Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #EpiTwitter
Most recents (24)
OUR NEW STUDY @JAMANetworkOpen is a follow up on our initial work to quantify harassment of physicians and scientists on social media DURING the pandemic.
In a sample of over 350 physicians and scientists on social media...THREAD
jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…
In a sample of over 350 physicians and scientists on social media...THREAD
jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…
2 in 3 physicians and scientists reported being harassed or attacked
88% cited advocacy as the reason they were harassed
Biggest thing to ever come out of my little group. Pls help spread this finding!
We found clean, CAUSAL evidence that the shingles vaccine prevents a good chunk of dementia cases. So, could a virus cause Alzheimer’s->YES!
Hear me out & see preprint: bit.ly/3MVqXU9
🧵1/
We found clean, CAUSAL evidence that the shingles vaccine prevents a good chunk of dementia cases. So, could a virus cause Alzheimer’s->YES!
Hear me out & see preprint: bit.ly/3MVqXU9
🧵1/
There’s recently been ⬆️ interest in the possibility that a virus may be involved in the causal pathways of dementia. Most attention has been on herpesviruses, incl the VZV that causes chickenpox and shingles, partly because of their lifelong latency (bit.ly/3nibvYk).
2/
2/
In Wales starting in Sept 2013, the shingles vaccine was rolled out using an exact DOB cutoff. Those born on or after Sept 2 1933 were eligible, while those born earlier weren’t and remained ineligible for life. We analyzed EHR data for all of Wales with DOB exact to the week.
3/
3/
“It should be noted that carbamoyl phosphate is profoundly down-regulated in patients who died compared with patients with mild symptoms.”
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
^ "Next, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase and ATP convert carbamate to carbamoyl phosphate. This enzymatic reaction is activated by N-acetyl glutamine, which is a metabolite of the amino acid glutamine”
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
“In addition to our findings of changes of urea cycle and glucose metabolism in COVID-19, Shen et. al. uncovered dysregulated metabolites in lipid metabolism, suggesting their significant regulation in signal transduction and immune activation process [9]. Kimhofer et al. also…
Excited to have @mpiccininni3 speaking at the @turinginst causal inference interest group about whether cognitive screening tests should be corrected for age and education
#CIIG #EpiTwitter #CausalTwitter
#CIIG #EpiTwitter #CausalTwitter
Marco explains it is fairly standard, when performing cognitive screening tests, to 'correct' (or standardise) the result for demographic characteristics (e.g. age and level of education). The resulting score tells you someone's result for people of similar age & education
'Correcting' the cognitive score for age and education is therefore equivalent to ignoring the part of the cognitive test score that is due to age and education.
So an older (or less educated) person needs to score lower on the raw test to achieve the same 'corrected' result.
So an older (or less educated) person needs to score lower on the raw test to achieve the same 'corrected' result.
DAG question for #CausalInference and #epitwitter tweeps: TL;DR: How do we use DAGs in typical pharmacosurveillance scenarios, when the entities of interest are unobserved? A thread 1/
We are interested in whether the administration of a drug is causing an increase in the probability of an adverse event (thus, an adverse drug reaction), vs. there not being any causal relation. 2/
However, the data we have access to are the spontaneous reports of practitioners and patients, about the co-occurrence of drug & event. So, drug & event are unobserved variables, only the report of their co-occurrence is reported. 3/
Our new work is out in @GlobalHealthBMJ today. This is the work of dozens of teams across 12 countries. Here we show the clear excess risk associated with COVID-19 in pregnancy. Here’s what we found and how we did it.🧵
gh.bmj.com/cgi/content/fu…
gh.bmj.com/cgi/content/fu…
@GlobalHealthBMJ Yes, there are many studies about COVID in pregnancy. But this individual patient data meta-analysis tries to address some limitations & heterogeneity between previously published work. Plus, we include unpublished & re-analyzed data, including substantial data from LMICs. 2/x
We include >13 000 pregnancies in 12 countries & find COVID-19 during pregnancy was linked to big increases in the risk of
▪️maternal mortality,
▪️ICU admission,
▪️mechanical ventilation or any critical care,
▪️ diagnosis w pneumonia, preeclampsia, thromboembolic disease. 3/x
▪️maternal mortality,
▪️ICU admission,
▪️mechanical ventilation or any critical care,
▪️ diagnosis w pneumonia, preeclampsia, thromboembolic disease. 3/x
1/ Hallo #epitwitter : Es heisst seit einer Weile ständig u.a in Medien BA.5 etc. seien deutlich leichter übertragbar und Masken würden weniger schützen. Kennt irgendjemand Studien (z.B. zur SAR) die auf intrinsisch (!) höhere Transmissibilität (nicht durch imm.-esc.) hindeuten?
