An international study led by researchers from the UK, Norway and Sweden has found that antidepressant use during pregnancy may be associated with a small increase in the risk of preterm birth and a low Apgar score, although the overall chance of these outcomes remained low.
An international study led by researchers from the UK, Norway and Sweden has found that antidepressant use during pregnancy may be associated with a small increase in the risk of preterm birth and a low Apgar score, although the overall chance of these outcomes remained low.
People who feel lonely are much more likely to experience poorer mental health and lower wellbeing, a new collaborative study led by the University of Bristol, Nesta and Amsterdam UMC has found. Loneliness was also found to be linked with worse general health, including experiencing multiple health conditions. Social isolation is associated with lower wellbeing, too.
When Mel de Lange graduated with a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Bristol this month, it marked the culmination of a remarkable journey that began with a life-changing family diagnosis and led to a career dedicated to improving cancer outcomes through research.
Artificial intelligence could help improve the early detection of head and neck cancer using saliva samples. Crucially, this can happen even when only small numbers of patient samples are available for study.
The link between parents’ body mass index (BMI) and their children’s BMI in childhood is driven largely by genetic inheritance, rather than by any direct biological effects of parental weight during pregnancy, a new study suggests. The collaborative international study by the universities of Bristol and Queensland and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health is published in PLOS Medicine today [23 June].
IEU and ICEP researcher Lucy Goudswaard has attracted BBC attention for her new research funding into her mum's blood cancer.
Animation shares findings of new study into cancer blood clot risk.
Professor Jonathan Sterne has been appointed as the new Chief Scientist of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), taking up this role from June 2026.
Professor Richard Martin, who leads the Obesity-related Cancer Epidemiology Programme, has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Immunotherapy could be a promising new treatment option for patients with difficult-to-treat depression. This is a key finding from a University of Bristol-led pilot randomised controlled clinical trial, published in JAMA Psychiatry today [20 May].
University of Bristol academic and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, Nic Timpson, has been appointed co-chair of The Nature Medicine Commission on Obesity Management. Launched today [12 May], the Commission will bring together global experts and datasets to tackle the growing burden of obesity-related noncommunicable diseases through data-driven decision support.
The disposable vapes ban in the UK could lead to young adults switching to alternative products, including cigarettes, new research led by the University of Bristol has found.
Booster vaccines reduced the risk of COVID 19–related hospitalisation and death, according to a new study of over 3 million adults who had the autumn 2022 vaccine in England. The research led by the universities of Bristol and Oxford, provides further evidence of the effectiveness of booster vaccination against COVID-19.
A new research programme led by the University of Bristol aims to halt the rising trend of obesity-related cancers. The Obesity-related Cancer Epidemiology Programme (OCEP), which begins this week, will greatly increase understanding of how we can prevent obesity-related cancers by improving understanding of their biological mechanisms.
Helping women to keep their blood pressure at normal levels could reduce their risk of experiencing pregnancy complications, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Bristol. The research is published in BMC Medicine today [14 January].
The week after the autumn clock change is associated with a reduction in demand for NHS services for sleep disorders, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, depression, and psychiatric conditions in England, research led by the University of Bristol has found. The study is published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ today [17 December].
One of the most influential figures in modern epidemiology, Professor George Davey Smith from the University of Bristol, has been awarded the UKRI Medical Research Council’s prestigious personal award for his exceptional contributions to improving human health through world-class medical research.
Low cholesterol can reduce the risk of dementia, a new University of Bristol-led study with more than a million participants has shown.
On 18 September the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit and PolicyBristol welcomed a diverse line up of speakers from across sectors to Bristol. Our aim was to identify priorities for obesity policy & epidemiological research, when new treatments are changing the landscape fast. The Obesity forum showcased the synergies and differences in perspectives around tackling obesity from across discovery & health research, clinical practice, public health, industry, policy, public involvement and advocacy.
How fat is distributed in people’s bodies could make a difference to their risk of certain cancers, according to new research led by the University of Bristol. The international study is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) today [24 September].
On Saturday 27th September, researchers from IEU will have a public engagement stall about epidemiology at the We the Curious science centre in Bristol.
Research from IEU's Immunopsychiatry programme, along with other research, is featured in a cover story in New Scientist magazine.
If you are at the Green Man festival next week, come and visit our stall in the Einstein's Garden science area. Learn more about what epidemiologists do and what epidemiology reveals about our health. We also have an opportunity for you to comment on current research projects.
