SAMINOR | UiT

SAMINOR – The Population-based Study on Health and Living Conditions in Regions with Sami and Norwegian Populations

SAMINOR is one of the most important sources of knowledge about health and living conditions in the Sami and northern Norwegian populations. The aims of the study are to gain insight into the prevalence and risk factors for diseases, to prevent illness and to improve healthcare for all.

For participants

man filling out questionnaire — Photo: Jonatan Ottesen

SAMINOR collects information about health and living conditions from questionnaires, clinical measurements (e.g., height, weight and blood pressure), and blood samples.

Study participants provide important data for use in health research. Those who undergo a clinical examination are also given a health check-up and shown the results of their tests. This provides information about the health situation of the inhabitants of the areas included in the study, which is useful for municipalities, the Sami Parliament, county councils and health authorities.

Two surveys of health and living conditions have been conducted, SAMINOR 1 from 2003 to 2004, and SAMINOR 2 from 2012 to 2014. SAMINOR 3 is being planned and will cover about 40 municipalities in northern and central Norway, including the 25 that have previously participated. SAMINOR 3 will be conducted with broad user involvement and will use a variety of research methods.

What happens to the samples and information about you?

Samples taken from you and information recorded about you will only be used as described in the aims of the study. Processing of health data or samples will comply with the Norwegian Health Research Act and any other applicable legislation.
Blood samples are stored in a research biobank at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. All use of blood samples requires approval by REC North (Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics) and collective Sami consent from the Expert Ethics Committee for Sami Health Research.
All information and samples will be processed without name and national identity number or other personally identifiable information. A code will link you to your personal data and samples via a list of names. This means that the information is de-identified. Furthermore, it will be impossible to identify you in the results of the study when these are published.
Only a very limited number of authorised personnel associated with the project have access to the list of names and could therefore identify you.

FAQs

Privacy and consent

For researchers

Woman in office — Photo: Jonatan Ottesen

All researchers (PhD level or equivalent) at Norwegian research institutions can apply to analyse data from SAMINOR.

As a general rule, applications are sent to the SAMINOR Project Board before being sent to the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REC). The SAMINOR Project Board holds monthly meetings where applications are reviewed. If an application is approved by the Board, the project manager must then apply to the REC for approval of the project.

The Ethical Guidelines for Sami Health Research state that all Sami health research requires collective Sami consent. The Sami Parliament Council has delegated the authority to provide consent to the Expert Ethics Committee for Sami Health Research. All projects that use data from SAMINOR must apply for collective Sami consent. The Committee has prepared guidelines for application.

The REC approval and collective consent must then be submitted to the Project Board in order for a contract to be drawn up. This contract must be signed before any SAMINOR data is released.

All projects of UiT The Arctic University of Norway that process personal data must be notified to the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD) in line with the UiT guidelines. The research institution must assess the need to perform a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).

All projects must pay a fee to get access to data. The fee covers part of the expenses associated with the release of data, and contributes to the further management and quality assurance of data in SAMINOR. Prices are set by the Administrative unit for population-based health studies, see Prices on their website.

If you have any questions, please contact the head of SAMINOR Ann Ragnhild Broderstad or the project board secretary Gunnhild Skjold.

Please send your application and attachments to saminor@uit.no.

Ongoing research projects

Completed research projects

The SAMINOR Project Board, application deadlines and dates of meetings

What you need in order to apply

Publications using data from SAMINOR

News

11.06.2019

Collaboration within indigenous research and education

Visit from Australia and New Zealand

The Faculty of Health Sciences and the Centre for Sami Health Research, UiT The Arctic University of Norway invited researchers from the University of Melbourne, Australia and the University of Auckland, New Zealand to a meeting and workshop in Tromsø. The purpose of the meeting was to follow up the intention with our Memorandum of Understanding to establish shared projects within indigenous research, development and education. The workshop aimed to explore possible areas of collaboration based on ongoing research and teaching activities.

Several potential approaches for collaboration between Australia, New Zealand and Norway were discussed during the two days in May 2019. Regarding education, focus was on the efforts to introduce indigenous perspectives in health- and social worker programs. The SAMINOR Study gives a unique possibility to focus on the indigenous health situation in Norway, both through clinical and questionnaire data, in addition to blood samples. The SAMINOR Study may also be linked to national registers. In Melbourne, Australia, several clinical and register studies concerning chronical lifestyle diseases are ongoing. In Australia and New Zealand, ethnicity is included in the national registries, which makes it possible to follow the aboriginal population’s health situation over time.

The first research co-operation project is already in the start and we look forward to further collaboration with our colleagues from “Down under”.

Besøk fra Australia og New Zealand — From left: Senior Adviser Trine Glad, Ass. Prof. Nina Hermansen, Prof. Sandra Eades, Ass. Prof. Grete Mehus, Prof. Geir Lorem, Prof. Ann Ragnhild Broderstad, Prof Shaun Ewen, Project manager Inger Dagsvold, Prof. Glen Bowes, Prof. Papaarangi Reid. Foto: Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Published: 11.06.2019

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About SAMINOR

Fishing gloves hanging on a wall — Photo: Fotodama AS

SAMINOR is a large population-based study and one of the most important sources of knowledge about the health and living conditions in the Sami and Norwegian populations of rural northern Norway.

SAMINOR focuses particularly on the health and living conditions of the Sami and this indigenous perspective makes SAMINOR a unique database nationally and internationally. The Centre for Sami Health Research (CSHR) is responsible for the SAMINOR Study and cooperates with various research teams involved in health research in indigenous communities in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark/Greenland and Sweden.

Two surveys on health and living conditions have been completed, SAMINOR 1 (2003-2004) and SAMINOR 2 (2012-2014). SAMINOR 3 is being planned.

Overview of SAMINOR 1–3

Year	Name	Number of participants
2003-2004	SAMINOR 1	16 865 women and men
2012	SAMINOR 2 Stage 1: Questionnaire Survey	11 600 women and men
2012-2014	SAMINOR 2 Stage 2: Clinical Survey	6004 women and men
2021-2022	SAMINOR 3: Qualitative Interview Study (ongoing)
2023-2025	SAMINOR 3: Questionnaire Survey and Clinical Survey (in planning)

SAMINOR 1

SAMINOR 2

SAMINOR 3

Why is SAMINOR important?

Organization

Feedback on public health to municipalities

SAMINOR on Facebook

saminor@uit.no

Centre for Sami Health Research