C.8. Skills building seminar: From education to connection: advancing social determinants in burden of disease
Abstract
In public health, epidemiology, and burden of disease (BoD) research, social determinants of health are typically operationalised as stratifiers to quantify inequalities. Differences in mortality, life expectancy, and morbidity are routinely compared across socioeconomic groups, such as education, income, or area-level deprivation. While this approach has been instrumental in documenting health inequalities, it risks overlooking a fundamental point: social determinants are not only descriptors of inequality, but causal drivers of health outcomes. Conditions such as poverty, income insecurity, and limited educational opportunities are powerful determinants of ill health and premature mortality. As distal factors, they exert cumulative effects across the life course, shaping exposure to risks, access to resources, and resilience to adverse conditions. However, these determinants are not yet systematically integrated as attributable risk factors within BoD frameworks. Ongoing initiatives, such as the development of an Education Risk Factor Group aligned with the Global Burden of Disease study, aim to address this gap by generating harmonised evidence on the causal impact of education on cause-specific mortality, thereby enabling its inclusion in comparative risk assessment frameworks. Moreover, the operationalisation of social determinants has been largely restricted to socioeconomic indicators, while broader dimensions of social wellbeing remain underdeveloped. In line with the WHO definition of health, the concept of social connection—encompassing social networks, support, and participation—offers an important extension. This is particularly relevant in the context of the growing burden of mental health conditions, where social isolation and lack of connectedness are increasingly recognised as key risk factors. Integrating social connection into BoD approaches could enhance both explanatory power and policy relevance. This workshop aims to bring these perspectives together by critically examining how social determinants are currently used in public health and how they can be reframed as measurable and actionable determinants. Through expert input and interactive discussion, participants will explore methodological challenges, emerging approaches, and future research priorities, with the goal of advancing a more comprehensive and policy-relevant integration of social determinants into health metrics.
Key messages: • Social determinants are often used as stratifiers; treating them as causal drivers enables more effective, upstream public health action.
• Integrating social connection into frameworks can improve understanding of mental health burden and reveal new policy-relevant intervention pathways.
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BibTeX
@article{network2026skills,
title = {{C.8. Skills building seminar: From education to connection: advancing social determinants in burden of disease}},
author = {European Burden of Disease Network and Brecht Devleesschauwer},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.437},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.437},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - C.8. Skills building seminar: From education to connection: advancing social determinants in burden of disease
AU - European Burden of Disease Network
AU - Brecht Devleesschauwer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.437
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.437
AB - In public health, epidemiology, and burden of disease (BoD) research, social determinants of health are typically operationalised as stratifiers to quantify inequalities. Differences in mortality, life expectancy, and morbidity are routinely compared across socioeconomic groups, such as education, income, or area-level deprivation. While this approach has been instrumental in documenting health inequalities, it risks overlooking a fundamental point: social determinants are not only descriptors of inequality, but causal drivers of health outcomes. Conditions such as poverty, income insecurity, and limited educational opportunities are powerful determinants of ill health and premature mortality. As distal factors, they exert cumulative effects across the life course, shaping exposure to risks, access to resources, and resilience to adverse conditions. However, these determinants are not yet systematically integrated as attributable risk factors within BoD frameworks. Ongoing initiatives, such as the development of an Education Risk Factor Group aligned with the Global Burden of Disease study, aim to address this gap by generating harmonised evidence on the causal impact of education on cause-specific mortality, thereby enabling its inclusion in comparative risk assessment frameworks. Moreover, the operationalisation of social determinants has been largely restricted to socioeconomic indicators, while broader dimensions of social wellbeing remain underdeveloped. In line with the WHO definition of health, the concept of social connection—encompassing social networks, support, and participation—offers an important extension. This is particularly relevant in the context of the growing burden of mental health conditions, where social isolation and lack of connectedness are increasingly recognised as key risk factors. Integrating social connection into BoD approaches could enhance both explanatory power and policy relevance. This workshop aims to bring these perspectives together by critically examining how social determinants are currently used in public health and how they can be reframed as measurable and actionable determinants. Through expert input and interactive discussion, participants will explore methodological challenges, emerging approaches, and future research priorities, with the goal of advancing a more comprehensive and policy-relevant integration of social determinants into health metrics. Key messages: • Social determinants are often used as stratifiers; treating them as causal drivers enables more effective, upstream public health action. • Integrating social connection into frameworks can improve understanding of mental health burden and reveal new policy-relevant intervention pathways.
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -