Seeking the factors that lead to illness and injury
Finding out who falls ill and why is essential to preventative action. Jette Möller conducts epidemiological research on our major health issues – cardiovascular disease, mental ill-health and injuries. Meet one of Karolinska Institutet's new professors who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, in translation to English for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2024
What are you researching?
“I do epidemiological research on our most common diseases. My research projects aim to identify who gets sick and determine why some people get sick and others don’t. I’m also studying the consequences of disease and how different diseases are connected – for example how mental ill-health affects physical health. My main areas of concern are cardiovascular disease, mental ill-health and injuries. At the moment, I’m exploring the risk of injuries in the elderly. One study we’re doing is on elderly people and how health status and medication affect the risk of road traffic accidents.”
Why is this type of research important?
“As individuals, we’re responsible for our health, and as a society for minimising ill-health and its consequences. Answering questions about what causes ill-health and how we can avoid it is crucial to being able to work preventatively and reduce health inequalities.”
How are you going about this?
“My research is based on quantitative analyses of big data volumes that often cover the entire population. I’m analysing both self-reported data from questionnaires and data from our Swedish health registries.”
Can you say something about your findings so far?
“One of the things we’ve discovered amongst the elderly is that newly prescribed medication regimens for psychiatric and cardiovascular diseases increase the risk of unintentional poisoning. Other analyses show that almost all of the 13 medical conditions listed in the Swedish driving licence regulations are often present in elderly drivers who have been injured in road traffic crashes.”
About Jette Möller
Professor of Public Health Epidemiology at the Department of Global Public Health
Jette Möller was born in 1970 in the Danish town of Køge. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in statistics from Linköping University and a Master’s in public health science from Karolinska Institutet. In 2003, she earned her PhD with a thesis on the factors that trigger myocardial infarction. She became docent at Karolinska Institutet in 2011 and senior lecturer in 2013. Since 2010, Jette Möller has led the development of Karolinska Institutet’s Master’s programme in public health sciences, for which she has been programme director since 2016. Jette Möller was appointed Professor of Public Health Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet on 14 June 2024.