About
The Maresme Study Group on Community-Acquired Pneumonia and COPD (GEMPAC, from its Catalan name Grup d'Estudi al Maresme de la Pneumònia Adquirida a la Comunitat i la MPOC) is a consolidated group recognised by the Agency for University Grants of the Generalitat of Catalunya (AGAUR). This group is physically located at the Maresme Health Consortium, which covers primary health care in the Maresme region and is centred in the Mataró Hospital and has a collaborative agreeement with the IGTP for research activities. The group has been led by Dr Jordi Almirall for more than 25 years and carries out epidemiological studies for lower tract respiratory infections; these studies are coordinated by the Mataró Hospital. Its researchers have made important contributions in the areas of incidence, microbiology, prognostic risk factors, costing, diagnostic errors and the value of inflammatory markers for the prediction of pneumonia and aetiological orientation.
The group has been awarded eight FIS grants in which different specialists have participated as principal investigators including family doctors, hospital specialists and house doctors, both from Mataró and other hospitals; nursing staff have also taken part. Since 2006 the group is a part of the CIBERES network, within the Group 14 led by Dr Antoni Torres from the Clinic Hospital Barcelona and Barcelona University for research into aetiology, prognostic risk factors associated with community acquired lower tract respiratory infections (LRTI).
GEMPAC researchers have also participated in as partners in European projects such as GRACE (Genomics to combat Resistance against Antibiotics in Community acquired LRTI in Europe) of the Sixth framework programme priority. Since 2012, they have participated in the European Network COMBACTE CLIN-Net and LAB net (Innovative Initiatives in Medicine) to carry out clinical trials with new antibiotics with the coordinators Dr H. Goossens (Antwerp) and Dr Harbarth (Geneva). The team is also currently part of the PREPARE project (Work Packages 3 and 5).
The group has eight contracts with pharmaceutical companies to carry out clinical trials. It has generated seven doctoral theses in recent years with another three currently in progress and has 40 international publications and 30 more in Spanish journals with a total impact factor of 204.
Keywords: Community health, pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, COPD.
Group leader
- Ramon Boixeda i Viu, PhD, MD
Ramon Boixeda i Viu, PhD, MD
Graduated in Medicine and Surgery from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2000, Ramon Boixeda specialised in Internal Medicine at the Mataró Hospital in 2006, where he is head of the Internal Medicine Department since 2019.
Boixeda obtained his PhD in respiratory infections from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, with more than 25 publications in pneumonia and COPD. He is a member of the COPD Group of Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI), collaborating in all research projects focused on the comorbidity of COPD patients, with multiple publications, communications and presentations at national conferences. He is also coordinator of the GEMPAC research group (Grup d'Estudi del Maresme de la Pneumònia Acquirida en la Comunitat), accredited by ACUR, with multiple population-based FIS projects focused on pneumonia, COPD and asthma.
Boixeda is also a clinical associate professor at the University of Barcelona, an accredited tutor for Internal Medicine residents and secretary of the Board of the Maresme Branch of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
Contact: rboixeda(ELIMINAR)@icloud.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-5330-9971 - Maria del Carmen de la Torre, PhD
- Maria Bartolomé, PhD
Research lines
Population study on acute COPD (misdiagnosis and comorbidity)
Community study of diagnostic error for COPD, study of incidence of exacerbation of COPD, case-controlled study of risk factors for acute-prone phenotypes with the importance of oral hygiene, disphagia, diet (antioxidants and vitamin D levels).
Study of risk factors for exacerbation of COPD
Study of risk factors for pneumonia
Study of risk factors for community-acquired pneumonia such as treatment with Benzodiazepine, dysphagia, oral hygiene, occupation, etc.
Study of aetiology and treatment in patients admitted to hospital for pneumonia
Study of risk factors for pneumonia in respiratory patients (asthma and COPD)
Community study of risk factors for pneumonia in asthmatic patients with COPD and the importance of the use of broncodilatotors and oral hygiene. Study of the impact of biological markers and immunoglobulins in prognosis of communty-acquired pneumonia.
Definition of a diagnostic algorithm for aspiration pneumonia
Study of patients admitted to hospital for acute COPD in a general hospital
Study of infectious comorbidity in patients admitted to the hospital for acute COPD
Study of the prevalence of infections in patients admitted to hospital for acute COPD for Clostridium difficille microbacteria infections and the impact of the flu epidemic.
