Summary
Associate Professor in Occupational and environmental medicine at cagliari university
Research Interests:
Occupational physician and epidemiologist with expertise in occupational lung diseases.
Specific Research areas:
1) Asbestos-related diseases, in particular lung cancer and mesothelioma
2) Occupational asthma, COPD, ILD
3) Occupational exposure methods, and development of new efficient web-based tools
4) Gene-environment interactions in occupational lung diseases
5) Climate change, air pollution, and occupational health co-benefits
Research Projects:
I have led several research projects (see personal publication list) in the HSE-COPD study in the UK Biobank, a cohort set up to improve our understanding of the environmental and genetic causes of common diseases that recruited 500,000 men and women aged 40-69 from the UK general population.
The overarching goal of the HSE-COPD study was to identify the occupational causes of COPD and related burden in the UK general population in order to implement focused preventive strategies at workplace.
Currently working on the ARRDIA (Asbestos Related Respiratory Diseases in Industrial Areas) study, a Sardinia-Region funded project with the aim of identifying early tumoral biomarkers (Micro-RNAs) in exhaled breath condensate and blood to be linked with both asbestos exposure and cancer in a cohort of ex-exposed workers.
TEACHING:
Course organizer and lecturer on epidemiology and statistical methods, occupational lung diseases and occupational health surveillance.
Publications
Journals
Lecca R, Figorilli M, Casaglia E, et al. , 2023, Gender and Nightshift Work: A Cross Sectional Study on Sleep Quality and Daytime Somnolence., Brain Sci, Vol:13, ISSN:2076-3425
De Matteis S, 2023, Respiratory effects of air pollution: time to stop this deadly trajectory., Thorax
Nafees AA, Muneer MZ, Irfan M, et al. , 2023, Byssinosis and lung health among cotton textile workers: baseline findings of the MultiTex trial in Karachi, Pakistan, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, ISSN:1351-0711
Ratanachina J, Amaral A, De Matteis S, et al. , 2023, Association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study, European Respiratory Journal, Vol:60, ISSN:0903-1936, Pages:1-16
Reynolds CJ, Sisodia R, Barber C, et al. , 2023, What role for asbestos in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis? Findings from the IPF job exposures case-control study, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Vol:80, ISSN:1351-0711, Pages:97-103