2/ Ich rede nicht von XBB.1.5 (ich weiss, dass da ACE2-Affinität wieder etwas höher ist und evtl. immununabhängig zu leicht höherer Übertragbarkeit führt), sondern von BA.5 und Abkömmlingen allg., denn diese Behauptung geistert seit Wochen durch Medien und Twitter.
3/ Ich rede auch nicht von der gesellschaftlichen Frage. Dass Masken nicht mehr wirken wenn sie nicht getragen werden ist banal. Am wertvollsten wären Studien zur infektiösen Viruslast oder Haushaltsstudien zur SAR. Danke für Hinweise, gerne RT.
🧵1/N How do vaccines and/or natural infection change infectiousness of #COVID19 during #Omicron? Our new article published in @NatureMedicine measures #COVID19 infectiousness, and finds reductions from both vaccine and natural infection. nature.com/articles/s4159…
2/N We use detailed epidemiologic data from SARS-CoV-2 surveillance within the California prison system to study #COVID19 transmission. Our goal was to translate these findings into policy to improve health for this vulnerable incarcerated population that remains at high risk.
3/N We performed a close contact study of index cases with #COVID19 to measure their infectiousness, by comparing their vaccine and natural infection history. We followed their close contact (residents who shared a room) over time to estimate secondary attack rates. Design here:
Our paper on @WHO excess mortality associated with Covid-19 now on @Nature:
nature.com/articles/s4158…
Please read it and the associated coverage, we aimed to make it as sound and widely understandable as possible.
some important highlights:
#poptwitter #epitwitter #econtwitter
nature.com/articles/s4158…
Please read it and the associated coverage, we aimed to make it as sound and widely understandable as possible.
some important highlights:
#poptwitter #epitwitter #econtwitter
It's often argued that in the absence of all-cause-mortality data to directly estimate excess deaths, we should rely on the officially reported covid-19 data. This is false, as we explain here
It is high time that countries, regions and the world report all-cause-mortality in (as close to) real time as possible.
This will help prevent future outbreaks from evolving to an epidemic and then a pandemic.
Vital Registration is VITAL.
This will help prevent future outbreaks from evolving to an epidemic and then a pandemic.
Vital Registration is VITAL.
Recently, I have been learning to use generalised additive models (#GAMs)
Learning resources for GAMs can be hard to find so here are some that I have found useful
Note: mostly for #RStats
Hopefully useful for anyone starting with GAMs (incl. #epitwitter folks)
🧵
Learning resources for GAMs can be hard to find so here are some that I have found useful
Note: mostly for #RStats
Hopefully useful for anyone starting with GAMs (incl. #epitwitter folks)
🧵
If you've never done anything with GAMs before, this 3+ hour webinar by @ucfagls is truly excellent! Great conceptual explanations!
Watched it several times, and each time I pick up something new from it as I learn more about GAMs
Watched it several times, and each time I pick up something new from it as I learn more about GAMs
There are some great interactive courses by @noamross.
One is free: noamross.github.io/gams-in-r-cour…
The other one is on DataCamp (not free)
One is free: noamross.github.io/gams-in-r-cour…
The other one is on DataCamp (not free)
Why do nutrition studies disagree about the effects of food on health?
