PODCAST. A new episode of Sahlgrenska Academy’s podcast Akademiliv is finally out! We talk with Fredrik Nyberg, visiting professor of register epidemiology, about the possibilities of register-based research. The interviews were held by Karin Allander and Elin Lindström.
The podcast is only available in Swedish. Listen to this edition here: https://soundcloud.com/sahlgrenskaakademin/fredrik-nyberg-om-mojligheterna-med-registerforskning
Quality registers are registers supported by public funds and that are usually aimed at a special patient group. The primary purpose is to follow up and improve care. The registers provide detailed information about the patient group, allowing insight into how the patients are doing, what treatments are given, and the quality of the results these treatments provide. The more patients who permit inclusion of their data in the quality registers, the better the registers can help improve care.
Quality registers can also be used for research. Both regional and national organizations operate registers. Data from quality registers are often combined with data from other registers and health databases, such as from Statistics Sweden, the Cause of Death register, or the Conscription register. This means that it is possible to link illness with socio-economic status, the physical condition in youth and other parameters. Which registers a researcher chooses to use depends on what questions are being examined.
COVID-19 is also the subject of register-based research. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck Sweden, Fredrik Nyberg and several other researchers began registry studies to find out more about how many people became ill, what risk factors can be linked to COVID-19, and which groups were hardest hit by the disease. Based on risk factors, the researchers may then be able to design models that can predict who is at risk of becoming most ill and what preventive measures can be taken.
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
