Environmental Exposure and Health

Humans are exposed to a plethora of environmental parameters all the time, all their lives. Examples include the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink.

In the research group “Environmental Exposure and Health”, we explore how the environment affects our health. We model environmental exposures for the entire population, often with big data from monitoring programs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), to estimate individuals’ lifetime exposures by linking our data with their residential history.

Using the nationwide renowned Danish health registers, we can carry out large epidemiological studies on the health effects of environmental exposures, including gene environment interactions. Examples of exposures include air pollution and nitrate in drinking water and their effects on health outcomes like NCDs, negative birth outcomes and infections.

Research areas

Our research projects cover the following topics, among others:

Air pollution and family related determinants of NCDs in the population
Nitrate in drinking water and risk of NCDs in the population
Nitrate in drinking water and risk of birth defects, and psychiatric diseases

Recent publications

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Xu, S., Marcon, A., Bertelsen, R. J., Benediktsdottir, B., Brandt, J., Frohn, L. M., Geels, C., Gislason, T., Heinrich, J., Holm, M., Janson, C., Markevych, I., Modig, L., Orru, H., Schlünssen, V., Sigsgaard, T. & Johannessen, A. (2025). Long-term exposure to air pollution and greenness in association with respiratory emergency room visits and hospitalizations: The Life-GAP project. Environmental Research, 270, Article 120938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.120938

Alif, S. M., Benke, G., Kromhout, H., Abramson, M. J., Kogevinas, M., Jarvis, D., Le Moual, N., Dharmage, S., Schlünssen, V., Torén, K., Norback, D., Lytras, T., Carsin, A. E., Svanes, C., Olivieri, M., Dorado-Arenas, S., Urrutia, I., Erquicia, S. P., Acke, S. ... Zock, J. P. (2025). Occupational exposures and incidence of asthma over two decades in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. Thorax. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1136/thorax-2024-222307

Wils, R. S., Flachs, E. M., Stokholm, Z. A., Gustavsson, P., Plato, N., Kolstad, H. A., Sejbæk, C. S., Brauer, C., Schlünssen, V., Hougaard, K. S., Madsen, I. E. H., Rugulies, R., Ketzel, M., Hansen, J., Bang, C. N. F., Kromhout, H., Mehlum, I. S. & Bonde, J. P. (2025). Occupational exposure to diesel engine exhaust and first-time acute myocardial infarction - a nationwide register-based cohort study 1976- 2018. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 32(8), 682-695. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf022

Wils, R. S., Flachs, E. M., Stokholm, Z. A., Kromhout, H., Peters, S., Ohlander, J., Kolstad, H. A., Sejbæk, C. S., Schlünssen, V., Hougaard, K. S., Huitfeldt Madsen, I. E., Rugulies, R., Ketzel, M., Hansen, J., Furbo Bang, C. N., Gustavsson, P., Fleischer, N. L., Mehlum, I. S. & Bonde, J. P. (2025). Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline quartz and the risk of incident acute myocardial infarction. International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 1-13. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2025.2482064

Tourinho, P. S., Hochmanová, Z., Kukučka, P., Hronová, M., Šudoma, M., Sabzevari, S., Alcón, F., Contreras, J., Abrantes, N., Campos, I., Baldi, I., Bureau, M., Alaoui, A., Christ, F., Mandrioli, D., Sgargi, D., Pasković, I., Pasković, M. P., Glavan, M. ... Hofman, J. (2025). Occurrence of pesticide residues in harvested products of various crops from European conventional and organic farming systems. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 495, Article 139113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.139113

Paudel, K., Gautam, K., Hossain Sujan, M. S., Adhikari, P., Bhusal, S., Wickersham, J. A., Bhakta, K. C., Sapkota, S., Dhakal, M., Adhikari, T. B. & Shrestha, R. (2025). Patterns of Alcohol Use and Daily Smoking Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Nepal. Journal of Community Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-025-01456-8