By drawing information from Danish registers, the researchers at the National Centre for Register-Based Research can yield new knowledge about the causes of schizophrenia, manic disorders, depression and suicidal tendencies.

2014.09.18 | Ingrid Marie Fossum

[Translate to English:] FOTO: Colourbox

The research conducted at the National Centre for Register-Based Research at Aarhus University is based on biological and genetic data and data drawn from Danish registers. And the researchers work ranges widely.

“We are able to examine the correlation between basically all things that have been registered in Denmark – as long as it has been registered correctly,” explains Professor Carsten Bøcker Pedersen from the National Centre for Register-Based Research, who has examined the differences between country and city in relation to schizophrenia.

“Our research areas span widely, but we do have a lot of research projects focused on laying bare the causes and consequences of psychological illness. When a person develops mental illness, it may be caused by environmental or genetic factors, or there may be a correlation between that person’s genes and personal environment,” he says.

As a statistician with a higher doctoral degree in medicine, Carsten Bøcker Pedersen, like many of the other researchers at the centre, has a foot in both the epidemiological and medical camp. This falls well in line with the fact that the centre especially focuses on schizophrenia, mania, depression and suicide.

Identifying environmental and genetic risk factors

One of the centre’s many focal points are the genetic and environmental risk factors that may cause mental illness. By drawing on residential information from the Danish CPR register, the researchers have been able to examine, for instance, the quality of the drinking water in a given area and cross reference this information with the inhabitants’ tendency to develop psychological illness.

With the information derived from the CPR register and the other registers, the researchers design their studies and answer questions such as ‘Does the risk of schizophrenia increase the older the father is at the time of the baby’s conception?’ – and ‘If a person is suffering from mental illness, what is the risk of that person committing suicide?’

In relation to the field of child psychiatry, the researchers are examining whether ADHD medicine can impact the children’s development, and they conduct studies of the correlation between migration and mental illness:

“Our researchers are looking at whether different types of immigrants and adopted children are at greater risk of developing mental illness compared with people who are born and raised in Denmark by Danish parents,” explains Carsten Bøcker Pedersen.

To centres – one director

Since the centre was launched, it has been led by MD, PhD and Professor of register-based research Preben Bo Mortensen. He also initiated the establishment of AU’s interdisciplinary research centre CIRRAU (Centre for Integrated Register-Based Research) where he is also centre director. Moreover, several of the researchers at the National Centre for Register-Based Research are also affiliated with CIRRAU.

CIRRAU is an interdisciplinary research centre with researchers from several of the faculties at AU. The National Centre for Register-Based Research, on the other hand, is part of the Department of Economics and Business at School of Business and Social Sciences at Aarhus University.

The National Centre for Register-Based Research is a research institution rooted in Copenhagen, where the centre was established in 1995 supported by funding from the Danish National Research Foundation. In 2000, it was decided that the centre should be moved to Aarhus University. Since then, the centre has expanded considerably to include around 30 researchers.

The original purpose of the centre was for it to constitute a nationwide research unit and advisory body focused on register-based research. But along the way, the centre’s main focus has shifted to research, while the interdisciplinary research centre CIRRAU, apart from conducting its own research, has taken over the role of advisory body and offers support to researchers at Aarhus University.

The research at the National Centre for Register-Based Research is primarily financed by the Lundbeck Foundation, Aarhus University, the European Research Council and the Stanley Medical Research Institute.’

Futher information

Professor Carsten Bøcker Pedersen
Institut for Økonomi, CIRRAU - Centre for Integrated Register-based Research
cbp@econ.au.dk
Phone: +458716 5759