The research group Public Health Metrics delivers interdisciplinary scientific contributions to applied research and method development with the mission to disseminate insights into the public health science context. We primarily use quantitative methodology with integration of core disciplines such as demography, intervention methodology, biostatistics, and health economics.

Responding to changing contexts, for example demographic changes, dropping fertility levels and an on-going epidemiological transition, requires effective health planning and system development based on high quality data evidence and analysis to assist in making fair and effective decisions for action. And the identification of specific target groups, e.g. vulnerable groups who often suffer a higher risk, is a core pre-requisite for designing and performing adequate health interventions and services.

Our research group contributes with applicable models translating epidemiological measures of risk into population health measures by considering life expectancy and healthy life expectancy summary measures, as well as we explore economic, societal and health impact of demographic changes.

Research areas

Our research themes include:

• Health outcomes: Analysis of causes of death. Quality assessment of registrations and completeness of COD data. Development and application of the software programme ANACONDA.
• Burden of disease: Register-based analysis of burden of mental health in Denmark. Ageing in Europe. The burden of disease by years of life lost (YLL), years lost with disability (YLD) and Disability-adjusted life years (DALY) based on the Global Burden of Disease study.
• Burden of disease and health transition in Greenland: Analysis and quality assessment of causes of death and assessments of addiction behavior and treatment of alcohol, illegal drugs and gambling. 
• Economic evaluation: Costs of illness, e.g. cost of healthcare associated infections, cost of mental disorders and comorbidities, and development of interventions and cost-effectiveness analysis, e.g. surveillance system for healthcare associate infections.
• Organisation and financing of care systems: The interplay of need, care-seeking behavior and financing mechanisms. In lower middle income settings, e.g. Ghana, changing care needs, opportunity costs of unpaid care and care quality, challenge the health and quality of life of elderly and demand for care arrangements and financing mechanisms.
• Equity in health, use of health care and health care financing, especially among children, mothers and elderly, and in international contexts, e.g. in Nepal. How can we measure and analyze incidence and trends in equity? What determines changes in equity at individual and system level, e.g. insurance, user payment, supply side factors?

Our research has an international focus, and we collaborate with both national and international partners in the above mentioned areas.