Research Groups

In order to build stronger national and international networks for the PhD students and supervisors of the EPINOR research school we have made an (incomlete) list of research groups that fit the EPINOR scientific profile.  

UiT — The Arc­tic Uni­ver­sity of Tromsø

NTNU

The University of Oslo

 

The Uni­ver­sity of Bergen

 

  • National Insti­tute of Occu­pa­tional Health
  • Sec­tion for Tox­i­col­ogy and Bio­log­i­cal Work Environment
  • Work psy­chol­ogy and physiology
  • Occu­pa­tional Med­i­cine and Epidemiology
  • Occu­pa­tional Health Surveillance
  • Work par­tic­i­pa­tion and work-related health: a life course perspective
  • Work­place Stress among Nurses
  • Shiftwork, sleep and pain
  • Epidemiology of work-related skin diseases in Norway
  •  

 

Can­cer Reg­istry of Nor­way

Nor­we­gian Insti­tute of Pub­lic Health

  • The Noise and Health Research Group

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

 

1. Sys­tem Epidemiology

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Eiliv Lund UiT — The Arc­tic Uni­ver­sity of Tromsø The col­lec­tion of data started in the Nor­we­gian Women and Can­cer (NOWAC) cohort study in 1991. After 15 years the cohort con­sist of ques­tion­naire infor­ma­tion from 170 000 women with repeated col­lec­tion of infor­ma­tion after 4–6 years (2 or 3 times) and a biobank with more than 60 000 blood samples.Ongoing col­lec­tion of ques­tion­naires and bio­log­i­cal samples: Col­lec­tion of biop­sies from breast tissue malig­nant tumours nor­mal tissue The NOWAC Epi­demi­ol­ogy study group At present the researcher group in the NOWAC study con­sists of 3 pro­fes­sors, 4 asso­ciate pro­fes­sors and 6 post­docs. In addi­tion, the group in Nor­way has sev­eral PhD stu­dents, and a tech­ni­cal staff.

2. SAMINOR, Center for Sami Health Research

Group Leader: Ann Ragnhild Broderstad The population-based surveys of health and living conditions in areas with both Sami and Norwegian populations (SAMINOR) were conducted in 2003–2004 (SAMINOR 1) and 2012–2014 (SAMINOR 2). The SAMINOR surveys are epidemiological projects of a cross-sectional and longitudinal nature. Biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) such as blood pressure, triglycerides, and total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, have been integral in these surveys. The surveys were conducted in the rural and multi-ethnic population of Northern Norway and a particular emphasis was put on the Sami population. SAMINOR 2 data is ready for analysis by early spring 2015. By using data from SAMINOR 1 and 2 we propose to calculate and assess the total risk of CVD in the multi-ethnic population of Northern Norway; this is to be done by using conventional biological risk factors, NORRISK and other appropriate CVD risk models such as the Framingham risk score. Another aim is to explore if these risk assessments varies by socioeconomic status. We also suggest linking SAMINOR 1 data with endpoint data from the Cardiovascular Disease in Norway (CVDNOR) register and the Norwegian Causes of Death Register as to evaluated total risk for CVD and CVD death within a period of 5–6 years. By using data from SAMINOR 1 and 2 the proposed PhD project will provide information on both the prevalence and time trends in cardiovascular risk factors in the population. Through the analysis of both immediate and underlying causes, important drivers of population health and ill health in Northern Norway may be identified. This project thus incorporates two out of four EPINOR criteria (population-based study and lifestyle-related diseases). Additionally, as emphasised by EPINOR, the proposed project also includes the use of biomarkers and linkage to disease and death registries.

3. Air­ways, Skele­ton and Nutrition

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Arnulf Lang­ham­mer Nor­we­gian Uni­ver­sity of Sci­ence and Tech­nol­ogy, NTNU The research group uses mainly data and bio­logic mate­r­ial from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study for three dif­fer­ent fields of research; a)respiratory symp­toms and dis­eases as aller­gic rhini­tis, asthma, chronic obstruc­tive pul­monary dis­ease and lung can­cer, b) osteo­poro­sis and frac­ture risk and c)the role of vit­a­min D for devel­op­ment of above men­tioned dis­eases, obe­sity and other chronic dis­eases. The group includes researcher from more depart­ments at the Fac­ulty of Med­i­cine as well as Depart­ment of Human Move­ment Sci­ence, NTNU.