From weight-gain to low white blood cell count, side-effects are the main reason people stop taking antipsychotic medication. The biological mechanisms causing these side-effects have been revealed in a new, ground-breaking study.
This weekend teams from the Integrative Epidemiology Unit will be sharing aspects of our research with the general public at two community festivals close to Bristol.
Omega-3 fatty acids, popularly believed to reduce inflammation in the body, appear to increase certain inflammatory markers, researchers have found.
A new study report has found that, even whilst controlling for a range of factors including measures of behavioural difficulties, children who are suspended or excluded from school are still nearly two and a half times more likely to become involved in violence and four and a half times more likely to offend compared to those who have not been suspended or excluded.
A concerning gap in school anti-bullying policies has been revealed in a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded study at the University of Bristol and University of Bath. While weight-based bullying is reportedly the most common form experienced by students, fewer than 7% of schools in southwest England explicitly address it in their anti-bullying policies according to the study published in BMC Public Health.
Learn more about cancer research in ICEP and across the university at this year's Pint of Science event in Bristol on Tuesday 20th May. Speakers will include Naomi Cornish who will be talking about "The Clot Thickens: Cancer's Sticky Accomplice".
Young men growing up around parents who are physically violent to each other are 43% more likely to carry out violence or abuse in their own relationships, new University of Bristol research has found.
Depression, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions affect 1 in 4 people in their lifetime, but mechanisms underlying these conditions are poorly understood. New research led by researchers at the University of Bristol has linked the body’s immune response with schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and bipolar disorder. The study demonstrates mental health conditions might be affected by the whole body as well as changes in the brain. The findings could pave the way for better treatments of some mental health conditions.
Major reallocation of healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic meant that elective surgery in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) was significantly reduced, so that those needing urgent, lifesaving and emergency surgery could be treated. However, this prioritisation of the most severely ill children did not increase overall post-operative complications rates or death, a study led by the University of Bristol has shown.
Alcohol harm costs NHS England £3.5 billion annually, with 70 people dying every day from alcohol-related causes in the UK (1). According to new University of Bristol-led research smartwatches could provide a more accurate picture of people’s daily drinking habits than current methods. The technology could be a key element for future alcohol interventions.
Whether people decide to make New Year resolutions or not, they might want to lead a healthier lifestyle in 2025. According to a new University of Bristol-led study smartwatches could help people give up smoking. The researchers tested a smartwatch fitted with a custom app which used the smartwatch's in-built motion sensors to detect typical smoking movements. The results, published in JMIR Formative Research, showed the technology has the potential to help over two thirds of trial participants quit the habit.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the MoBa cohort in October, Professors George Davey Smith and Nic Timpson reflect on the relationship between ALSPAC and MoBa and the important role different types of cohorts play in addressing important health questions.
With the clocks going back this weekend, a new study has found that moving the clocks one hour forward in Spring and one hour back in Autumn has a substantial, but short-lived effect on sleep duration.
A team of researchers from the UK, USA, Norway, Australia, and the Netherlands is calling for a shift towards family-based sampling to advance genetic research.
A new study that examined health data on 18 million people reveals higher incidence of mental illnesses for up to a year following severe COVID-19 in unvaccinated people. Vaccination appeared to mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19 on mental illnesses. The University of Bristol-led study, published in JAMA Psychiatry today [21 August], investigated associations of COVID-19 with mental illnesses according to time since diagnosis and vaccination status.
A new study involving nearly the whole adult population of England has found that the incidence of heart attacks and strokes was lower after COVID-19 vaccination than before or without vaccination. The research, involving University of Bristol researchers, is published in Nature Communications today [31 July].
People who experience an arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) or transient ischemic stroke (TIA) are at an increased risk of suffering a second stroke or other major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), making it critically important to identify risk factors and treatments to prevent these subsequent occurrences. The new study, led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and University of Bristol researchers, has identified new genetic and molecular risk factors that may reveal new pathways for treating patients after they experience their first stroke.
George Davey-Smith, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, has been elected to the prestigious EMBO Membership, an honour which recognises research excellence and outstanding achievements in the life sciences.
Restricting the choice of flavoured vapes, also known as e-cigarettes, could have an adverse effect on the many adults who use them to reduce or quit smoking, according to a new University of Bristol-led study published in the journal Harm Reduction.
