History and our mission Immagine The Centro ricerche in Epidemiologia e Medicina Preventiva - Research Center in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine - EPIMED at the Insubria University at Varese was established on November 22nd, 2010. Professor Marco M Ferrario was the proponent and first Director. The EPIMED Centre is connected to the Department of Medicine and Surgery. The current Director of the Centre is Professor Giovanni Veronesi.The primary aim of the Centre is to promote applied research in the biomedical field and to develop epidemiological methodology and statistics which can be applied to biological phenomena and significant pathologies with substantial social impact.By nature it is an interdisciplinary centre, encopassing the fields of epidemiology, preventive medicine and biostatistics. This peculiar diversity allows the promotion of a number of scientific collaborations to investigate research questions, utilizing a variety of research methods and statistics in different clinical settings and public health setting. Staff Prof. Giovanni Veronesi, biostatistician, directorProf. Francesco Gianfagna, epidemiologistProf. Simona Costanzo, epidemiologistDr. Emanuele Maria Giusti, tenure-track researcher, biostatisticianProf. Licia Iacoviello, epidemiologist, former directorProf. Marco M Ferrario, epidemiologist and occupational health specialist, first directorDr. Daniele Loffredo, research fellowDr. Sarah Grossi, research fellow World’s Top 2% scientists 2024 The EPIMED centre has a considerable presence in the 2024 edition of the World's Top 2% Scientists, the world ranking of scientists with the highest level of productivity drawn up by Stanford. Director Licia Iacoviello, center founder Marco Ferrario, and Giovanni Veronesi appear on the short list of the most productive scientists for 2024. Congratulations!Link to the Elsevier page with all the annual rankings: dx.doi.org/10.17632/btchxktzyw Work with us! Open positions There are no open position at this time. Highlights Immagine One article per month - April 2025 Reaching 50 years of age without cardiovascular risk factors increases life expectancy by more than a decade Learn more! Immagine The AirClimact project kicks off! AirClimact, a project funded through Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), is launching to study the effects of climate change and air pollution on the Italian adult and elderly population. Read the project abstract Link to the Age-it PNRR research program Immagine Best Scientific Contribution Award at the SISMEC 2024 Congress Congratulations to Dr. Emanuele Giusti, researcher at EPIMED, for the award for the best scientific contribution at the Congress of the Italian Society of Medical Statistics and Clinical Epidemiology. A result that makes us all proud! Link to the congress website Read the presentation abstract Scientific Committees and working groups Immagine Cardiology in Occupational Health International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) Scientific Committee Committee website Special session ICOH 2024 Marrakesh - slides Save the date! 8th Conference, Bangkok 2025 Immagine Environment, Climate and Health Italian Society of Medical Statistics and Clinical Epidemiology (SISMEC) Working Group Topics, aims and perspectives Our research Population cohorts Immagine RoCAV Study – Risk Of Cardiovascular diseases and abdominal aortic Aneurism in VareseAbdominal aortic aneurysm screening in a population sample of men and women resident in Varese aged between 50 and 75 years (n=3777). Baseline visit: 2013-2016.Main lines of research:Diet and arterial stiffnessPrevalence and risk factors for aneurysmsDocuments: Data Quality Assessment spirometry - Data Quality Assessment diet questionnaire – Research protocolPopulation cohorts in Northern Italy [Cohorts Collaborative Study in Northern Italy (CCSNI)]Cohort studies MONICA-Brianza, PAMELA and SEMM, for a total of 14,000 individuals in the Lombardy Region with assessment of risk factors at recruitment and median follow-up of 15 years for cardiovascular events and cause-related mortality.Main lines of research:Work-related stress & cardiovascular diseasePrediction of long-term cardiovascular risk (20 years)Role of psycho-social and occupational factors on cardiovascular diseases Air pollution and health Immagine Air pollution and COVID-19Does air pollution contribute to the spread of COVID-19? The EPIMED Center has activated two studies with the Lombardy Region and ARIANET which will allow us to investigate this relationship in the Varese area.Interactions among air pollutants and SARS-CoV-2 infection and severityRead the article on EpidemiologyCheck the video abstractRole of long-term exposure:Read the articleListen to the podcastWatch the videoAir pollution and response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccineWe investigate the effect of long-term exposure to air pollution on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine response in the elderly population. Read the article on Environmental Research Preliminary results shown at the RespiraMI 2024 conference:RespiraMI 2024 e-Poster Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic Immagine Project "Burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection in populations with high or low risk of infection"Project funded by the Veronesi