4. Weight-gene , HUNT Research Center

Group Leader: Kirsti Kvaløy Nor­we­gian Uni­ver­sity of Sci­ence and Tech­nol­ogy, NTNU Obe­sity is an increas­ingly gol­bal prob­lem. Despite recent rein­force­ment within this sci­en­tific field, there are still large knowl­edge gaps con­cern­ing impor­tant basic and com­plex cause-effect rela­tion­ships. The major focus in our research group is to study obestiy, wheight prob­lems and meta­bolic traits tak­ing genet­ics, envi­ron­ment and gene-environment inter­ac­tions into account. We study gen­tic effects at var­i­ous ages (birth, ado­les­cence, adult­hood) using the HUNT cohort linked to Med­ical Birth Reg­istry data. Addi­tional, inher­i­tance pat­terns both epi­demi­o­log­i­cally and by using genetic vari­ants are inves­ti­gated in HUNT fam­i­lies. The focus on iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of envi­ron­men­tal as well as parents-of-origin effects will be impor­tant aspects of our project. The project will con­tribute to local and regional upgrad­ing of skills regard­ing advances family-based genetic epi­demi­oloy, as well as increas­ing the uti­liza­tion of the valu­able and unique family-based mate­r­ial in HUNT. At the moment the group con­sists of the fol­low­ing at HUNT: Kirsti Kvaløy (research sci­en­tis, group leader), Turid Lin­gaas Hol­men (MD, prof), Marit Næss (PhD stu­dent) and Farzaneh S. Sar­da­haee (PhD stu­dent), Geret brat­berg (ass.prof). At NTNU: Mette Lan­gaas (assoc.prof), Kari Risnes (MD, Post-doc) and Trine Eik-Nes (PhD student). Inter­na­tional part­ners: Heather Cordell (New­cas­tle Uni­ver­sity, UK), Andy DeWan (Uni­ver­sity of Yale, USA), Nadia Micali (UCL, UK), Elis­a­bete W.Vainio and Trine Rounge (Folkhel­san, Finland)

5. Epi­demi­ol­ogy & Med­ical statistics

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Lars Johan Vat­ten Nor­we­gian Uni­ver­sity of Sci­ence and Tech­nol­ogy, NTNU Life­course & inter­gen­er­a­tional epi­demi­ol­ogy, can­cer epi­demi­ol­ogy (focus on breast can­cer), car­dio­vas­cu­lar epi­demi­ol­ogy, peri­na­tal and repro­duc­tive epidemiology

6. Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology

Group Leader: Professor Geir Wenberg Jacobsen Nor­we­gian Uni­ver­sity of Sci­ence and Tech­nol­ogy, NTNU a. SGA - Comprehensive data were collected in the late 1980s from a sample of pregnant women at three Scandinavian universities (Trondheim, Bergen and Uppsala). The main aim was to study how biological, behavioral and environmental factors influence feta! growth through the second half of pregnancy. Selected children were assessed through their first year of life and again at five years of age. Follow up included comprehensive assessments of physical, psychomotor and behavioral afflictions arnong children who were growth restricted (illGR) or were lighter than expected at birth (SGA). A subsample in Trondheim was assessed at school age (10 years), as adolescents (14 years) and again as young adults (19 years). A main focus is a 25 year follow up of mothers and offspring. b. PACT - In 2000 the Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim (PACT) study was initiated as a cohort study in primary health. Prophylactic measures to induce behavioral changes in tobacco smoking, cad liver oil consumption, oily fish, and indoor dampness were developed in collaboration between general practitioners, midwives, public health visitors and parents. A control cohort was sel up to monitor changes and trends in lifestyle, diet habits, as well as in incidence of allergic diseases, and was "followed up as usual". Pregnant women were recruited consecutively until the last 2 year old was included and assessed. Information was collected in parental self-reported questionnaires until 2 years of age. End points regarding allergic disease as well as a health inventory were completed separately at 2 and 6 years of age. Recruitment to an intervention cohort started in 2002 among all participants included during pregnancy. The data provide cross­ sectional information that permits estimates for trends in exposure, behavior and disease. The most recent focus is on the faecal microbiota diversity in a large 16S rRNAgene data set from a subcohort of 86 healthy mothers and their children.

