This forthcoming systematic review and meta-analysis will draw on comprehensive bibliographic databases to identify evidence on prolonged health consequences following the last five influenza pandemics.
The review will consider multiple exposure pathways including influenza infection and other pandemic-related exposures.
The language restriction may result in an important loss of evidence, particularly for earlier pandemics.
Heterogeneous evidence from earlier pandemics may limit the comparability across the influenza pandemics studied.
For the 3rd Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2026 series we are pleased to welcome Vibeke Narverud Nyborg (University of South-Eastern Norway). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 15 October at the normal time (16:00 CEST). More information about our speakers and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.
About the talk:
The talk addresses a relatively unexplored area within the study of historical pandemics: the memories of people who survived the influenza pandemic of 1918. Specifically, the talk focuses on how individual recollections and experiences can emerge as representations of a medical catastrophe, and how these memories can shed light on the long-term consequences of the pandemic. Through an analysis of personal narratives, the talk will explore a range of themes and show these can be understood in light of contemporary understandings of disease and health, as well as how people made sense of the crisis that struck, especially related to bereavement.
The talk is based on a paper currently undergoing review.
About the speaker:
Vibeke Narverud Nyborg is an associate Professor in history of medicine and health at University of South-Eastern Norway. Nyborg has been affiliated member of PANSOC since 2021 and among her research focus is qualitative research on historical pandemics in relation to long-term societal effects.
For the second Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2026 series we are pleased to welcome Lauren Steele (RMIT University). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 8 October at the normal time (16:00 CEST). More information about the speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.
About the talk:
This talk aims to shed light on the impact of age on mortality risk across four influenza pandemics in multiple populations. I will present new research documenting that the absolute and percentage mortality patterns emphasized different aspects of age-specific risk across pandemics, illustrating that the metric choice influences how age patterns are interpreted. By comparing mortality data across multiple populations, this research challenges prior assumptions based on US-centric data and highlights the heterogeneity of age-specific risk across pandemics.
Senterleder Mamelund forteller her en historie fra eget fagfelt om hvor viktig det er å ikke gå ut for hardt og tidlig, men heller gi det tid for å bygge forskning fra bunn av som gir impact både for vitenskap og politikk.
Background: Anthropometric traits are established determinants of chronic disease, yet their role in shaping infectious diseaseoutcomes during historical pandemics remains underexplored. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, obesity emerged as anovel, independent risk factor for severe illness, raising questions about whether physique and nutritional state have consistentlyinfluenced pandemic outcomes across history.Methods: We present the first large-scale, systematic analysis of body size and influenza severity during the 1918 pandemic,using a newly constructed and validated cohort of World War 1 service men from the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), CanadianExpeditionary Force and New Zealand Expeditionary Force (N = 1444).Results: Multivariable regression analyses revealed that larger chest circumference was associated with reduced odds of death(odds ratio [OR] 0.90 per 1-cm increase, 95% CI 0.81–0.99). Body mass index (BMI) showed a non-linear association with mortal-ity, with BMI values below 22 kg/m2 significantly associated with lower odds of death. Length of hospital stay was shorter amongmembers of the AIF (rate ratio [RR] 0.61, 95% CI 0.54–0.70), and increasing age and height exhibited non-linear associations withlonger hospitalisation. BMI was not associated with length of hospitalisation.Conclusion: Anthropometric measures were associated with influenza outcomes during the 1918 pandemic, although effectswere context dependent. These results highlight the continued need to integrate anthropometric and nutritional factors intomodern pandemic preparedness frameworks, particularly as populations worldwide continue to face overlapping burdens ofundernutrition and obesity
We are pleased to release the schedule for our Fall 2026 seminar series. As in previous series, the seminar will be held via Zoom at 16.00 Central European Time on Thursdays.
To access the Zoom meetings, please join our mailing list here.
10 September: Robert Braid (University of Montpellier), “Crisis Control: Market Regulation after the Black Death”.
8 October: Lauren Steele (RMIT University), “Age-specific mortality patterns across influenza pandemics: evidence from all-cause mortality data across multiple populations”.
15 October: Vibeke Nyborg Narverud (University of South-Eastern Norway), “What can the Collier letters from the mid-1970s tell us about 1918 influenza bereavement?”.
