The research lines of these 5 groups are listed below, stating the main research objectives and activities:
Methodology of Measurement of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs), particularly Health-Related Quality of Life:
- Development of more valid, precise, and more easily interpretable measuring instruments which will be suitable for use in different settings such as research, clinical practice and health care management
- Updating and improvement of the technological platform of Spanish measuring instruments (BiblioPRO), an on-line repository of PROs in Spanish
- Developing the assessment and recommendation of specific instruments (Groups 1 and 4).
- The estimation of the needs and burden of disease:
- to estimate the burden of disease specifically attributable to mental disorders and other conditions at the general population level;
- to estimate the need for mental health care;
- to improve the assessment of severity of mental disorders and other conditions and the need for care by using PROs .
- Assessment of health services needs: To develop the need and demand model of prioritization systems of patients in waiting lists for elective surgery. A research line is developed to create and implement simulation models to reproduce health care processes using discrete-event simulation (Groups 1 and 2).
- Evaluation of the process and the effectiveness and efficiency of health care services:
- to produce original, valid and relevant knowledge relating to the methodological basis of health services research (evaluative designs and analysis of outcomes variables, availability, need of, and access to health services; and quality of the process care, and effectiveness of services);
- to respond to the needs of public health agencies within the National Health System thru effective knowledge tranfer;
- to analyse costs of the hospital process. A research line on costs has been developed to establish a methodology to obtain costs on a clinical base, intended to be used as an outcome variable in effectiveness and clinical practice variability analysis (Groups 1 and 2).
- Health services research in oncology care.
- Analysis of outpatient and inpatient phases of the "Symptom to treatment interval" (STI) and its impact on survival.
- Assessment of effectiveness of breast cancer screening program: analysis of the variability between and within radiologists in the accuracy of interpretation of screening mammography and the cumulative risk of false positives as an adverse effect of the screening program.
- Assessment of the effectiveness of other cancer screening programs.(Groups 2 and 3).
- Clinical and molecular epidemiology of exocrine pancreatic cancer, chronic pancreatitis and cancer of the extrahepatic biliary system. Our findings on K-ras, p53, CFTR or BRCA2, in exocrine pancreatic cancer and the potential indirect role of organochlorine compounds, are commonly taken into account internationally. The aim to increase knowledge on the etiology of cancer is an essential pre-requisite for primary prevention and interactions between genetic and environmental factors constitute a highly relevant area for ethiopathogenic research for pancreatic cancer. (Group 3)
- Assessing the impact on human health of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and other environmental chemical agents. Based on general population surveys and observational cohort studies to describe the internal doses of POP’s and their determinants in humans (Groups 3 and 4).
- Frequency and determinants of asthma and COPD.
- Evaluation of the frequency, trends and distribution of asthma and COPD in adults, study of the risk factors in early life and in the adulthood and mechanisms of asthma.
- Influence of Pre and postnatal exposure to allergens, irritants (mother’s smoking, air pollution) and diet in the incidence of asthma and allergy .
- Clinical-epidemiological research on the determinants of COPD (Groups 4 and 5).
- Respiratory and cardiovascular effects of air pollution.
- The role of the chronic exposure to urban air pollution in the development and exacerbation of asthma, lung function decline and COPD. Characterization of particulate urban pollution and its acute effect on survival and inflammatory markers among myocardial infarction survivors.
- To study chronic effects of air pollution on life expectancy and quality of life and especially on the incidence and progress of respiratory diseases (Group 4).
- Effects of early environmental exposures on postnatal development. To study whether the prenatal and postnatal exposures to common airborne pollutants (fine particle, PAH, gases) and food (persistent residues such as organochlorines, lead and mercury, water contaminants) are associated with neurodevelopment, immunity/asthma, anthropometric and sexual development (Groups 4 and 5).
- Occupational and environmental exposures and bladder cancer. Evaluating the role of occupational exposures in the development of bladder. To assess the relationship between exposure to disinfection byproducts in drinking water and bladder cancer . (Group 5).
- Occupational exposures, asthma and allergies. Risks of working in specific occupations, such as professional cleaning. To examine the exposures in the home environment (including house dust mite, moulds and second-hand tobacco smoke) have been examined in relation to asthma and allergies. (Groups 5 and 4).
