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

Sort by: Date | Author | Title

Jensen, S. S., Ketzel, M., Ellermann, T., Nielsen, O.-K., Plejdrup, M. S., Winther, M., Andersen, M. S. & Sigsgaard, T. (2021). Helbredseffekter af Black Carbon i Københavns Kommune. Aarhus University, DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy. Videnskabelig rapport fra DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi No. 430

Meteran, H., Thomsen, S. F., Miller, M. R., Hjelmborg, J., Sigsgaard, T. & Backer, V. (2021). Impact of the spirometric definition on comorbidities in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Respiratory Medicine, 184, Article 106399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2021.106399

Nordeide Kuiper, I., Svanes, C., Markevych, I., Accordini, S., Bertelsen, R. J., Bråbäck, L., Heile Christensen, J., Forsberg, B., Halvorsen, T., Heinrich, J., Hertel, O., Hoek, G., Holm, M., de Hoogh, K., Janson, C., Malinovschi, A., Marcon, A., Miodini Nilsen, R., Sigsgaard, T. & Johannessen, A. (2021). Lifelong exposure to air pollution and greenness in relation to asthma, rhinitis and lung function in adulthood. Environment International, 146, Article 106219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106219

Liu, S., Lim, Y. H., Pedersen, M., Jorgensen, J. T., Amini, H., Cole-Hunter, T., Mehta, A. J., So, R., Mortensen, L. H., G.J. Westendorp, R., Loft, S., Bräuner, E. V., Ketzel, M., Hertel, O., Brandt, J., Jensen, S. S., Christensen, J. H., Sigsgaard, T., Geels, C. ... Andersen, Z. J. (2021). Long-term air pollution and road traffic noise exposure and COPD: the Danish Nurse Cohort. European Respiratory Journal, 58(6), Article 2004594. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.04594-2020

So, R., Mehta, A. J., Chen, J., Liu, S., Strak, M., Wolf, K., Hvidtfeldt, U. A., Rodopoulou, S., Stafoggia, M., Klompmaker, J. O., Samoli, E., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Atkinson, R., Bauwelink, M., Bellander, T., Boutron-Rualt, M.-C., Brandt, J., Brunekreef, B., Cesaroni, G. ... Andersen, Z. J. (2021). Long-term exposure to air pollution and liver cancer incidence in six European cohorts. International Journal of Cancer, 149(11), 1887-1897. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.33743