The HUNT Research Centre

Levanger, Norway

link: http://www.ntnu.edu/hunt

Participants

Prof Kristian Hveem MD PhD
Prof Arnulf Langhammer MD PhD

The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (The HUNT Study) is one of the largest health studies ever performed. It is a unique database started in 1986 of personal and family medical histories collected during three intensive studies, HUNT1, HUNT2 and HUNT3. The fundamental strategy is to earn and maintain the confidence of the population we work in and with as is necessary for any successful population study. This strategy has been successful and has resulted in extraordinarily high participation rates. There is enthusiastic public and political support for HUNT and for the HUNT Research Centre. This has created a good basis for further health surveys in the county and an excellent research environment.

HUNT Research Centre collaborates with national and international research groups on some of the important health topics facing our world today using the most modern techniques and our state of the art biobank.

Today, the HUNT Study is a database with information about approximately 120,000 people that integrates family data and individual data and can be linked to national health registries.

Repeated examinations and follow-up of the same population make it possible to ascertain changes in health and vital status at individual and family levels.

The HUNT Study is reinforced and supplemented by cross-referencing with registries at the regional level (Registries such as radial and hip fractures, venous thrombosis, lung embolism, ischemic heart disease and stroke) and with registries at the national level (The Cancer Register, The Medical Birth Register, and The National Health Insurance Register). Additionally, Statistics Norway provides necessary information from The Population Census Register and The Family Register to create a genealogical database ("family trees").