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Epidemiology Research at Statens Serum Institut
Statens Serum Institut has a long tradition of epidemiology research, and today the epidemiologic research millieu is among the largest and most renowned in Europe. The activities include both research directly linked to national public health, i.e. vaccine programmes and surveillance of infectious diseases, as well as basic research. A strong biostatistical research milieu forms an integral part of these activities. |
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Epidemiology is an old research discipline dating back to the investigations of the large epidemics of the previous centuries. Then as well as today, epidemiology is central to our understanding of why diseases occur and how they may be prevented. |
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A large part of the epidemiological research is focused on elucidating the etiology and risk factors of diseases. Main research areas are cancer, vaccines, familial aggregation, infectious and allergic diseases, and diseases related to exposures during foetal life and in the first years of life.
An important part of the research process is the gathering of data and establishing of databases on the population’s life style, exposures and health condition.
Additionally, biological banks are created that contain material from which researchers may obtain more precise information as to the exposures of the population. The research is undertaken in close collaboration with a number of national and international laboratories.
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Besides population studies, which necessitate the active involvement of the individual person, a comprehensive and detailed expertise has been developed in research based on the large data materials from the Danish registers. In an international perspective, Denmark is a pioneer country as to the possibilities of carrying out register-based research. This is due to the long-existing creation of a wide number of valuable registers regarding Danish society and its population. Register-based research plays a significant role in the analyses of the occurence and etiology of diseases, but also for the identification of the effects of treatment, and the analyses of general health condition of the population. Other resources for the epidemiological research at the Institute originate from a research station in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa (Projecto de Saude Bandim) and from research activities in Greenland.
The majority of the epidemiological research activities at the Institute is carried out in the Department of Epidemiology Research and is financed by national and international research grants.
The epidemiological research milieu at the Institute furthermore comprises the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre in collaboration with Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Aarhus University, and Institute of Preventive Medicine, HS. The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre is financed by the Danish National Research Foundation. One of the large common research projects in this context is the Danish National Birth Cohort study which comprises 100,000 pregnant women with the purpose of examining the importance of exposures in foetal life for the subsequent health condition of the child.
The Institute takes part in the postgraduate education of researchers at both the University of Copenhagen and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Moreover, the Institute has since 1995 organised a NordForsk-sponsored Summer School in Infectious Disease Epidemiology for Nordic and Baltic researchers.
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