellular pertussis vaccination was assessed in this study by comparing the incidence of secondary pertussis in vaccinated (4–5 doses) and unvaccinated or partially vaccinated (0–3 doses) househo...

We aimed to investigate transmission rates of pertussis in household contacts of cases and factors associated with transmission. A prospective epidemiological study was conducted in 2012 and 2013 to determine the incidence of pertussis among household contacts of reported cases in Catalonia and Navarre, Spain. An epidemiological survey was complete...

Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in S...

Background: One of the global targets for non-communicable diseases is to halt, by 2025, the rise in the age-standardised adult prevalence of diabetes at its 2010 levels. We aimed to estimate worldwide trends in diabetes, how likely it is for countries to achieve the global target, and how changes in prevalence, together with population growth and...

Summary Background Underweight and severe and morbid obesity are associated with highly elevated risks of adverse health outcomes. We estimated trends in mean body-mass index (BMI), which characterises its population distribution, and in the prevalences of a complete set of BMI categories for adults in all countries. Methods We analysed, with use...

Purpose To assess the clinical characteristics and direct health costs associated with pertussis cases reported to and confirmed by epidemiological services and cases detected among household contacts in Catalonia (Spain) in 2012–2013. Methods All pertussis cases confirmed by the epidemiological services (n = 641) and all cases detected among the h...

Objective: To identify associations between nasopharyngeal Bordetella pertussis DNA load and clinical and epidemiological characteristics and evaluate DNA load prognostic value in pertussis severity. Methods: Prospective observational multi-centre study including nasopharyngeal samples positive to pertussis DNA by real-time PCR collected from ch...

Background: Diabetes has been defined on the basis of different biomarkers, including fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-h plasma glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test (2hOGTT), and HbA1c. We assessed the effect of different diagnostic definitions on both the population prevalence of diabetes and the classification of previously undiagnosed indiv...

World Biomedical Frontiers published the report, which is accessible from: http://biomedfrontiers.org/inf-2015-6-8/

The conference is available from the web of the Catalan Academy of Medicine: http://www.academia.cat/files/425-8335-DOCUMENT/Plans1814Mai15.pdf

Non-immune neonates and non-immune pregnant women are at risk of developing rubella, measles and mumps infections, including congenital rubella syndrome. We describe the seroepidemiology of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in neonates and pregnant women in Catalonia (Spain). Anti-rubella, anti-measles and anti-mumps serum IgG titres were assessed u...

BACKGROUND: High blood pressure, blood glucose, serum cholesterol, and BMI are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and some of these factors also increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and diabetes. We estimated mortality from cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes that was attributable to these four cardiometabolic...

Background: Infections because of Bordetella pertussis still occur in infants and adults in European countries, despite vaccination coverage against pertussis being high. Methods: IgG antibody titers to pertussis toxin (anti-PT) were assessed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test (Serion ELISA classic) in 353 cord blood samples from ne...

Elimination of measles and rubella in Europe is a feasible objective, but it requires achieving a maintaining a high prevalence of protected individuals in order to prevent cases and outbreaks from imported cases. The epidemiology of measles and rubella in Europe in the period 2003-2013 suggests that we are far away from the elimination target for...

The objecvtive of this book is to explains the strategies and methods that can be used to develop cost-effectiveness analysis of pharmaceutical drugs and health programs. The methods to assess costs and effects and to obtain the cost-effectiveness ratio are explained along with many practical examples. Cost-effectiveness analysis of pharmaceutical...

The objective of this study was to assess the association between lack of herd immunity in some population groups and the re-emergence of measles in Catalonia in 2006. Herd immunity was considered established in the different population groups when the prevalence of positive serological results to measles was higher than the herd immunity threshold...

Objective To investigate immunity against tetanus in the adult population of Catalonia and to compare the results obtained with those of previous seroepidemiological surveys. Methods The presence of antibodies against tetanus of a representative sample (n = 1,258) of this population group (≥ 15 years) was determined using an ELISA technique. Resu...

Abstract Toscana virus (TOSV), an arthropod-borne phlebovirus, is an important agent of acute meningitis and meningoencephalitis in the Mediterranean area. The epidemiology of the infection in humans in Catalonia is at present unknown. In this study, we found a seroprevalence of infection of 6%, and 2 clinical cases were detected by serology and/or...

Herd immunity blocks the transmission of measles, mumps and rubella in a population group when the prevalence of positive serologic results (p) is higher than a critical value (p (c)), known as the herd immunity threshold. A new preventive strategy should be developed in order to achieve the elimination of measles, rubella and mumps in Europe based...

Introducció La ràbia és una zoonosi vírica que és gaire-bé sempre mortal i que causa problemes importants de salut pública a escala mundial. Es considera que tots els mamífers són sus-ceptibles a la malaltia, però els cànids en són el reservori més important, especialment els gossos, que són responsables del 99% dels casos en humans. A Catalunya no...

Overweight and obesity prevalence are commonly used for public and policy communication of the extent of the obesity epidemic, yet comparable estimates of trends in overweight and obesity prevalence by country are not available. We estimated trends between 1980 and 2008 in overweight and obesity prevalence and their uncertainty for adults 20 years...

The conference is available from the web of the Catalan Academy of Medicine: http://www.academia.cat/files/425-3102-DOCUMENT/Plans-18-26Març12.pdf

1) To determine the influenza vaccination coverage required to establish herd immunity, and 2) to assess whether the percentages of vaccination coverage proposed and those registered in the United States and Europe are sufficient to establish herd immunity. The vaccination coverage required to establish herd immunity was determined by taking into a...

Two priority-setting frameworks to decide how to allocate limited resources among available treatments were developed, the first one based on cost-effectiveness and the second one based on cost-effectiveness and a social welfare function (SWF). The framework based on cost effectiveness gives a higher priority to therapies with lower average or incr...

The necessary herd immunity blocking the transmission of an infectious agent in the population is established when the prevalence of protected individuals is higher than a critical value, called the herd immunity threshold. The establishment of herd immunity in the population can be determined using the vaccination coverage and seroepidemiological...

To estimate the economic consequences for society arising from populations with poorly treated gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and Barrett's esophagus in Germany, Italy and Spain. The following epidemiologic data were used: total population figures, the prevalence and incidence of GERD and its complications, and data on patients with poorly...

Excess bodyweight is a major public health concern. However, few worldwide comparative analyses of long-term trends of body-mass index (BMI) have been done, and none have used recent national health examination surveys. We estimated worldwide trends in population mean BMI. We estimated trends and their uncertainties of mean BMI for adults 20 years...

Background—Rising body weight is a major public health concern. However there have been few worldwide comparative analyses of long-term trends of body mass index (BMI), and none that have used recent national health examination surveys.Methods—We estimated trends in mean in BMI and their uncertainties for adults 20 years of age and older in 199 cou...

Background The third report of the NCEP on prevention and control of hypercholesterolemia in adults (ATP-III) identified low LDL-cholesterol as the primary target for cholesterollowering therapy. The ATP-III recommended cholesterol-lowering therapies in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes or other cardiovascular disease (or 10-year...