Current projects
At Research Unit for Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography the projects primarily fall within the two main areas: aging and twin research
We conduct research projects on the prevalence of diseases and other health conditions at the population level. Using classical epidemiological study designs as well as twin and family studies, including material from several large surveys and collections of biological material.
LLFS: Long Life - Family Study
Longitudinal study of families from the U.S. and Denmark with multiple members who have reached an very old age. Siblings are enrolled together with their children, cousins and spouses.
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Health and Physical Functioning Among Older Danes in the Beginning of the 21st Century
PhD project: The overall aim of this project is to study health and physical functioning among Danes aged 65+ in the beginning of the 21st century based on comparative and combined analyses of existing literature and health surveys.
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Development and Sex-Disparity in Health Adjusted Life Expectancy in the European Population
PhD project: The aim of the project is to estimate the development in health adjusted life expectancy in Europe using data collected from several European countries over 11 years (2004-2015). A special emphasis will be put on sex-disparity in aging due to the The Male-Female Health-Survival Paradox".
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Why men die while women suffer
Today women enjoy a longer life than men in all countries of the world, but women tend to report poorer self-rated health, they have higher disability levels at all ages and perform more poorly on physical tests than men. In the search for clues to explain these sex differences in life expectancy we use data from the Danish health registries and our oldest-old cohorts.
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SHARE: Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe
Survey on health, ageing and retirement among 50+ year-old Europeans with questions on demographics, health og socio-economic conditions. The study involves participants from 27 countries and data is collected every two years.
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Functional Genomics of Aging-related Traits and Diseases - A Powerful Multi-omics Study of Twins
By applying discordant monozygotic twin design to we will explore the contribution of genetic epigenetic and transcriptomic signatures to mortality, aging-related traits and age-related diseases in twins.
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Cross-Cancer Relationships and Risk Factors of Hematologic Malignancies - a Twin Study
PhD project: We aim to initiate a case co-twin study of risk of possibly ink-related cancers, including hematologic malignancies. We presume that such study, using the cohort of Danish twin cancer data along with tattoo exposure data and controlling for known cancer risk factors, will provide important insights as to the safety of having tattoos.
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Genetics and Epigenetics - Aging and Longevity
Study on the association between variation in the genome, epigenome and transcriptome associated with longevity and age-related traits. We use DNA from middle-aged and older twins, combined with survey data regarding a variety of traits related to health and functional capacity.
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NorTwinCan: Nordic Twin Study of Cancer
NorTwinCan is the largest twin study in the world available for the research of heritability and familial risks of cancers such as prostata, breast, ovarian, and colon cancer.
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Female sex hormones and cognition in middle-aged and elderly Danish twins
PhD project: Women have higher lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease than men. Additionally, women with AD tend to have lower cognitive function compared to men with AD. These sex differences raise the question of female sex hormones’ influence on cognition and risk of dementia. The aim is to study the association between female sex hormones and cognition in mid- and late life in Danish twins.
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IGEMS: Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies
The consortium is an international collaboration involving twin researchers from Europe, USA, and Australia. IGEMS includes data from fifteen longitudinal twin studies of adult development and aging.
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