We take part in the 44th Annual Meeting of the SEE in Pamplona-Iruña

Researchers Itxaso Alayo and Jone Guenetxea presented papers on prostate cancer screening, suicide prediction and the diagnosis of dysphagia.

The Institute took part in the 44th Annual Meeting of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE), held from 23 to 26 June 2026 in Pamplona-Iruña. The event, which took place at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Public University of Navarre, brought together epidemiology and public health professionals from across Spain and internationally.

Under the slogan “Moving forward with equity towards public health for the whole population”, the conference addressed the main current challenges facing public health, such as reducing inequalities, disease surveillance, the impact of climate change, mental health and the application of new methodologies and technologies, including artificial intelligence.

Research into screening and mental health

In this context, Biosistemak actively contributed to the scientific programme through the participation of researchers Itxaso Alayo and Jone Guenetxea.

Alayo’s work formed part of the panel on innovative organisational aspects of population-based screening programmes, where she presented the study “Implementation of a pilot prostate cancer screening programme in the Basque Country”, focusing on the evaluation and development of more efficient and equitable early detection strategies. This pilot forms part of the European EUCanScreen project, launched in the Basque Country in collaboration with Biosistemak, Osakidetza and the Department of Health to assess the feasibility and impact of a potential population-based prostate cancer screening programme.

Itxaso Alayo also presented the scientific paper “Prediction of self-harm following psychiatric discharge in Catalonia using machine learning”, which focused on the development and validation of predictive models for patients following psychiatric hospitalisation, highlighting the potential of machine learning to improve suicide risk assessment and support decision-making in mental health.

Diagnosis of dysphagia in the Basque Country

For her part, Jone Guenetxea delivered a short oral presentation at the Pamplona-Iruña meeting on the “State of dysphagia diagnosis in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country”, in which she presented the prevalence of different types of dysphagia in a population diagnosed with head and neck cancer, from a perspective that complemented both medical diagnosis and nursing screening.

Once again this year, the SEE-APE meeting served as a key forum for the exchange of knowledge, scientific debate and collaboration among professionals, contributing to advances in epidemiology and public health against a backdrop of growing challenges.