INRICH Member Profile Card

Anders Hjern

Anders Hjern

Karolinska Institute, Stockholm



  • 1984 – MD: Karolinska Institute

  • 1990 – PhD: Karolinska Institute

  • 2002 – Certified specialist in child and adolescent medicine

  • 2005 – Adjunct professor in paediatric epidemiology, Uppsala university

  • 2008 – Adjunct professor in paediatric epidemiology, Nordic School of Public Health

  • 2008 – Research associate Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS)

  • 2013 – Professor of Social Epidemiology of Children and Youth, Karolinska Institute


Type of member: Regular


Telephone: 46-8-55553169

Email Address: anders.hjern@su.se

Mailing Address: Centre for Epidemiology, National Board of Health and Welfare, 106 30 Stockholm, Sweden


Collaborative Projects

Perinatal health and inequity

Current research interests
Migration and child health / Inequality and perinatal health / School as a mediator of socio-economic inequalities in child health / Health of adoptees and foster children

Research priorities
Pathways and mechanisms: Cumulative and additive social risk exposures (e.g. transient v. persistent poverty). Social into the biological and epigenetic. Intergenerational influences. | Methodological issues: Methods for examining change over time including longitudinal effects studies. Need to define poverty. Need to study social gradients as well as poverty. Multi-level studies - Society, Family & Individual.


Selected publications

Hjern A, Bergström M, Fransson E, Lindfors A, Bergqvist K. Birth order and socioeconomic disadvantage predict behavioural and emotional problems at age 3 years. Acta Paediatr. 2021 Dec;110(12):3294-3301. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34481422/

Kadir A, Battersby A, Spencer N, Hjern A. Children on the move in Europe: a narrative review of the evidence on the health risks, health needs and health policy for asylum seeking, refugee and undocumented children. BMJ Paediatr Open. 2019 Jan 31;3(1). pii: bmjpo-2018-000364. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000364. https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/3/1/bmjpo-2018-000364

Liu C, Vinnerljung B, Östberg V, Gauffin K, Juarez S, Cnattingius S, Hjern A. Out-of-Home Care and Subsequent Preterm Delivery: An Intergenerational Cohort Study. Pediatrics. 2018 Aug;142(2). Wall-Wieler E, Almquist Y, Liu C, Vinnerljung B, Hjern A. Intergenerational transmission of out-of-home care in Sweden: A population-based cohort study. Child Abuse Negl. 2018 Sep;83:42-51. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30021856/

Wall-Wieler E, Vinnerljung B, Liu C, Roos LL, Hjern A. Avoidable mortality among parents whose children were placed in care in Sweden: a population-based study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2018 Dec;72(12):1091-1098. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30077964/

Zylbersztejn A, Gilbert R, Hjern A, Wijlaars L, Hardelid P. Child mortality in England compared with Sweden: a birth cohort study. Lancet. 2018 May 19;391(10134):2008-2018. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29731173/

Berg L, Back K, Vinnerljung B, Hjern A. Parental alcohol-related disorders and school performance in 16-year-olds-a Swedish national cohort study. Addiction. 2016;111(10):1795-803. Björkenstam E, Vinnerljung B, Hjern A. Impact of childhood adversities on depression in early adulthood: A longitudinal cohort study of 478,141 individuals in Sweden. J Affect Disord. 2017 Dec 1;223:95-100. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27178010/

Liu C, Cnattingius S, Bergstrom M, Ostberg V, Hjern A. Prenatal parental depression and preterm birth: a national cohort study. BJOG. 2016;123(12):1973-82.

Hjern A., Wicks, S., & Dalman, C. (2004). Social adversity contributes to high morbidity in psychoses in immigrants – a national cohort study in two generations of Swedish residents. Psychological Medicine, 34(6), 1025-1033. doi:10.1017/s003329170300148x

Weitoft GR, Hjern A, Haglund B, Rosén M. Mortality, severe morbidity, and injury in children living with single parents in Sweden: a population-based study. Lancet. 2003 Jan 25;361(9354):289-95. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)12324-0.

Hjern A., Lindblad, F. Vinnerljung, B. Suicide, psychiatric illness and social maladjustment in intercountry adoptees in Sweden. Lancet. 2002; 10;360: 443-8. (336 cites)

profile updated: 04/15/2023