Copenhagen Health Complexity Center

Our research is centered around three themes: young adult health, healthcare inequalities, and complexity in public health.

Young adult health:  The vision of the Copenhagen Health Complexity Center is to understand real-world health complexities among young adults. The health and social issue, which arise during this life period, affect not only the individual, but also their families, their workplaces, and may have long-lasting effects on later life health and social trajectories. However, the causes and consequences of these health and social issues are intertwined, complex and often understudied, and fundamental questions on health and social issues among young adults remain unanswered. By shedding light on the distinct patterns and characteristics of health and social issues in this age group, the Center aims to address the underlying dynamics that contribute to these problems. This research theme is funded by TrygFonden.

Healthcare inequalities: Health inequalities are a major societal challenge, and evidence suggests that health inequality is established in childhood and may even transcend generations. More importantly, multiple forms of adversity intersect with each other, and disadvantaged children are often exposed to adversity across multiple biological, health, social, neighborhood, and environmental layers. In the LAYERS project, we will investigate the multiple layers of adversity that generate inequality over the life course and across generations with the vision to help us break vicious circles of adversity and identify children and families who would benefit from targeted support. In the ALFADIAB project, we are researching clinical decision-making from an algorithmic perspective. We aim to audit existing models and build updated algorithms for equitable prognostic clinical prediction of physical and mental disease outcomes as a possible entry point to narrowing health inequalities. In our project related to employment and inequalities, we focus on how employment quality as well as the digitalization of the labor market result in health inequalities across the lifespan, especially among existing vulnerable groups in the labor market. This research theme is funded by TrygFonden, the ERC, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Cancerfonden.

Complexity in public health: At the Copenhagen Health Complexity Center, we develop practical tools for analyzing complex health problems. We design frameworks and software to bridge qualitative and quantitative modeling. Our approach is grounded in the triangulation of theory- and expert-driven research to enhance the robustness and validity of our findings. By synthesizing complex systems methodologies, such as system dynamics, with causal inference techniques, we strive to deliver actionable insights that can inform health policy and clinical practice. This research theme is funded by TrygFonden and RUBICON.

Our key data resources are the Danish Life Course Cohort Study (DANLIFE) and the Well-being in Hospital Employee (WHALE) cohort. We also work with high-resolution tracking data and comprehensive clinical data in the SmartSleep Study.