Internship

 Project 1: TB or not TB: Historical differences in Tuberculosis prevalence between the sexes
Supervisors; Mark Spa, Susanna Ukonaho & Mirkka Lahdenperä

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease of the past in many western populations but still remains one of the top infectious killers worldwide (1.25 million people died in 2023, WHO) with the burden being largest in South Asia, Africa and parts of Eastern Europe. It’s estimated that a quarter of the global population is infected but of those only 5-10% will eventually get symptoms. Tuberculosis has long been recognized as a disease with uneven distribution across populations, and evidence suggests that sex plays an important role in TB prevalence and outcomes. However, the relationship is complex: some studies report higher prevalence in men, others in women, and the patterns are likely to differ depending on age group, biological susceptibility, and the risk of exposure.

How these differences came to be and whether they were already present in historical time periods however remains the question. These differences might have shaped population structures in historical times but might have similar effects in contemporary times.
To examine this, in this project you’ll work with an outstanding Finnish historical data set from 1800-1850 containing ~1.4 million individuals with their cause of death recorded. You’ll focus specifically on whether sex differences for Tuberculosis were present but also can take into account the effects of age for example.

You’ll learn to:
-       Work with a large data set in R containing individual level information
-       Apply statistical models that can help you examine this question (GLMM’s, most likely)
-       Critically interpret results on sex effects and dive into the literature to find explanations

Are you a 2nd year master student and interested? Reach out!
Duration 4-6 months.
By email: marspa@utu.fi