03/04/2019 - Press release
In general, the creation of parks and green spaces in urban centers has positive effects on the health of city residents. However, looking in more detail, only those who belong to the most favored social classes may be benefitting from these spaces. A new article published by a group of researchers from the Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and the Medical Research Institute of the Hospital del Mar (IMIM) shows that, although living in areas with green spaces are associated with better self-perceived health on the part of residents at large, such benefits exclude those with a lower educational level and lower incomes. The progressive "greening" of cities through the creation of green spaces, parks and ecological corridors can have positive effects on the physical and psychological health of people.
Més informació "Urban green spaces do not benefit the health of all"
23/01/2018 - Press release
The director of the Epidemiology and Public Health programme at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP) researcher, Jordi Alonso, was commissioned by the World Mental Health to lead an international study into the adequacy of anxiety disorder treatment across the globe. The results, from a sample of more than 51,500 individuals from 21 different countries, reveals that 10% of people suffer anxiety. Of these, only 27.6% have received some type of treatment, and this was considered appropriate in only 9.8% of the cases. It is the first time a study has described the treatment gap in anxiety disorders at an international level. "It is estimated that anxiety disorders affect 10% of the global population. These are pathologies that tend to be chronic, comorbid, and associated with a significant disability. If we add to this the fact that in 2010 they cost a group of 30 European Union countries €74,400 million, it is clear that this is an important public health problem", explains Jordi Alonso.
16/01/2018 - Press release
Being overweight or obese exponentially increases the risk of suffering heart disease or cancer. This is the conclusion of the FRESCO (Spanish Risk Function of Coronary and Other Events) study, led by researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and doctors from Hospital del Mar, who analysed the follow up of 54,446 people from 7 autonomic communities over a ten-year period. The work involved various research groups from Barcelona, Girona, Reus, Palma de Mallorca, Zaragoza, Murcia, Pamplona, Seville, and Talavera de la Reina. The results of the study are clear. The obesity epidemic has a greater impact on women. In fact, women are 5 five times more likely to suffer a cardiovascular disease, and have 12 times greater risk of developing cancer than those of normal weight, Being overweight, even if this does not reach obesity levels, still involves twice the risk of heart disease and four times the risk of cancer.
Més informació "Obesity and overweight multiply the risk of suffering cancer and heart disease"
18/12/2017 - Institutional news
Gasol Foundation, set up by NBA players Pau and Marc Gasol, and the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) have signed an agreement to develop joint research projects. The aim of this accord is to establish a collaboration framework between the organisations with regard to biotech research and development in the field of childhood obesity. This will allow them to work together to gain competitive funding and publicise the results of their joint projects. The agreement will promote the cross-training of staff from the two entities, and the IMIM team will provide methodological support in the design and development of the Gasol Foundation's public health interventions, as well as in the analysis and dissemination of the data they obtain. A task that will be carried out by the IMIM's Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition research group.
15/11/2017 - General information
Each November, the Movember Foundation encourages men from all over the world to grow a moustache to raise awareness and funds for men's health research. The Healthcare Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) is the Spanish coordinator for an international study funded by this foundation, involving more than 5,000 patients from twelve different countries. The study, entitled "Prostate Cancer Outcomes - Compare and Reduce Variation" (PCO-CRV for short), focuses on men diagnosed with localised prostate cancer and has a global allocation of 4.6 million euros that Movember contributes, raised by crowdfunding campaigns around the world that are especially active during the month of November.
Més informació "Movember: researching how to improve quality of life after prostate cancer"
29/08/2017 - Press release
Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and IDIAP Jordi Gol have just published an article showing that autoimmune diseases significantly increase cardiovascular risk as well as overall mortality. This is particularly pronounced in people suffering rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, it has been seen that inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, increase the risk of stroke and death through any cause. The article is published this month in the journal Heart. The 6-year study followed a cohort of nearly 1 million people aged between 35 and 85, with no history of cardiovascular disease. The large sample size allowed the estimation of cardiovascular event incidence and mortality in people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases. Some of these diseases are relatively frequent, so their impact is quite significant. It is estimated that rheumatoid arthritis affects between 150,000 and 200,000 people in Spain, and somewhere around 100,000 people suffer Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Més informació "Autoimmune diseases increase cardiovascular and mortality risk"
3/10/2016 - Press release
A study led by researchers at the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) has analysed the number of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) detected at high concentrations in the population of the US and found relationships with socioeconomic factors, including gender, race, body mass index, education and poverty. More than 10% of the US population has 10 or more POPs, each and all of them at a 'top 10' concentration; that is, at a concentration above the 90th. percentile. POPs are a group of chemical contaminants that humans can barely excrete and that degrade very slowly, therefore accumulating in our bodies and environment. Most POPs have been used as pesticides or are industrial residues; most POPs contaminate animal and human food webs.
24 August 2016 - Press release
A study coordinated by researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and involving 12 groups from across Spain has, for the first time in this country, described the fact that diabetes mellitus not only increases the risk of dying from cardiovascular problems (myocardial infarction, stroke or heart failure), but also significantly increases mortality linked to cancer, infection, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hepatic and renal illnesses. The results have been published in the prestigious journal Diabetes Care.
Més informació "Diabetes increases the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases"
16/08/2016 - Press release
An international project, The Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC), involving researchers from the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) as the only Spanish participant, has analysed the DNA that encodes proteins in 60,706 individuals from different ethnic groups and has presented the international scientific community with a catalogue that contains the mutations identified, their frequency and their arrangement on the DNA.The study has been published in the journal Nature and involved the analysis of ten times more individuals than in any previous study. DNA is the molecule within our cells that contains the information for making proteins, in the form of a sequence of four letters or bases [adenine (A), guanine (G ), thymine (T) and cytosine (C)]. In recent years we have developed technologies to sequence, i.e., read the order of these bases in a person's DNA. Changing one of these bases can sometimes alter the protein that the cell makes and lead to illness. For this reason, it is important to know what the normal sequence of bases in DNA is, the frequency of mutations (changes in the sequence of these bases), and where these changes take place, by making a catalogue and map of DNA mutations in humans.
26/06/2016 - Institutional news
Among the findings, published in the journal eLife, the research has revealed that in South Korea and Iran, where people have shown significant height increases over the last 100 years, Iranian men are now an average of 16.5 cm taller, and South Korean women have increased their height by about 20.2 cm. The study involved the IMIM's Cardiovascular epidemiology and genetics research group that has contributed with 11,000 people from the database of the REGICOR Project and the Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of Cancer research group
Més informació "IMIM involved in a study of the evolution of global heights over the last 100 years"
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