Rino Bellocco

Rino Bellocco

Senior Lecturer

I had the honor and the competence to become the first docent in Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet in 2000, after completing my doctoral of science program at the Harvard School of Public Hea

Telephone: +46852486183
Visiting address: ,
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB II Bellocco, 171 77 Stockholm
Part of:

About me

  • I am a Professor of Medical Statistics at the Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods (DISMeQ), University of Milano-Bicocca and Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostastics (MEB),   Karolinska Institutet, being the first docent at KI in my field.  Since 2006 I have been intensively working to strengthen the academic interaction between DISMeQ and MEB facilitating exchange of both master and phd students, as well academic staff.  My current research interests are on lifestyle epidemiology and causal models in observational data.

    My interest in applying statistical methods to medical research started in with the study of the epidemiology of HIV infection and AIDS in 1987, when epidemic was already spreading globally. The statistical and public health challenge was to estimate the current HIV incidence and prevalence, based on the observed temporal distribution of AIDS cases. Statistical models, mainly an extension of GLM, named back-calculation, were proposed, studied and improved,   and adapted to the Italian and American Data, which lead me to enrich my academic profile at Harvard University, where I earned a PhD in Biostatics, at the School of Public Health*.

    My interest moved toward epidemiology of cancer and other chronic diseases once I moved to Karolinska Institutet. I have been mainly involved in etiology research, by using invaluable data from the Swedish registries. The statistical analysis of case-control and cohort studies to assess the possible causal effects of well-defined risk factors on both cancer incidence and death has represented my main duty. Furthermore, I have been involved in analyzing longitudinal data, where both exposure and outcome have been measured repeatedly over time. Leukemia, Lymphoma, Brain, Prostate, Ovarian cancer are some of the malignancies I have been focusing on. My methodological interests are on causal inference, longitudinal data, missing data, smoothing and resampling techniques and more generally in statistical issues in epidemiology. I  have been coordinating and teaching basic and advanced courses in Biostatistics both at Karolinska Institutet and Milano-Bicocca.

    My Italian address:

    Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods

    University of Milano-Bicocca

    Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi 8, U7, 20126 Milan, Italy

    +39 02 6448 5831

    * Sc.D., Harvard School of Public Health, Boston 1998

Research

  • Infectious Disease Modeling

    Cancer Epidemiology

    Nutrition Epidemiology

    Sleep Medicine

    (to be completed)

Teaching

  • Bachelor, MSc and PhD courses in Biostatistics

    (to be completed)

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
    The overall aim is to utilize multi-omics approach to identify novel etiopathogenesis and early detection biomarkers for stomach cancer and its precursor lesions. To achieve this aim, first we will use stored serum samples to perform metabolomics profiling among 12,599 twin subjects, among whom 1034 were deemed to have chronic atrophic gastritis based on measured pepsinogen I and II levels. Logistic regression will be used to search for metabolites related to the risk of chronic atrophic gastritis. Second, we will further measure serum proteome by using two quantitatively precise proteomics assays, among the above-mentioned twin subjects. Identified protein biomarkers will be combined with metabolomics biomarkers to create a prediction model for chronic atrophic gastritis. Last, we have created a cohort of subjects who were histopathologically diagnosed with chronic atrophic gastritis or more severe precursor lesions. They were followed for stomach cancer occurrence, and a nested case-control study will be performed. Baseline formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks will be retrieved for both stomach cancer cases and their matched controls, and patterns of tissue proteome and transcriptome will be compared, to identify driving factors associated with progression of precursor lesions to malignancy. The results will hopefully improve our understanding of the etiological factors and provide promising early detection biomarkers for stomach cancer and its precursor lesions.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2026
    Background A recent study on Swedish data showed that the incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is strongly related to occupational groups. Therefore, socioeconomic determinants of T2D are becoming a growing concern. After disease onset, correct use of antidiabetic medication (ADM) is a key factor for proper disease control and prevention of long-term severe consequences. A recent study from our team on a population of pregnant women showed associations between socioeconomic factors such as income, educational level, and country of origin, and ADM interruption. Currently, no study has yet investigated ADM use and socioeconomic inequalities in the larger population of T2D patients.Aim First, to identify socioeconomic differences in T2D patients with different ADM use patterns including treatment interruption and provide insights for policy makers. Second, to investigate associations between ADM use patterns and long-term complications of T2D, such as retinopathy and renal failure, in relation to specific socioeconomic disadvantaged groups. Ultimately, ADM use patterns and socioeconomic disparities will be investigated in relationship to comedication patterns used as proxies to evaluate the impact of comorbidities.Methods Patients’ ADM use is difficult to evaluate in a clinical trial setting since therapies for chronic diseases (such as T2D) may be life-long, but Swedish national registers offer a valuable opportunity. In the proposed project, Swedish national and diabetes quality register data will be used to identify individuals with T2D. The study population will be followed over time to provide a life course assessment of ADM use patterns in relation to socioeconomic factors, T2D complications, and comedication patterns. To properly adjust for confounding and allow for causality assessment in observational data, advanced causal inference methods such as inverse probability weighting will be used.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2025
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2021 - 30 November 2024
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2017 - 31 December 2019
  • VINNOVA
    30 June 2010 - 31 August 2011

Employments

  • Senior Lecturer, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2003-
  • Visiting Professor, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2023-2026

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2002

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