Scandinavian Registers in Normal and Arthritic Populations (Nyu Hospital for Joint Diseases Clinical Research Methodology Course) (Report‪)‬

Nationwide population-based longitudinal databases provide excellent resources for medical research. Each Scandinavian country, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland has their own national databases, including a Population Registry, Cancer Registry, Cause of Death Registry, and Hospital Discharge Registry, among others. On a national level, each person has a unique identification code that is used in all registers and allows linking of the data between various registers. Extensive population studies have been conducted in these countries over the last 30 years to supplement registry data. The population of Scandinavia is 24,280,000 and represents 6.4% of the European population and 0.4% of the world total population. It is almost entirely Caucasian, which may limit the generalizability of observations. Nevertheless, nationwide population-based databases are available only in Scandinavia. Furthermore, several national and local databases collect data on patients with arthritis.