New paper by @GeorgiaTomova in @AJCNutrition suggests it may be due to routine adjustment for total energy, which can produce misleading results if not used with care!
doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/n…
1/12 #EpiTwitter
New paper by @GeorgiaTomova in @AJCNutrition suggests it may be due to routine adjustment for total energy, which can produce misleading results if not used with care!
doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/n…
1/12 #EpiTwitter
Many nutrition studies are interested in substitution effects.
Substitution effects are the effect of SWAPPING a particular nutrient or food with one or more other nutrients or foods while keeping the total energy (or mass) the same.
doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/n…
2/12 #EpiTwitter
Substitution effects are the effect of SWAPPING a particular nutrient or food with one or more other nutrients or foods while keeping the total energy (or mass) the same.
doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/n…
2/12 #EpiTwitter
There are several approaches to estimating substitution effects.
To test their performance we simulated a compositional dataset with known causal effects (see figure).
We then examined how accurately each approach recovered the truth.
doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/n…
3/12 #EpiTwitter
To test their performance we simulated a compositional dataset with known causal effects (see figure).
We then examined how accurately each approach recovered the truth.
doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/n…
3/12 #EpiTwitter
1/ The colonoscopy trial reported in @NEJM is being widely reported as suggesting that colonoscopy is not effective for colon cancer screening. This is not the correct interpretation of these results. #EBM #evidencebasedmedicine #epitwitter
nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
2/ This study’s results do not demonstrate that colonoscopy is effective, but also do not demonstrate that it is ineffective. Why? Because only 42% of those in the screening arm actually had a colonoscopy!
3/ What *does* this study show? Only that a screening program involving an invitation to get a one-time colonoscopy modestly reduced colon cancer cases but did not reduce colon cancer deaths or overall mortality at a median of 10 years of follow-up.
Coincidentally (not?), I was just telling at my intro to bias talk at @DCEAarhus, that this image makes somewhat regular rounds on here
I took this coincidence a bit too seriously and made a 🧵
#selectionbias #epitwitter
1/n
I took this coincidence a bit too seriously and made a 🧵
#selectionbias #epitwitter
1/n
#selectionbias may be one of the more challenging concepts to understand in epidemiology and ever
#selectionbias #epitwitter
2/n
#selectionbias #epitwitter
2/n
Nothing helps to explain a concept like a good xkcd comic though xkcd.com/2618/
#selectionbias #epitwitter
3/n
#selectionbias #epitwitter
3/n
Our pre-print on "The epidemiology of long COVID in US adults two years after the start of the US SARS-CoV-2 pandemic". 7.3% of the US adult population (~18.5 million) reported having long COVID by July. What does the epidemiology look like? bit.ly/CUNYlongcovid [thread]
Persistence of symptoms: One-quarter (25.3% [18.2-32.4%]) of respondents with long COVID reported their day-to-day activities were impacted 'a lot' and 28.9% had SARS-CoV-2 infection >12 months ago.
The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of long COVID was higher among respondents who were female (aPR: 1.84 [1.40-2.42]), had comorbidities (aPR: 1.55 [1.19-2.00]) or were not (versus were) boosted (aPR: 1.67 [1.19-2.34]) or not vaccinated (versus boosted) (aPR: 1.41 (1.05-1.91)).
I am teaching intro to epidemiology concepts to research year students at @DCEAarhus. One of the topics I mention is retiring null hypothesis testing. Here are some of my favorite materials on abolishing null hypothesis testing/p-value misinterpretation⤵️
1/n #IYKYK #epitwitter
1/n #IYKYK #epitwitter
Work smart: one amazing collection already exists
2/n
2/n
“Scientists rise up against statistical significance” @vamrhein This paper (thankfully) got >1.5 citations 👏 nature.com/articles/d4158…
3/n
3/n
28-AUG-2022 UPDATE
1/23
Incidence of #COVID19 in 🇺🇸 kids increased 10% during the week ending 26-AUG-2022. More than 17,000 new cases every day; ADIR = 21.8/100,000.