12 November: Moritz Oberndorfer (University of Helsinki), “Parental socioeconomic composition of birth cohorts changed during the COVID-19 pandemic”.
26 November: Thomas Joseph Crellen (National University of Singapore), “Yellow fever in Gibraltar”.
This study investigates the relationship between non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and influenza morbidity during the 1918 pandemic, with a focus on urban and rural medical districts in Norway. By integrating published secondary statistical data from 1918 from Statistics Norway with primary medical records from the Norwegian National Archive, the paper offers a novel historical data set to explore the timing and frequency of NPIs in relation to monthly reported influenza and pneumonia morbidity cases. Despite inherent limitations in the historical data, the findings suggest that a greater number of NPIs may have contributed to a delay in the onset and/or a reduction in the intensity of influenza morbidity. These results support the premise that the combined implementation of multiple NPIs was more effective in delaying and flattening the epidemic curve. The findings underscore the importance of early, coordinated and sustained non-pharmaceutical responses in mitigating the spread of infectious diseases, especially in the absence of pharmaceutical treatments or vaccines.
The paper is a collaboration between Vibeke Narverud Nyborg (first author), Hilde Orderud and Svenn-Erik Mamelund.
This research aimed to understand the impact of age on mortality risk across four influenza pandemics in multiple populations.
We found that the absolute and percentage mortality patterns emphasized different aspects of age-specific risk across pandemics, illustrating that the metric choice influences how age patterns are interpreted.
By comparing mortality data across multiple populations, this research challenges prior assumptions based on US-centric data and highlights the heterogeneity of age-specific risk across pandemics.
As part of the New CAS project: “Scarred people” – Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC), Centre leader Mamelund has presented his research in workshops in Tampere (17 April) and in Helsinki (21 April). He also participated in day-to-day academic and social activities in both cities. As the study context of the “Scarred people”-project was the city of Tampere, he also visited several museums and had several walks to understand the pulse and the social and economic history of the city.
Program workshop in Tampere:
“The Scarring Effects of Wars, Crises and Diseases at 20th century–Lifespan, Health and Intergenerationality“:
Jarmo Peltola and Sakari Saaritsa, Diagnoses, Scarring, selection, interaction: The longevity effects of a 1916 Typhoid Epidemic in a Finnish Industrial City
Jarmo Peltola, Leena Enbom and Sakari Saaritsa, Scarred City. Exploring Lifespan and Mortality Patterns among Former Civil War, Participants in Tampere
Virva Liski, Ilari Taskinen & Ville Kivimäki, Health at war: social and regional patterns of morbidity among Finnish soldiers in the Second World War
Emma Raitoharju, Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects of War Stress: Follow-up Study on Finnish Soldiers of World War II and Their Descendants
The event was organized by: Tampere Institute for Advanced Study, Tampere University, Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki, HEX Centre for the History of Experience, Tampere University.
Program workshop at the University of Helsinki:
“SCAR/RED: The impact of epidemics and civil conflict on population health, past and present“
Time: April 21st, 2026
Venue: TBA, University of Helsinki & Zoom
All times Eastern European Summer Time (Helsinki)
10.00-12.00
Svenn-Erik Mamelund (OsloMet Centre for Research on Pandemics and Society (PANSOC)): Social Inequalities & Pandemics
Jarmo Peltola & Sakari Saaritsa (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Scarring, Selection, Interaction: The Longevity Effects of a 1916 Typhoid Epidemic in a Finnish Industrial City
Serena Vigezzi (University of Southern Denmark, Stockholm University & Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Lifespan Variation in the Wake of COVID-19
Tuuli Hurme (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Short-Term Effects of the 1917-1919 Turmoil on Child Health in Helsinki, Finland
12-13 Lunch
13.00-14.30
Jarmo Peltola & Sakari Saaritsa (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Selection, distribution and change in birth weights during the Great Depression of the 1930s in an urban near-complete count data
Moritz Oberndorfer et al. (MaxHel, University of Helsinki): Social Inequalities in Birthweight in Times of Crisis: A Population-Wide Analysis of Social Inequalities in Birthweight Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic Using Individual-Level Data from 14 Countries
Jarmo Peltola, Leena Enbom & Sakari Saaritsa (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Scarred City: Exploring Lifespan and Mortality Patterns among Former Civil War Participants in Tampere, Finland