7. Epi­demi­o­log­i­cal Stud­ies of Lifestyle and Chronic Diseases

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Marit Veierød Uni­ver­sity of Oslo We mainly study: Lifestyle (ultra­vi­o­let expo­sure, diet, overweight/weight change) and risk/prognosis of chronic diseases Mea­sure­ment errors, miss­ing data and bias in exposure-disease asso­ci­a­tions in epi­demi­o­log­i­cal studies. Opti­mal use of sta­tis­ti­cal meth­ods in med­ical studies.

8. Inter­na­tional Health — Infec­tious Dis­eases Research Group

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Gun­nar Bjune Uni­ver­sity of Oslo The main research areas are in infec­tious dis­eases invclud­ing a) vac­ci­nol­ogy and immunol­ogy, b) tuber­cu­lo­sis, c) HIV, d) Health Infor­ma­tion Sustem research and e) co-infection of dia­betes mel­li­tus and infec­tious disease. The research group con­sists of researchers with dif­fer­ent educational/work back­grounds and inter­na­tional expe­ri­ence from the field.

9. Inter­na­tional Health — Non-Communicable dis­eases research group

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Akhtar Hus­sain Uni­ver­sity of Oslo The main areas are on non-communicable dis­eases with a focus on dia­betes type II and lean dia­betes. THe group har also projects within mater­nal health (ges­ta­tional dia­betes), dia­betes and depres­sion, and co-infection of dia­betes and infec­tious diseases.

10. Inter­na­tional Health — Repro­duc­tive and Sex­ual Health Research Group

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Johanne Sundby Uni­ver­sity of Oslo The mail areas are on repro­duc­tive and sex­ual helath includ­ing a) repro­duc­tive health and human rights, adole­cent sex­ual health, b) female gen­i­tal muti­la­tion, c) HIV and other STI’s, d) abor­tion and post abor­tion care, and e) stud­ies on qual­ity of health personnel’s atti­tudes within mater­nal health. We have exper­tise in Multi-disciplinary knowl­edge of health chal­lenges within the the­matic area International/Global Health and infec­tious dis­eases. The Research Group con­sists of researchers with dif­fer­ent educational/work bach­grounds and inter­na­tional expe­ri­ence from the field.

11. Genetic Epi­demiol­ogy Research Group

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Tone Bjørge Uni­ver­sity of Bergen The research in our group is directed towards study­ing early deter­mi­nants of can­cer and birth defects, long-term fol­low up of chil­dren with spe­cific health con­di­tions and at ana­lytic and method­olog­i­cal issues applic­a­ble to genetic epidemiology. We take advan­tage of the unique pre­req­ui­sites for epi­demi­o­logic research in Nor­way as national health reg­istries (e.g. Med­ical Birth Reg­istry of Nor­way and Can­cer Reg­istry of Nor­way), large scale health sur­veys and biobanks (Nor­wa­gian Mother and Child Cohort study) which can be linked using the national iden­ti­fi­ca­tion num­ber allo­cated to all indi­vid­u­als in Norway.

12. Research group for lifestyle epidemiology

Group Leader: Pro­fes­sor Grethe Tell Uni­ver­sity of Bergen The group focuses on epi­demi­o­logic stud­ies on causes for dis­eases, par­tic­u­lar lifestyle fac­tors and other social fac­tors. We use data from health reg­istries like the Nor­we­gian Med­ical Birth Reg­istry, the West­ern Nor­way Car­dio­vas­cu­lar Reg­istry, the Nor­we­gian Can­cer reg­istry, the Nor­we­gian Pre­scrip­tion data­base, the Cause of Death Reg­istry, the National Mul­ti­ple Scle­ro­sis Reg­istry, Nor­we­gian Patient Reg­istry and social secu­rity data. Cen­tral sources for stud­ies are large pop­u­la­tion based sur­veys like The Horda­land Health Study ’97-’99 (HUSK), The Homo­cys­teine study in Horda­land and The Nor­we­gian Mother and Child Cohort Study. An impor­tant ele­ment in this research is the close rela­tion­ship to clin­i­cal milieus and also the strong weight on epi­demi­o­log­i­cal methods.

