Expanding from Dr Willis' praised Danish studies, there are great
examples of international collaborations combining the 5 Nordic countries
(Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). With a total of some 23
million inhabitants, the geographical area allows population-based
epidemiological studies of even very rare diseases. Similar health care
systems, a wide variety of health and other registers and a legal
framework that allows data collection and register linkages without
written consent make the North a unique environment for large scale
epidemiological studies.
The user-friendly and very functional Nordic cancer database
'NORDCAN' is one example of these exercises (see http://www-
dep.iarc.fr/nordcan.htm).
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
24 October 2009
Risto Sankila
Chief Medical Officer
Hans Storm, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
Finnish Cancer Registry, Pieni Roobertinkatu 9, 00130 Helsinki, Finland
Rapid Response:
Not only Danes but Nordic collaborations
Expanding from Dr Willis' praised Danish studies, there are great
examples of international collaborations combining the 5 Nordic countries
(Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). With a total of some 23
million inhabitants, the geographical area allows population-based
epidemiological studies of even very rare diseases. Similar health care
systems, a wide variety of health and other registers and a legal
framework that allows data collection and register linkages without
written consent make the North a unique environment for large scale
epidemiological studies.
The user-friendly and very functional Nordic cancer database
'NORDCAN' is one example of these exercises (see http://www-
dep.iarc.fr/nordcan.htm).
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests