Multidimensional big data and life-course health: from molecules to society (Health Dimensions)
Health Dimensions is funded by the Research Council of Finland in the Profi8 initiative during 2025-2030.
Society, academia and social and health care systems need to respond to the paradigm shift from “one patient – one disease” to “one patient – one diseasome”. Diseasome is a network of diseases or conditions affecting the same individual and manifests clinically as multimorbidity. Multimorbidity can occur at any age.
Multimorbidity does not occur randomly. It is likely to be caused by shared genomic and molecular pathways together with environmental, behavioural and societal mechanisms operating throughout life. These layers of mechanisms constitute the “Dimensions” of the Health Dimensions programme.
The four themes of Health Dimensions (HD1-HD4) aspire to prevention of multimorbidity through a new level of understanding and acting on these dimensions - lifelong molecular, physiological, environmental, behavioural and societal mechanisms.
Health Dimensions builds on strong infrastructural assets of University of Oulu, including Northern Finland Birth Cohorts that are among the largest and longest prospective birth cohorts worldwide. Health-Dimensions will extend and strengthen the University of Oulu’s competence towards a data-driven healthcare reform as a front runner towards the European Health Data Space and Digitalisation Targets and promote several UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG #3 (Health and well-being) and its target 3.4 “Reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being”.