13. The Noise and Health Research Group

Group Leader: Gunn Marit Aas­vang Nor­we­gian Insti­tute of Pub­lic Health The noise and health research group at the Depart­ment og Air Pol­lu­tion and Noise, Divi­sion of Envi­ron­men­tal Med­i­cine con­sists per Octo­ber 2013 of three sci­en­tists, one PhD stu­dent and two Mas­ter stu­dents. One more PhD stu­dent will start in Nov/Dec 2013. The Research of health effects of noise is highly mulit­disi­pli­nary and involves exper­tise such as envi­ron­men­tal epi­demi­ol­ogy, sta­tis­tics, psy­chol­ogy, phys­i­ol­ogy, soci­ol­ogy and acoustics, which are mostly cov­ered within the group. Sev­eral research projects have exam­ined effects of traf­fic noise on sleep, using var­i­ous meth­ods of assess­ing sleep dis­tur­bances. In recent years projects have also been focused on asso­ci­a­tions between traf­fic noise and car­dio­vas­cu­lar health out­comes, as well as risk fac­tors for car­dio­vas­cu­lar disease. As a basis for our research we have used data from HUBRO and HELMILO in which noise are mod­elles as res­i­den­tial addresses. Thus, the noise and health research are mostly epi­demi­o­log­i­cal in design. In a newly NRC funded project we will exam­ine noise effects in chil­dren by using data from the Nor­we­gian Mother and child cohort (MoBa). The group has col­lab­o­ra­tion with acousti­cians at SINTEF, IKT, Oslo Kom­mune and Miljøakustikk as regard­ing noise expo­sure assess­ment. Furhter­more, the group has project col­lab­o­ra­tion with sci­en­tists at Karolin­ska insti­tute (Stock­holm, Swe­den), UMB, UiB, UiO and Queen Mary Uni­ver­sity of Lon­don, in addi­tion to the Depart­ment of Chronic Dis­ease at NIPH. Sci­en­tists in the group are also involved in two large EU funded projects ESCAPE — Euro­pean study of Cohorts for Air Pol­lu­tion Effects and HELIX — The Human Early-Life Expo­some — novel tools for inte­grat­ing early-life envi­ron­men­tal expo­sure and child health across Europe.

14. National Insti­tute of Occu­pa­tional Health Sec­tion for Tox­i­col­ogy and Bio­log­i­cal Work Environment

Group Leader: Aage Hau­gen The main focus of our research group is on under­stand­ing mech­a­nisms for indi­vid­ual sus­cep­ti­bil­ity to dis­ease. We have specif­i­cally inves­ti­gated gene envi­ron­ment inter­ac­tions in sus­cep­ti­bil­ity to lung can­cer. In col­lab­o­ra­tion with Depart­ment of Occu­pa­tional Med­i­cine and Epi­demi­ol­ogy we have recently started inves­ti­gat­ing gene-environment inter­ac­tions in breast can­cer among shift workers. We have estab­lished lung can­cer biobank that con­sists of nor­mal and tumor tis­sues, DNA and RNA from both tis­sues. We are involved in sev­eral col­lab­o­ra­tive national and inter­na­tional projects. Our group is mem­ber of the inter­na­tional lung can­cer con­sor­tium (ILCCO). We have also a biobank con­sist­ing of 1182 DNA and saliva sam­ples from nurses work­ing night shift in Norway.

15. Work psy­chol­ogy and physiology

Group Leader: Head of Dept. Stein Knar­dahl At the moment our group is focus­ing on four main activ­i­ties; 1) Mechan­i­cal expo­sures at work (heavy phys­i­cal work) and mus­cu­loskele­tal symp­toms 2) Psy­cho­log­i­cal expo­sures related to health, work­a­bil­ity, and absence from work 3) Shift work, sleep depri­va­tion, and pain 4) Work, genes, and pain In addi­tion our plan is to once again focus on periph­eral mech­a­nisms of pain.

16. Occu­pa­tional Med­i­cine and Epidemiology

Group Leader: Head Sci­en­tist Marit Skogstad The group con­sists of researchers from the National Insti­tute of Occu­pa­tional Health, The Oslo Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal, Fac­ulty Divi­sion Rik­shos­pi­talet, Dep. of Res­pi­ra­tory Med­i­cine and the Uni­ver­sity of Oslo, Insti­tute of Health and Society. This group has had col­lab­o­ra­tion with Uni­ver­si­ties on the West Bank since the 1990’s with includ­ing the Uni­ver­sity of Hebron. The present group has mainly been engaged in stud­ies of occu­pa­tional expo­sures and health such as farm­ers and pes­ti­cide use, sol­vents and shoe work­ers and female hairdressers.

17. Occu­pa­tional Health Surveillance

Group Leader: Sci­en­tist Tom Sterud The group’s prin­ci­pal activ­ity is to ana­lyze national population-based data in order to pro­vide bet­ter knowl­edge con­cern­ing work­ing con­di­tions and health in Norway. Our activ­ity is cur­rently directed towards two main areas: 1) to iden­tify work-related mechan­i­cal fac­tors that con­tribute to mus­cu­loskele­tal com­plaints, sick leave and dis­abil­ity 2) to iden­tify work-related psy­choso­cial fac­tors that con­tribute to men­tal health, mus­cu­los­ke­tal com­plaints, sick leave and disability.

18. Work par­tic­i­pa­tion and work-related health: a life course perspective

Group Leader: Head Sci­en­tist Pet­ter Kris­tensen We pri­mar­ily con­duct research that inves­ti­gates the impact of early life course deter­mi­nants on health– and social– out­comes later in life. Our par­tic­u­lar focus is on under­stand­ing how people’s work­ing con­di­tions are asso­ci­ated with both early deter­mi­nants and later health, and on esti­mat­ing the strength of these asso­ci­a­tions. In try­ing to dis­en­tan­gle the com­plex rela­tion­ship, we use an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary the­o­ret­i­cal frame­work that syn­the­sizes con­cepts from psy­chol­ogy, soci­ol­ogy, econo­met­rics, med­i­cine and epidemiology. The source pop­u­la­tion for our research is all 626 928 indi­vid­u­als born in Nor­way from 1967 to 1976. We obtained annu­ally updated data on health and demog­ra­phy from national reg­istries, from 1967 up until 2012, for both the indi­vid­u­als and their par­ents. This registry-based mate­r­ial has fur­ther been linked with the prospec­tive health sur­veys The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT 3) and The Nor­we­gian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Our main ana­lyt­i­cal approach is based on life­course epi­demi­ol­ogy or the study of long-term health effects of phys­i­cal and social expo­sures dur­ing ges­ta­tion, child­hood, ado­les­cence, young adult­hood and later adult life. This approach entails sev­eral method­olog­i­cal chal­lenges, such as such as how to model repeat obser­va­tions, how to deal with hier­ar­chi­cal struc­tures, and latent expo­sures, and how to draw causal con­clu­sions based on obser­va­tional data. Our research group is col­lab­o­rat­ing with researchers at the Depart­ment of Bio­sta­tis­tics, Uni­ver­sity of Oslo and Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity, New York, in order to strengthen our method­olog­i­cal understanding. Prior pub­li­ca­tions have addressed asso­ci­a­tions between early life deter­mi­nants (child­hood social con­di­tions, social inter­ac­tion within the fam­ily, health and health indi­ca­tors) and out­comes (work par­tic­i­pa­tion includ­ing dis­abil­ity pen­sion and sick­ness absence, sta­tus attain­ment, cause-specific mor­tal­ity) in young adult age. A few method arti­cles have also been published.

19. Work­place Stress among Nurses

Group Leader: Sci­en­tist Rita Bast-Pettersen In Nor­way: Rita Bast-Pettersen and Pet­ter Kris­tensen: National Insti­tute of Occu­pa­tional Health, Depart­ment of Occu­pa­tional Med­i­cine and Epi­demi­ol­ogy Espen Bjert­ness and Hein Stigum: Sec­tion for Pre­ven­tive Med­i­cine and Epi­demi­ol­ogy, Depart­ment of Prac­tice and Com­mu­nity The group has exper­tise in Epi­demi­ol­ogy, in Occu­pa­tional Health and health among Health Care personnel.

20. Can­cer Reg­istry of Nor­way, Insti­tute of Population-based Can­cer Research

Head of Research Depart­ment: Pro­fes­sor Elis­a­bete Wei­der­pass Vainio The Can­cer Reg­istry of Nor­way is a Research Insti­tute respon­si­ble for the national can­cer reg­istry and two national screen­ing pro­grams; the Breast Can­cer Screen­ing Pro­gram and the Cer­vi­cal Screen­ing Pro­gram. The main research areas are eti­o­log­i­cal, screening-based and clin­i­cal research. a) The recent focus of the eti­o­log­i­cal stud­ies have been work– and envi­ron­ment related expo­sures, hor­mones, life style related fac­tors, life­course research, and HPV in rela­tion to can­cer. In addi­tion, the Janus Serum Bank allows for stud­ies with test­ing of bio­log­i­cal samples. b) In col­lab­o­ra­tion with clin­i­cal and inter­na­tional researchers, the Can­cer Reg­istry of Nor­way uses the data from the screen­ing pro­grams to increase the knowl­edge of both Breast and Cer­vi­cal can­cer. Cur­rently, a Col­orec­tal Can­cer Screen­ing Pro­gram are being piloted. c) Clin­i­cal reg­istries – com­pre­hen­sive reg­is­tra­tion schemes ded­i­cated to spe­cific can­cers – have been estab­lished to include detailed infor­ma­tion on diag­nos­tic mea­sures, ther­apy, and follow-up. By fos­ter­ing strong col­lab­o­ra­tive links with the clin­i­cal com­mu­nity, the aims are to pro­vide an empir­i­cal base for sci­en­tific stud­ies con­cern­ing prog­nos­tic fac­tors and treat­ment out­comes as well as eval­u­a­tion of qual­ity of can­cer care. In addi­tion to this, the Can­cer Reg­istry does exten­sive research on the inci­dence and mor­tal­ity of can­cer in Nor­way, and annu­ally pub­lishes “Can­cer in Nor­way” which is an impor­tant source of infor­ma­tion regard­ing the recent acqui­si­tion of inci­dent can­cer cases.

21. Shiftwork, sleep and pain

Group Leader: Dagfinn Matre Shift-work is considered disadvantageous for health. The present study focuses on the potential effects of shift-work related sleep deprivation on musculoskeletal pain. Several studies indicate that sleep disturbances are associated with increased risk for developing chronic pain. Experimental studies in healthy volunteers demonstrate that sleep deprivation may lead to both spontaneous pain and increased sensitivity to experimental pain. Sleep restriction has also been reported to affect neuroimmunological factors relevant for pain. In the current context we focus on the possible effect of night shift work and sleep restriction on musculoskeletal pain and inflammation in the working population, a field in which research is scarce. Hence, although there is relatively good evidence that experimental sleep restriction is associated with increased sensitivity to pain it is not known whether this is relevant for the working population. It remains to be shown in studies with repeated measures that the increased risk for musculoskeletal pain may be attributed to the night shifts per se. The present project combines an experimental and an epidemiological approach to study whether sleep deprivation, as it is practiced in non-daytime shift-work, is associated with increased pain sensitivity. In the epidemiological approach, 600 workers will report daily on health complaints, sleep quality and working hours. The principal objectives of the proposed project are i) to identify the effect of experimental sleep deprivation on pain, ii) to identify the effect of natural sleep deprivation (shift work) on pain and iii) to identify the effect of shift work on musculoskeletal pain intensity and inflammation. Participants will be recruited from health care professions like nurses and nurses' aides.

22. Registrybased studies of familial risk

Group Leader: Rolv Skjærven The main focus area is epidemiological surveillance of perinatal health problems and evaluation of health services in connection with childbirth. The Medical Birth Registry of Norway is important with information about more than two million births from 1967 up until today. Another focus area is how problems in pregnancy may predict the mother's longterm morbidity and mortality. For example, women die at younger ages if they have delivered preterm, if they have had a child with low birth weight, or if they have developed preeclampsia during pregnancy.

23. Research Group for Health Promotion in Settings

Group Leader: Steffen Torp Primary focus is health promotion in workplaces and in municipalities; workers and children and elderly. The research group is multidisciplinary (e.g. nurses, psychologists, sociologist). A total of 13 persons are affiliated with the group but only 3-4 persons work with epidemiology.

24. Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology

Group Leader: Georg Sager Studies of drogs in lactating women with emphasize on transfer to the infant. This combines epidemiological data and clinical pharmacological analysis of breast milk. In addition, the group has focus on development of new drogs combining technologies like molecular modeling (in silico) and bioinformatics, testing the leads in vitra and in viva experimental systems. This comprises compounds able to extinguish or reduce multidrug resistance against drogs used against cancer and infectious diseases, and potential psychotropic drogs.

25. Social epidemiology, work and health

Group Leader: Johan Håkon Bjørngaard The research group “Social epidemiology, work and health” consists of professors, post-docs and PhD-students at the Department of Public Health and General Practice, NTNU. The group is studying individual, occupational, cultural and gender-specific causes of unsuccessful inclusion in the workplace, absenteeism and exclusion from the labor market (sick leave, disability pension, unemployment). Central data bases used by our researchers are the Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey (HUNT) and the Nordland County Health Survey. Linking baseline data from these databases to the national social security register (FD-trygd) allows for prospective research designs and comprehensive and cost effective exploration of the causes of sickness absence and exclusion from the labor market. Several of the group members are also involved in the vocational rehabilitation research project at St. Olavs Hospital – “Hysnes Helsefort”. The research group is part of HealthWIN (the health and work inclusion network), working together with researchers in Tromsø (UiT), Oslo (UiO) and Aarhus (MarselisborgCentret).

 

26. Epidemiology of work-related skin diseases in Norway

Group Leader: Karl-Christian Nordby The group´s principal activity is to analyze national population-based data as well as data from different diseases registries in order to provide a better knowledge regarding work-related skin diseases in Norway.

 

27. PharmacoEpidemiology and Drug Safety (Pharma-Safe)

Group Leader: Professor Hedvig Nordeng The PharmacoEpidemiology & Drug Safety Research Group covers a wide range of research activities related to optimal use and safety of medication on an individual and societal level. Our work includes monitoring of drug utilization in pregnancy, perception towards medicines, methodology research, analysis of medication safety on patient outcomes and health economics. Data material comes from large population-based health registries, prescription databases, birth cohorts as well as patient interviews. Medication groups of special focus are psychotropics, analgesics and antibiotics, and especially among pregnant and breast feeding women.

28. Section for Public Health Sciences

Group leader: Professor Geir Aamodt Section for Public Health Sciences has its research focus on population health, and the associations between activity, planning, health and well-being. The group focuses on potential for preventing diseases and positive health outcomes, more than factors associated with developing diseases. The research group has its professional background in environmental epidemiology, environmental psychology, occupational science, health promotion, land-use planning and global health. There is a great variety of research projects, ranging from studies investigating how differences in land-use (residential patterns, housing density, green environment) affect children’s, adolescents’, and adults’ health; use of animals in health promoting activities; subjective health complaints and how subjective health complaints can be reduced; water, noise and air-quality and how these factors affect health; as well as individuals’ physiological perception of greenness and green environments. The research group has particular expertise in use of geographic information systems, and how to calculate various types of environmental exposure based on maps. Geographic information is an integral part of master students’ training program in epidemiology at the section for public health sciences

29. Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG)

Group leader: Professor Ulrik Wisløff The Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG) aims to define optimal exercise programs for everyday people in order to increase the likelihood of development and preservation of good health throughout life. We study the effect of exercise as a medicine in order to treat heart and lifestyle related diseases. The group consists of eminent scientists, technicians, medical doctors and promising research talent from all over the world. CERG is well balanced, including basic, translational, epidemiological, clinical, and technology experts with access to all intellectual and technical infrastructures needed, and the expertise to successfully achieve the objectives put forward. CERG is localised in the fully integrated St. Olavs University Hospital. In 2011 CERG achieved the prestigious honour of becoming a K.G. Jebsen Center for Medical Research. The group is headed by Professor Ulrik Wisløff. Research in CERG combines retrospective long-term individual characterization (´Mapping´ of health and disease) from large cohorts (genetics, gender, culture, social aspects, economic determinants, biology, physical, environment), with prospective follow-up of these cohorts and randomized life-style intervention trials in these populations at different stages of a life cycle, and experimental studies to obtain our research goals.

 

Occupational Health in the North 

Research group leader: Anje Höper

Occupational Health in the North addresses topics concerning work life in the north, both regarding specific challenges such as cold working conditions and other workplace exposures. Research studies focus on the relationship between workplace exposures and the health of employees, aiming to improve safety, comfort, prevention strategies and personal protection equipment; important factors for a healthy workforce, for employers, public and private and society in general. The Occupational Health in the North group is cooperating closely with the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University Hospital North Norway, as well as research groups in countries across the high north.