Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36370725›Full record

ArticleThe Lancet. Planetary health2022

Ecological and socioeconomic factors associated with the human burden of environmentally mediated pathogens: a global analysis.

Susanne H Sokolow, Nicole Nova, Isabel J Jones, Chelsea L Wood, Kevin D Lafferty, Andres Garchitorena, Skylar R Hopkins, Andrea J Lund, Andrew J MacDonald, Christopher LeBoa and 8 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The Lancet. Planetary health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
7.6field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  10. Pathogens and planetary change.Nature reviews. Biodiversity · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors at 8 institutions in 3 countries.

Susanne H SokolowWoods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Nicole NovaDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. Electronic address: nicole.nova@princeton.edu.
Isabel J JonesHopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
Chelsea L WoodSchool of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Kevin D LaffertyUS Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, c/o Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Andres GarchitorenaMIVEGEC, Université Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montpellier, France; PIVOT, Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Skylar R HopkinsNorth Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Andrea J LundEmmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Andrew J MacDonaldDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Earth Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Christopher LeBoaDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Alison J PeelCentre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia.
Erin A MordecaiDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Meghan E HowardDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Julia C BuckDepartment of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA.
David Lopez-CarrDepartment of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Michele BarryWoods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Matthew H BondsPIVOT, Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Giulio A De LeoWoods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
Stanford University · USUniversity of California, Santa Barbara · USAgropolis International · FRGriffith University · AUNorth Carolina State University · USPacific University · USUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington · USUniversity of Washington · US

Funding

Leveraging environmental drivers to predict vector-borne disease transmissionR35GM133439 · NIGMS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI Erin Mordecai · 2019 to 2026
$3.2M
Effects of agricultural expansion and intensification on infectionsR01TW010286 · FIC · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA · PI REMAIS, JUSTIN V, ROHR, JASON ROBERT · 2015 to 2019
$2.4M
FIC NIH HHS R01 TW010286NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM133439
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBillions of people living in poverty are at risk of environmentally mediated infectious diseases-that is, pathogens with environmental reservoirs that affect disease persistence and control and where environmental control of pathogens can reduce human risk. The complex ecology of these diseases creates a global health problem not easily solved with medical treatment alone.

methodsWe quantified the current global disease burden caused by environmentally mediated infectious diseases and used a structural equation model to explore environmental and socioeconomic factors associated with the human burden of environmentally mediated pathogens across all countries.

findingsWe found that around 80% (455 of 560) of WHO-tracked pathogen species known to infect humans are environmentally mediated, causing about 40% (129 488 of 359 341 disability-adjusted life years) of contemporary infectious disease burden (global loss of 130 million years of healthy life annually). The majority of this environmentally mediated disease burden occurs in tropical countries, and the poorest countries carry the highest burdens across all latitudes. We found weak associations between disease burden and biodiversity or agricultural land use at the global scale. In contrast, the proportion of people with rural poor livelihoods in a country was a strong proximate indicator of environmentally mediated infectious disease burden. Political stability and wealth were associated with improved sanitation, better health care, and lower proportions of rural poverty, indirectly resulting in lower burdens of environmentally mediated infections. Rarely, environmentally mediated pathogens can evolve into global pandemics (eg, HIV, COVID-19) affecting even the wealthiest communities.

interpretationThe high and uneven burden of environmentally mediated infections highlights the need for innovative social and ecological interventions to complement biomedical advances in the pursuit of global health and sustainability goals.

fundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, Stanford University, and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Indexed as

Communicable DiseasesCOVID-19Global Burden of DiseaseGlobal HealthHumansSocioeconomic FactorsUnited States

Identifiers

PMID36370725
PMCPMC9669458
OpenAlexW4308748608

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.