COVID-19
Active projects
Estudi AMIC's. Com millorar l'infradiagnòstic en els pacients ingressats per pneumònia adquirida en la comunitat en els Serveis de medicina Interna
PI: Ramon Boixeda
Duration: 01/09/2023 - 31/03/2025
Adherence to clinical guidelines regarding the Duration of Antibiotic treatment in patients hospitalized for community-acquired Pneumonia with
clinical sTability (ADAPT study): a quasi-experimental trial
PI: Raul Mendez
Duration: 01/01/2024 - 31/12/2025
Estudi EDIMPOC. Error diagnòstic en la MPOC. Estudi poblacional a Catalunya
PI: Pere Toran i Ramon Boixeda
Duration: 01/09/2017 - 31/03/2025
Etiología de la neumonía adquirida en la comunidad tras la pandemia COVID-19 en la era de las técnicas microbiológicas moleculares. Estudio multicéntrico nacional
PI: Raul Mendez
Duration: 01/01/2024 - 31/12/2024
Scientific publications
Higlighted 2023 publications
Gálvez-Barrón C, Pérez-López C, Villar-Álvarez F, Ribas J, Formiga F, Chivite D, Boixeda R, Iborra C, Rodríguez-Molinero A. Machine learning for the development of diagnostic models of decompensated heart failure or exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 5;13(1):12709. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39329-6.
Riera J, Barbeta E, Tormos A, Mellado-Artigas R, Ceccato A, Motos A, Fernández-Barat L, Ferrer R, García-Gasulla D, Peñuelas O, Lorente JÁ, Menéndez R, Roca O, Palomeque A, Ferrando C, Solé-Violán J, Novo M, Boado MV, Tamayo L, Estella Á, Galban C, Trenado J, Huerta A, Loza A, Aguilera L, García Garmendia JL, Barberà C, Gumucio V, Socias L, Franco N, Valdivia LJ, Vidal P, Sagredo V, Ruiz-García ÁL, Martínez Varela I, López J, Pozo JC, Nieto M, Gómez JM, Blandino A, Valledor M, Bustamante-Munguira E, Sánchez-Miralles Á, Peñasco Y, Barberán J, Ubeda A, Amaya-Villar R, Martín MC, Jorge R, Caballero J, Marin J, Añón JM, Suárez Sipmann F, Albaiceta GM, Castellanos-Ortega Á, Adell-Serrano B, Catalán M, Martínez de la Gándara A, Ricart P, Carbajales C, Rodríguez A, Díaz E, de la Torre MC, Gallego E, Cantón-Bulnes L, Carbonell N, González J, de Gonzalo-Calvo D, Barbé F, Torres A; CIBERESUCICOVID Consortium. Effects of intubation timing in patients with COVID-19 throughout the four waves of the pandemic: a matched analysis. Eur Respir J. 2023 Mar 2;61(3):2201426. DOI: 10.1183/13993003.01426-2022.
Méndez R, González-Jiménez P, Latorre A, Mengot N, Zalacain R, Ruiz LA, Serrano L, España PP, Uranga A, Cillóniz C, Hervás D, Torres A, Menéndez R; NEUMONAC; RECOVID; Pablo España P, Borderías L, Rajas O, Almirall J, Zalacaín R, Vendrell M, Bello S, Mir I, Morales C, Molinos L, Ferrer R, Briones M, Malo R, Sayago Reza I, Almonte Batista W, Moreno Galarraga L, Sibila Vidal O, Luis Rodríguez Hermosa J, Vargas Centanaro G, de Vega Sánchez B, Solís García E, Rodríguez Florez E, José M, Estaba C, Molina Molina M, Bordas J, Estela González Castro M, Badenes Bonet D, Domínguez Álvarez M, Pérez-Rodas EN, Marín Arguedas A, Román Bernal B, Estrada Trigueros G, Cuenca Peris S, Martín Royo M, Torres García M, Portillo Sánchez J, Lerenas Bernal F, Salome Ros Braquehais M, Alfonso García Guerra J, Dolores Martínez Pitarch M, Arroyo Fernández I, Guevara Velázquez V, Martínez Olondris P, Francisco Pereyra Barrionuevo M, Lázaro Sierra J, Clavería P, Luis Wangüemert Pérez A, Joel Ruiz Lacambra J, Fernández Ramos N, Guanche Dorta S, Macias Paredes A, de la Rosa Carrillo D, Palones Femenia E, Podzamczer Valls I, Peñacoba Toribio P, Muñoz Zara P, García García R, Del Mar Marrube Fernández M, Villar Aguilar L, de Jorge Domínguez Pazos S, Pereiro Brea T, Pando-Sandoval A, María García Clemente M, Alzueta Álvarez A, García Coya E, de Freitas González E, Pablo España Yandiola P, Uranga A, Raboso Moreno B, Panadero C, Abad A, Cano I, Pérez Orbis I, Gotera Rivera C, Ruiz Pérez C, Menéndez Villanueva R, Méndez R, Latorre A, González P, Ramírez Prieto T, Ángel Salvador Maya M, Valenzuela C, Cifrián Martínez JM, Marco Figueira Gonçalves J, Baeza Ruiz A, Expósito Marrero A, Gurbani N, Malo de Molina Ruiz R, Galdeano Lozano M, Villanueva Montes M, Toledo Pons N, Ramón Clar L, Esperanza Barrios A, Cejudo Ramos P, López Ramírez C, Gaboli M, Almadana Pacheco V, Eduard Barbé Illa F, Clara A, Gutiérrez González N, Cabrera César E. Is the long-term mortality similar in COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia? Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Oct 10;10:1236142. DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1236142.