Jacques Wels

Please have a look at my discussion paper on the fallacious 'social determinants' of health. Not sure any public health journal would publish this.

Discussion Paper series - Health and Society Research Unit - Centre de recherche PHISOC

Please, check out our new discussion paper on the limits of the social determinants framework in social epidemiology and why we need to think in terms of structuration and not structures.
hsru.phisoc.ulb.be/en/news

Very interesting strategy from Demography journal: when they disagree with you, your submission is reviewed by 5 reviewers (who say the same things, as AI would do) against the usual 2 or 3.
The power of publishers and editors needs to stop.

Preprint of first PhD paper out now! 👇

Religious minority status is an important social determinant of mental health, but vastly overlooked in the literature. We summarise studies on religious disparities in mental health & propose a conceptual framework for future research.

osf.io/preprints/ps...

@jasminelee.bsky.social 's great work:

Religious disparities in mental health: a systematic review and conceptual framework osf.io/preprints/ps...

One more week to go to apply for a PhD position at @ulbruxelles.bsky.social and the @healthsociety.bsky.social to work on euthanasia data and have an impact on assisted dying policies.

Have a look at our new discussion paper on trade unions in Japan with very surprising results: union membership seems to have increased over the past 15 years!
with @alexbryson.bsky.social.

Dear all,

You're tired of costly scientific journals that don't treat well your work?

I am considering submitting a project for a new free open access journal in social epidemiology with @scipost.bsky.social.

Let's act! If you are interested joining me in this project, please let me know!

4-year PhD Position on Assisted Dying in Belgium using population data We are recruiting a talented researcher for a 4-year (48 months) PhD at the Health & Society Research Unit (HSRU) at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

🇧🇪 New job offer for a 4-year PhD position on Assisted Dying at the @healthsociety.bsky.social in Brussels.
Deadline: 31 January 2026

euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/395339

Trends in assisted dying among patients with psychiatric disorders and dementia in Belgium: A health registry study In this registry study, Jacques Wels and Natasia Hamarat use data on all cases of euthanasia in Belgium between 2002-2023 to assess trends in assisted dying for patients with psychiatric disorders and...

New article in @plosmedicine.bsky.social:

"Trends in assisted dying among patients with psychiatric disorders and dementia in Belgium: A health registry study"

journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...

Research Fellow (x2 posts) at UCL Apply for the Research Fellow (x2 posts) role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

6 days to go to apply to 2 postdoc positions (3-year and 2-year) at @ucl.ac.uk with @pravpatalay.bsky.social!
For all those interested in employment<->health, trade unions & longitudinal methods.
Feel free to share.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPB406/r...

Bruxelles mérite mieux que l’indifférence politique Face au blocage institutionnel de la Région bruxelloise, voici quelques pistes de réflexion. ... %

Bruxelles mérite mieux que l’indifférence politique

New publication in BMC Public Health:

Incidence of reported cases of euthanasia adjusted for demographic composition: a study of ten years of Belgian administrative data (2014–2023)

bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

With @healthsociety.bsky.social

We are organising a @royalstatsoc.bsky.social Social Statistics Section online event:

Handling survey mode effects

Wednesday 12 November 2025, 10.00AM - 12.10PM

Full info and booking: rss.org.uk/training-eve...

YouTube video by Health & Society Research Unit HSRU 2025-26 seminars: Jane Maddock (UCL)

Here's our second HSRU seminar:

@janemaddock.bsky.social was presenting her work "A target trial emulation of retirement and self-rated health and life satisfaction in the UK, US and Germany" at @ulbruxelles.bsky.social.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AISW...

RIP Robert Redford. I got the same jacket, the same shirt and the same glasses because of you.

🆕 RFBerlin Discussion Paper: Alex Bryson, Ryo Kambayashi, Susumu Kuwahara, Akie Nakamura, and @jacqueswels.bsky.social examine trends in union density in Japan and how workforce composition has shaped its growth. www.rfberlin.com/network-pape...

Augmentation du nombre d’euthanasies en Belgique, que révèle cette statistique ? - Actualités de l'ULB

Euthanasie : quel est le profil socioéconomique des demandeurs et leurs motivations?

Dans @france.theconversation.com les chercheurs Jacques Wels et Natasia Hamarat s'intéressent à l’augmentation des demandes d'euthanasie depuis 20 ans, en Belgique.

Interesting to compare UK/French readership of our article on euthanasia. Of course, many variables play a role but more readers in France. The UK seems quite not keen at looking at other countries when it comes to implementing assisting dying.

YouTube video by Health & Society Research Unit HSRU 2025-26 seminars: Marie Dauvrin, Céline Ricour (KCE)

Marie Dauvrin, Céline Ricour (KCE),“Propositions for reinforcing and expanding the Belgian palliative care offer”

Yesterday's seminar on the state of palliative care in Belgium is now available on YouTube. Feel free to have a look. @ulbrecherche.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uOs...

Augmentation du nombre d’euthanasies en Belgique, que révèle cette statistique ? Selon une étude publiée dans une revue de référence, l’augmentation de l’euthanasie observée en Belgique depuis sa légalisation s’explique essentiellement par le vieillissement de la population.

Another article, this time in The Conversation France on the rising number of euthanasia cases in Belgium.

Augmentation du nombre d’euthanasies en Belgique, que révèle cette statistique ?

theconversation.com/augmentation...

Never ending :)

And Rough and Rowdy Ways is even better live -- unbelievable.

Comment: Belgium’s euthanasia trends dispute ‘slippery slope’ argument Writing in The Conversation, Dr Jacques Wels (UCL MRC Unit for Lifelong Health & Ageing) explores Belgium’s euthanasia trends and the lessons that can be learned, from regulation to the importance of ...

Comment: Belgium’s euthanasia trends dispute ‘slippery slope’ argument

via @ucl.ac.uk

www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/ap...

Sorry but this is misleading.
She's not banned in France because she's far right but because of misuse of public money when she was working at the European Parliament. Happened to others before, on the right and on the left.

I'm not sure The Observer has ever been serious.

Belgium’s euthanasia trends dispute ‘slippery slope’ argument – new study What two decades of euthanasia in Belgium really tell us.

"Belgium’s euthanasia trends dispute ‘slippery slope’ argument – new study"

Have a look at our @theconversationuk.bsky.social piece:
theconversation.com/belgiums-eut...

Incidence and Prevalence of Reported Euthanasia Cases in Belgium, 2002 to 2023 This cross-sectional study examines patterns in euthanasia incidence and prevalence in Belgium since its legalization in 2002.

Check our new article in @jama.com network open if you want to know more about full trends (!) of Euthanasia in Belgium since the implementation of the law back in 2002.
In short: nothing alarming.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The proportion of Alzheimer's disease attributable to apolipoprotein E Objective To estimate the proportions of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and all-cause dementia burden attributable to the common risk alleles ε3 and ε4 in the APOE gene Design Genetic association analyses i...

One year later ... a major update to our manuscript showing that most Alzheimer's disease is attributable to the gene APOE. We expanded it to analyses of four studies, now with data on about 460,000 people in total.....
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Alzheimers #Dementia #Epidemiology #EpiSky

Associations between different measures of SARS-CoV-2 infection status and subsequent economic inactivity: A pooled analysis of five longitudinal surveys linked to healthcare records Introduction Following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of people became economically inactive in the UK. We investigated the association between coronavirus infection and sub...

"New" Paper : Associations between different measures of SARS-CoV-2 infection status and subsequent economic inactivity: A pooled analysis of five longitudinal surveys linked to healthcare records.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Using @ukllc.bsky.social data