• First results from the Austrian School-SARS-CoV-2 Study

    SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and its determinants in Austrian schools

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  • Team

    We are an interdisciplinary team with backgrounds in mathematics, epidemiology, public health, and clinical medicine.

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  • Atherosclerosis

    We are leading the Proof-ATHERO consortium, which brings together >250 scientists world-wide to jointly investigate mechanisms in atherosclerosis development.

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  • STROKE-CARD

    We are responsible for data management and analysis of the STROKE-CARD trial which tested a multifaceted disease management programme in patients with stroke or transient ischaemic attack.

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Data science to improve patient outcomes

The Clinical Epidemiology Team at the Medical University of Innsbruck applies cutting-edge methods in data science to clinical research, spanning from study design and data management to analytical tools. Using large-scale data, we aim to scrutinise pathophysiological pathways for cardiovascular diseases, identify potential targets for therapeutic intervention, and improve current strategies for primary and secondary prevention. Our research is interdisciplinary, bringing together data scientists and clinicians from different medical fields.

Age at menopause and the risk of stroke

Age at menopause and the risk of stroke

In this study, we investigated the relationship between age at menopause and different types of stroke in >200,000 postmenopausal women using data from the EPIC-CVD study and the UK Biobank. We obtained observational associations and performed Mendelian Randomisation analysis to study causality. We found a significant association between earlier menopause…

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Towards a European strategy to address the COVID-19 pandemic

Towards a European strategy to address the COVID-19 pandemic

How should Europe deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in the future? Which strategies should be pursued and what specific risks should be considered? In September 2021, we published a call in the Lancet for closer European collaboration in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with this call in the Lancet, we…

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Sensitivity and specificity of antigen-based self-testing in Austrian schools

Sensitivity and specificity of antigen-based self-testing in Austrian schools

This study evaluates the performance of the antigen based anterior nasal screening programme that was used at Austrian schools to detect SARS-CoV-2 infections. We combined nationwide antigen-based screening data obtained in March 2021 from 5,370 schools (Grade 1 to 8) with an RT-qPCR-based prospective cohort study comprising a representative sample…

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Prevalence of RT-PCR-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection at schools: First results from the Austrian School-SARS-CoV-2 Study

Prevalence of RT-PCR-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection at schools: First results from the Austrian School-SARS-CoV-2 Study

There is much debate about the role of schools and children in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In a consortium of four Austrian universities (Medical University of Innsbruck, Medical University of Graz, Medical Faculty of the JKU Linz, University of Vienna), we set out to reliably quantify the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections…

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Design and rationale of the Proof-ATHERO consortium

Design and rationale of the Proof-ATHERO consortium

This paper - published in Gerontology - outlines the broad aims of the Proof-ATHERO consortium and describes the principal methodology of data management and analysis of study data. The Proof-ATHERO consortium collates individual-participant data of studies with information on atherosclerosis measures, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and incident cardiovascular events.…

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Carotid intima-media thickness progression as surrogate marker for cardiovascular risk

Carotid intima-media thickness progression as surrogate marker for cardiovascular risk

In this paper - published in Circulation - we quantified the association between the intervention effects on carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) progression and the intervention effect on cardiovascular risk. Therefore, we systematically reviewed the literature and collected aggregated literature based data and individual participant data from 119 randomised controlled…

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Latest key publications

Prevalence of RT-PCR-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection at schools: First results from the Austrian School-SARS-CoV-2 Study

Willeit P, Krause R, Lamprecht B, Berghold A, Hanson B, Stelzl E, Stoiber H, Zuber J, Heinen R, Koehler A, Bernhard D, Borena W, Doppler C, von Laer D, Schmidt H, Proell J, Steinmetz I, Wagner M

Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Progression as Surrogate Marker for Cardiovascular Risk: Meta-Analysis of 119 Clinical Trials Involving 100 667 Patients

Willeit P, Tschiderer L, Allara E, Reuber K, Seekircher L, Gao L, Liao X, Lonn E, Gerstein HC, Yusuf S, Brouwers FP, Asselbergs FW, van Gilst W, Anderssen SA, Grobbee DE, Kastelein JJP, Visseren FLJ, Ntaios G, Hatzitolios AI, Savopoulos C, Nieuwkerk PT, Stroes E, Walters M, Higgins P, Dawson J, Gresele P, Guglielmini G, Migliacci R, Ezhov M, Safarova M, Balakhonova T, Sato E, Amaha M, Nakamura T, Kapellas K, Jamieson LM, Skilton M, Blumenthal JA, Hinderliter A, Sherwood A, Smith PJ, van Agtmael MA, Reiss P, van Vonderen MGA, Kiechl S, Klingenschmid G, Sitzer M, Stehouwer CDA, Uthoff H, Zou ZY, Cunha AR, Neves MF, Witham MD, Park HW, Lee MS, Bae JH, Bernal E, Wachtell K, Kjeldsen SE, Olsen MH, Preiss D, Sattar N, Beishuizen E, Huisman MV, Espeland MA, Schmidt C, Agewall S, Ok E, Aşçi G, de Groot E, Grooteman MPC, Blankestijn PJ, Bots ML, Sweeting MJ, Thompson SG, Lorenz MW

Baseline and on-statin treatment lipoprotein(a) levels for prediction of cardiovascular events: individual patient-data meta-analysis of statin outcome trials

Willeit P, Ridker PM, Nestel PJ, Simes J, Tonkin AM, Pedersen TR, Schwartz GG, Olsson AG, Colhoun HM, Kronenberg F, Drechsler C, Wanner C, Mora S, Lesogor A, Tsimikas S

UK Biobank comes of age

Thompson SG, Willeit P.

Natriuretic peptides and integrated risk assessment for cardiovascular disease: an individual-participant-data meta-analysis

Willeit P, Kaptoge S, Welsh P, Butterworth AS, et al.

High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin Concentration and Risk of First-Ever Cardiovascular Outcomes in 154,052 Participants

Willeit P, Welsh P, Evans JDW, Tschiderer L, Boachie C, Jukema JW, Ford I, Trompet S, Stott DJ, Kearney PM, Mooijaart SP, Kiechl S, Di Angelantonio E, Sattar N.