OPEN's Postdoc receives 300,000 DKK from Lundbeckfonden
Mette Bliddal, Postdoc at OPEN, has received 300,000 DKK from Lundbeck's funds for health research.
Mette Bliddal receives the 300,000 DKK for validation and further development of a co-morbidity index for use among women in labor and new mothers.
Although serious illness and mortality among women during pregnancy and childbirth are very rare in Denmark, we should do everything to avoid any cases. When studying possible causes of serious illness or death among new mothers, it is important to take into account other factors that can affect a woman's health and consequently her risk of illness and death. Researchers in the US have developed an index that with a single score summarizes disease burden for the individual woman and, in addition, can be used to identify markers that can predict a possible increased risk of serious disease or increased mortality among mothers in the postnatal period. Up until now, the index has only been validated on a high-selected group of women.
The funds from Lundbeck will be used to validate and further develop the abovementioned co-morbidity index on the entire Danish population of mothers who have given birth in the period between 2000-2014 using data from Danish health registers. A well-validated co-morbidity index for obstetric patients could be used 1) clinically, to identify women who are at high obstetric risk and therefore should be referred to the proper obstetric means, and 2) as a tool to check for another illness when you want to examine causality in public health studies.
The project is conducted in collaboration with Associate Professor Anton Pottegård, Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacy, SDU, Adjunct Sören Möller, OPEN, and physician Christina Winter, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.