#epitwitter #PedsICU #LongCovidKids
covkidproject.org
1/23
Incidence of #COVID19 in 🇺🇸 kids increased 10% during the week ending 26-AUG-2022. More than 17,000 new cases every day; ADIR = 21.8/100,000.
#epitwitter #PedsICU #LongCovidKids
covkidproject.org
28-AUG-2022 UPDATE
2/23
The highest #COVID19 new daily incidence rates for kids are concentrated in the #Southeast.
covkidproject.org/hot-spots
2/23
The highest #COVID19 new daily incidence rates for kids are concentrated in the #Southeast.
covkidproject.org/hot-spots
28-AUG-2022 UPDATE
3/23
States with adverse trends ( ⬆️ incidence) of #COVID19 in kids for the week ending 26-AUG-22 are red/orange on the map.
covkidproject.org/hot-spots
3/23
States with adverse trends ( ⬆️ incidence) of #COVID19 in kids for the week ending 26-AUG-22 are red/orange on the map.
covkidproject.org/hot-spots
26-AUG-22 UPDATE
1/25
In this 🧵, we update #COVID19 incidence, hospitalizations, deaths, and disparities for 🇺🇸 children and adolescents.
Please share this 🧵 #epitwitter #PedsICU #tweetiatrician #SARSCoV2 #Omicron #LongCovidKids
covkidproject.org
1/25
In this 🧵, we update #COVID19 incidence, hospitalizations, deaths, and disparities for 🇺🇸 children and adolescents.
Please share this 🧵 #epitwitter #PedsICU #tweetiatrician #SARSCoV2 #Omicron #LongCovidKids
covkidproject.org
Selection bias is often a challenging concept in epidemiology. One feature that distinguishes selection bias from confounding and measurement bias is, selection bias results from a change in the sample under study. It leads to a critical but, surprisingly, unsolved question. 1/
Which sample/population does the selection bias refer to? The referent population before the selection process? Or the selected sample? 2/
To address this question and unify the various existing definitions in the literature, we propose a refined definition of selection bias by considering any bias away from the true causal effect in the referent population, due to selecting the sample, as selection bias. 3/
I've been revisiting several probability, statistics & clinical research concepts that I've learned through simulation & visualization over the past years. Full list pinned below - I hope this can be helpful for others who also learn this way! #epitwitter #statstwitter #RStats
The "birthday problem"
The Monty Hall problem
I am fortunate to have an #NIH #K25 award.
In this 🧵, I will share advice about K25 awards. These opinions are my own, based on my experience, and do not represent the NIH.
Hope this helps anyone preparing a K25!
#careerdev #nihgrants #funding #statstwitter #epitwitter 1/
In this 🧵, I will share advice about K25 awards. These opinions are my own, based on my experience, and do not represent the NIH.
Hope this helps anyone preparing a K25!
#careerdev #nihgrants #funding #statstwitter #epitwitter 1/
Who should apply for a K25 award?
K25s are for quantitative experts seeking training in a new clinical area. These are perfect for (bio)statisticians starting in a faculty role pivoting to a new area that aligns with their institution.
K25s cover 75% FTE for up to 5 years. 2/
K25s are for quantitative experts seeking training in a new clinical area. These are perfect for (bio)statisticians starting in a faculty role pivoting to a new area that aligns with their institution.
K25s cover 75% FTE for up to 5 years. 2/
⭐️Most important advice in this thread⭐️
Include a figure connecting your career goals, proposed training, mentor expertise, and research aims.
The next career step should be submitting an R01 and becoming an independent scientist in the new clinical field. 3/
Include a figure connecting your career goals, proposed training, mentor expertise, and research aims.