Expanding access to epidural analgesia could improve maternal health, say researchers. Having an epidural during labour is associated with a marked reduction in serious complications in the first few weeks after giving birth, finds a study involving University of Bristol researchers, published in The BMJ.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. With rates continuing to rise, there is an urgent need to identify new modifiable breast cancer risk factors. New research led by the University of Bristol suggests that higher adiposity in childhood leads to less dense breast tissue forming, which results in a reduced breast cancer risk. However, further research is needed to understand the mechanism of the overall protective effect of childhood adiposity to identify new targets for intervention and prevention.
GP data can provide unique insights into common health conditions, new research looking at insomnia symptom prevalence in England has shown. The University of Bristol-led study, published in BMJ Open today [8 May], also highlights the value of improving access to this data for future health research.
People who as teenagers felt pressure to lose weight from family or from the media, females, sexual minorities, and people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, are most at risk of 'internalised' weight stigma, new research led by the University of Bristol has found. The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe today [16 Apr].
Making alcohol-free beer more widely available on draught in pubs and bars may help people switch from alcoholic to alcohol-free beer, a new study published in Addiction today [21 March], has found. Pubs and bars taking part in the University of Bristol-led trial saw an increase in sales of healthier non-alcoholic draught beer.
The International Epidemiological Association (IEA) has awarded its most prestigious prize, the 2024 Richard Doll Prize in Epidemiology, to Professor Deborah Lawlor of the MCR Integrative Epidemiology Unit.
A weight loss intervention in people with type 2 diabetes was found to alter levels of cancer-related proteins, according to the findings of a new University of Bristol-led study. The study, published in eBioMedicine, is the first to show that weight loss in people recently diagnosed with diabetes can change the levels of cancer-related chemicals circulating in the blood.
Supporting women of childbearing age to have a healthy weight could reduce the risk of several pregnancy complications, new research led by the University of Bristol has found. The international collaborative study is published in BMC Medicine today [29 January].
Outdoor humidity and temperature levels during pregnancy could affect the future blood pressure of the unborn child, according to new research by the University of Bristol, published in JACC: Advances
Professor Abigail Fraser, Professor of Epidemiology at Bristol Medical School, has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant to carry out ground-breaking research into placenta health.
Eating more ultra-processed foods (UPFs) may be associated with a higher risk of developing cancers of upper aerodigestive tract (including the mouth, throat and oesophagus), according to a new study led by researchers from the University of Bristol and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
Young people whose mothers experienced periods of depression during their lifetime were less likely to study at university, new research led by the University of Bristol has found. The study is published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Being taller during the course of a person’s lifetime could protect against heart disease and stroke in later life, according to a new University of Bristol-led study. The research, which analysed height and genetic data on over 454,000 individuals, is published in the pre-print publication* medRxiv.
People with type 2 diabetes who took part in a diet-assisted weight loss trial, showed differences across a wide range of potential biomarkers of metabolic health one year later, according to the results of a new study.
An international collaboration is aiming to improve global health by uncovering the effects of genomic and environmental diversity on differences in disease risk observed across the global population, thanks to a new partnership of 20 research groups from around the world.
Views around obesity are closely tied up with political values and wider social attitudes, suggesting that tackling weight stigma may require tackling other forms of stigma, new research led by the University of Bristol has found.
The Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MRC IEU) at the University of Bristol has been awarded funding to enable a further five years of world-leading research.
Associate Professor Lavinia Paternoster from the MRC-Integrative Epidemiology Unit of University of Bristol is this year’s winner of the LEO Foundation Award in Region EMEA. Lavinia’s research improves our understanding of the genetics behind eczema and also addresses the challenging question of ethnic diversity in genetic research.
New research highlights potential safety concerns around women taking romosozumab, a new anti-osteoporosis drug available on the NHS. The University of Bristol-led study, published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, analysed genetic data on nearly 34,000 people.
The same genetics that helped some of our ancestors fight the plague is still likely to be at work in our bodies today, potentially providing some of the population with extra protection against respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, according to research led by scientists at University of Bristol. However, there is a trade-off, where this same variation is also linked to increased autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
A link between depression and changes in counts of several types of immune cells in the blood has been revealed by researchers at the University of Bristol’s MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit.
Professor George Davey Smith has been chosen for India collaboration as part of the Royal Society Yusuf Hamied Visiting Professorships
