Publikationer

Research | Forskning - peer review

Since 1993, regular population health surveys in Greenland have supported and monitored the public health strategy of Greenland and have monitored cardiometabolic and lung diseases. The most recent of these surveys included 2539 persons aged 15+ from 20 communities spread over the whole country. The… Since 1993, regular population health surveys in Greenland have supported and monitored the public health strategy of Greenland and have monitored cardiometabolic and lung diseases. The most recent of these surveys included 2539 persons aged 15+ from 20 communities spread over the whole country. The survey instruments included personal interviews, self-administered questionnaires, blood sampling, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, ECG, oral glucose test, pulmonary function, hand grip strength and chair stand test. Blood samples were analysed for glucose, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), insulin, incretin hormones, cholesterol, kidney function, fatty acids in erythrocyte membranes and mercury, urine for albumin-creatinine ratio, and aliquots were stored at −80°C for future use. Data were furthermore collected for studies of the gut microbiome and diabetes complications. Survey participants were followed up with register data. The potential of the study is to contribute to the continued monitoring of risk factors and health conditions as part of Greenland’s public health strategy and to study the epidemiology of cardiometabolic diseases and other chronic diseases and behavioural risk factors. The next population health survey is planned for 2024. The emphasis of the article is on the methods of the study and results will be presented in other publications. Læs mere

Research | Forskning - peer review

Greenland is a country in transition from a colonial past with subsistence hunting and fishing to an urban Nordic welfare state. Epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases has been evident since the 1950s. Ninety percent of the population is Inuit. We studied three public health… Greenland is a country in transition from a colonial past with subsistence hunting and fishing to an urban Nordic welfare state. Epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases has been evident since the 1950s. Ninety percent of the population is Inuit. We studied three public health issues based on published literature, namely adverse childhood experiences, addictive behavior, and suicide; diet and obesity; and smoking. Alcohol consumption was high in the 1970s and 1980s with accompanying family and social disruption. This is still a cause of poor mental health and suicides in the generations most affected. The diet is changing from a traditional diet of fish and marine mammals to imported food including food items rich in sugar and fat from domestic animals, and the level of physical activity is decreasing with an ensuing epidemic rise in obesity. The prevalence of smoking is high at around 60% among both men and women and is only slowly decreasing. Smoking shows large social variation, and tobacco-related diseases are widespread. The diseases and conditions outlined above all contribute towards a low life expectancy at birth—69 years for men and 74 years for women in 2011–2015—compared with 78 and 84 years for men and women, respectively, on average in the European countries. The translation of government public health programs into local activities needs strengthening, and it must be realized that the improvement of public health is a long-term process. Læs mere

Research | Forskning - peer review

Objective: To review the context of food insecurity in Greenlandic children, to review and compare the outcomes related to food insecurity in Greenlandic children, in other Arctic child populations and in other western societies, and to explore the measure used by the Health Behaviour in School-aged… Objective: To review the context of food insecurity in Greenlandic children, to review and compare the outcomes related to food insecurity in Greenlandic children, in other Arctic child populations and in other western societies, and to explore the measure used by the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Design: The study includes literature reviews, focus group interviews with children and analyses of data from the HBSC study. HBSC is an international cross-national school-based survey on child and adolescent health and health behaviour in the age groups 11, 13 and 15 years and performed in more than 40 countries. The item on food insecurity is “Some young people go to school or to bed hungry because there is not enough food in the home. How often does this happen to you?” (with the response options: “Always”, “Often”, “Sometimes”, or “Never”). Results: The context to food security among Inuit in Arctic regions was found to be very similar and connected to a westernization of the diet and contamination of the traditional diet. The major challenges are contamination, economic access to healthy food and socio-demographic differences in having a healthy diet. The literature on outcomes related to food insecurity in children in Western societies was reviewed and grouped based on 8 domains. Using data from the Greenlandic HBSC data from 2010, the item on food security showed negative associations on central items in all these domains. Focus group interviews with children revealed face and content validity of the HBSC item. Conclusion: Triangulation of the above-mentioned findings indicates that the HBSC measure of food shortage is a reliable indicator of food insecurity in Greenlandic schoolchildren. However, more research is needed, especially on explanatory and mediating factors. Læs mere

Research | Forskning - peer review

Med afsæt i læringsprocesser i Fisker- og fangerakademiet i Paamiut i Grønland vises det, hvordan man kæder social ansvarlighed sammen med økologisk ansvarlighed. På denne måde knytter læringsprocessen an til community resiliens. Der gives derefter en kort sammenstilling af denne undersøgelses resul… Med afsæt i læringsprocesser i Fisker- og fangerakademiet i Paamiut i Grønland vises det, hvordan man kæder social ansvarlighed sammen med økologisk ansvarlighed. På denne måde knytter læringsprocessen an til community resiliens. Der gives derefter en kort sammenstilling af denne undersøgelses resultater med andre undersøgelser af læring, livskvalitet og resiliens i inuit samfund. Derefter diskuteres dette i forhold til teorier om social økologi og undervisning i bæredygtig udvikling. Metoden er en form for dokument-collage, hvor der bruges både interviews og dokumenter til at belyse den bæredygtige pædagogik i både dens konkrete og dens globale sammenhæng. Læs mere