The next career step should be submitting an R01 and becoming an independent scientist in the new clinical field. 3/
New paper out today in @PLOSONE
With @DrCorlin & Amanda Sullivan, we tried to answer the question “how much epidemiological research published in medical journals actually includes epidemiological expertise?”
The answer was more hopeful than I expected!
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
With @DrCorlin & Amanda Sullivan, we tried to answer the question “how much epidemiological research published in medical journals actually includes epidemiological expertise?”
The answer was more hopeful than I expected!
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
What did we do?
First, we selected 15 top journals (based on Scimago rankings) from the categories “epidemiology”, “general medicine”, and “specialty medicine” (5 in each)
For each one, we randomly chose 3 issues from 2000 & 3 from 2010, plus the first available issue in 2020.
First, we selected 15 top journals (based on Scimago rankings) from the categories “epidemiology”, “general medicine”, and “specialty medicine” (5 in each)
For each one, we randomly chose 3 issues from 2000 & 3 from 2010, plus the first available issue in 2020.
Next, we (and by “we” I mean Amanda who did the data collection!) compiled a list of first, last, & corresponding authors of all original research articles in the selected issues.
Excited to share exchange with Willett, Stampfer, & @deirdre_tobias published in @AJCNutrition. Hopefully interesting to all in nutrition Epi!
Paper: academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/1…
Willet et al: academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-a…
@GeorgiaTomova et al: academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-a…
1/12
#EpiTwitter
Paper: academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/1…
Willet et al: academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-a…
@GeorgiaTomova et al: academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-a…
1/12
#EpiTwitter
Our paper examined common approaches to adjusting for energy intake using a causal framework. Willet et al raised 4 points of disagreement with our conclusions.
I'll try to summarise with our responses. Beware, it jumps straight into technical details!
2/12 cc @GeorgiaTomova
I'll try to summarise with our responses. Beware, it jumps straight into technical details!
2/12 cc @GeorgiaTomova
Q1: Partition models
Willet et al: 'the energy partition model is not appropriate because it does not ultimately control for total energy intake" & this "is not consistent with the isocaloric diet/disease relation of greatest interest'
3/12 cc @GeorgiaTomova
Willet et al: 'the energy partition model is not appropriate because it does not ultimately control for total energy intake" & this "is not consistent with the isocaloric diet/disease relation of greatest interest'
3/12 cc @GeorgiaTomova
🌎 Global COVID-19 vaccine rollout
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 65.79% (estimate)
Vaccine doses deployed: 11.8B
The rollout seems to be slowing down
#COVID19 #EpiTwitter #Vaccination #PublicHealth
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 65.79% (estimate)
Vaccine doses deployed: 11.8B
The rollout seems to be slowing down
#COVID19 #EpiTwitter #Vaccination #PublicHealth
Percentage of world population fully vaccinated: all doses prescribed by the vaccination protocol have been administered
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 59.92% (estimate)
People fully vaccinated: 4.72B
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 59.92% (estimate)
People fully vaccinated: 4.72B
Most of the vaccines in use globally require two doses. Doses administered per 100 people in the total population can not be converted to an accurate percentage easily due to differences in vaccines and/or datasets.
🌍 Global COVID-19 vaccine rollout
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 65.78% (estimate)
Vaccine doses deployed: 11.8B
The rollout seems to be slowing down
#COVID19 #EpiTwitter #Vaccination #PublicHealth
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 65.78% (estimate)
Vaccine doses deployed: 11.8B
The rollout seems to be slowing down
#COVID19 #EpiTwitter #Vaccination #PublicHealth
Percentage of world population fully vaccinated: all doses prescribed by the vaccination protocol have been administered
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 59.9% (estimate)
People fully vaccinated: 4.72B
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 59.9% (estimate)
People fully vaccinated: 4.72B
Most of the vaccines in use globally require two doses. Doses administered per 100 people in the total population can not be converted to an accurate percentage easily due to differences in vaccines and/or datasets.