Foundation in which the antibody level and the psycho-social impact of the pandemic was evaluated on the general population and on healthcare workers in two regions with different spread of the virus, namely the Lombardy region and the Molise region. The project is finished, but data analyses are underway!Results on healthcare workers:Antibody response to the vaccine: article – press reviewImpact of the pandemic on mental health: protocol – questionnaires validation – burnout and PTSD - Perceived work stressors and burnout - Impact of overtime and night shift on burnout DeVOS Study – Violence against healthcare workers Immagine The DeVOS Project [Determinants of Violence against Healthcare Workers]Violence against healthcare workers is a worrying phenomenon, and is perceived to be on the rise. However, there is little solid data representative of the entire population of workers and capable of characterising the determinants of violence to give indications regarding preventive strategies. To fill this gap, at the EPIMED center we coordinated the DeVOS study, carried out together with ASST Sette Laghi, ASST Lariana and ATS Insubria, and financed by INAIL. Here are some results!Results:Underreporting, prevalence and determinants of violence against healthcare workers: article published in the journal JMIR Public Health and Surveillance.Role of turnover, downsizing, overtime and night shifts on violence rates in hospital wards: article published in BMC Public Health.Presentation at the EPICOH 2023 congress: here is the videoPress review:The DeVOS project on the Italian Workers' Compensation Authority website Occupational and Preventive Medicine Immagine Evaluation of work-related stress in healthcare workersFor the evaluation of work-related stress, the EPIMED Center has developed a multi-factorial work plan that combines indicators taken from company data (turn-over, down-sizing, absenteeism and injury indicators, overtime and shift work) with psychometric scales from individual questionnaires.Read more: methodology - questionnaire siteWork-related stress and cardiovascular riskThe effect of work-related stress on the cardiovascular system is known, but the mechanisms of action remain controversial. Using samples of workers, we addressed some of these, such as: alterations in heart rate variability and disproportionate accumulation of allostatic loadBiological injuriesWhat is the role of organizational factors with respect to the temporal trends of biological injuries among healthcare personnel? An analysis of ten-year data from a Varese hospital tries to investigate this. Here are the results! Biostatistics Immagine Big data, selection bias, observational studies, and p-valueThe old paradigm of statistical inference based on the p-value encounters some characteristics common to the most recent observational studies, such as large numbers, low participation and high risk of selection bias: how will it end?Research Products: Read the article Our network Research consortia Immagine MORGAM/BiomarCaRE ConsortiumInternational study of more than 40 population cohorts from more than 10 European countries, with harmonized data on cardiovascular risk factors at baseline and follow-up of coronary and cerebrovascular events.Main research lines of the EPIMED Center within the consortium:Lifestyles and heart attacks: results published in the New England Journal of MedicineDeterminants and mechanisms of social inequalities in cardiovascular diseasesSocial inequalities in CHD/Stroke incidencePrediction of cardiovascular risk in EuropeVideo contents:Differently exposed or differently susceptible? The EPIMED Center and social inequalities at the World Congress of Epidemiology 2021! National and international partners Immagine ATS Insubria di VareseCentro Interuniversitario Healthcare research and Pharmacoepidemiology (HRP)Centro Studi Sanità Pubblica (CESP), Università di Milano-Bicocca, MonzaIstituto Neurologico Mediterraneo NEUROMED, Pozzilli (IS), ItalyIstituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, ItalyBiomarCaRE ProjectMORGAM ProjectEuCanSHare ProjectSocietà Italiana di Statistica Medica ed Epidemiologia Clinica (SISMEC) Archive Press releases and video archive Press releases [ENG]Air pollution and COVID-19 in the city of Varese - BMJ editor press releasePress releases [ITA]More than half of strokes and heart attacks can be avoided with a healthy lifestyleThe nutrition label on foods must take into account the degree of processing of the foodAir pollution and spread of COVID-19 in the city of VareseAntibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in healthcare workers: the role of inflammationEPIMED Center participates in a European study to update cardiovascular risk equationsVideo contents [ENG]:The first results of the DeVOS study on the determinants of violence against healthcare workers were presented at EPICOH 2023Pollution and COVID-19 in the city of Varese: video summary for the EPICOH 2021 congressDifferently exposed or differently susceptible? The EPIMED Center and social inequalities at the World Congress of Epidemiology 2021! Browse the section For information Ex-Cascina Agricola, Via Monte Generoso 71, 21100 Varese – ItalyMon-Fri 9.00 am – 6.00 pm@: segreteria_epimed@uninsubria.ittel: +39 0332 21 7222fax: +39 0332 39 5596 You might also be interested in: Versione italiana