A Review of Major Danish Biobanks: Advantages and Possibilities of Health Research in Denmark

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  • Kristina Laugesen
  • Jonas Mengel-From
  • Kaare Christensen
  • Jørn Olsen
  • David M. Hougaard
  • Lasse Boding
  • Anja Olsen
  • Christian Erikstrup
  • Alisa D. Kjaergaard
  • Erik Sørensen
  • Anja Brügmann
  • Eva Rabing Brix Petersen
  • Ivan Brandslund
  • Gorm B. Jensen
  • Nils Skajaa
  • Frederikke Schønfeldt Troelsen
  • Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang
  • Lise Skovgaard Svingel
  • Henrik T. Sørensen

Biobank research may lead to an improved understanding of disease etiology and advance personalized medicine. Denmark (population ~5.9 million) provides a unique setting for population-based health research. The country is a rich source of biobanks and the universal, tax-funded healthcare system delivers routinely collected data to numerous registries and databases. By virtue of the civil registration number (assigned uniquely to all Danish citizens), biological specimens stored in biobanks can be combined with clinical and demographic data from these population-based health registries and databases. In this review, we aim to provide an understanding of advantages and possibilities of biobank research in Denmark. As knowledge about the Danish setting is needed to grasp the full potential, we first introduce the Danish healthcare system, the Civil Registration System, the population-based registries, and the interface with biobanks. We then describe the biobank infrastructures, comprising the Danish National Biobank Initiative, the Bio-and Genome Bank Denmark, and the Danish National Genome Center. Further, we briefly provide an overview of fourteen selected biobanks, including: The Danish Newborn Screening Biobank; The Danish National Birth Cohort; The Danish Twin Registry Biobank; Diet, Cancer and Health; Diet, Cancer and Health – Next generations; Danish Centre for Strategic Research in Type 2 Diabetes; Vejle Diabetes Biobank; The Copenhagen Hospital Biobank; The Copenhagen City Heart Study; The Copenhagen General Population Study; The Danish Cancer Biobank; The Danish Rheumatological Biobank; The Danish Blood Donor Study; and The Danish Pathology Databank. Last, we inform on practical aspects, such as data access, and discuss future implications.

Original languageEnglish
JournalClinical Epidemiology
Volume15
Pages (from-to)213-239
Number of pages27
ISSN1179-1349
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Laugesen et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited.

    Research areas

  • biobank, epidemiology, healthcare system, precision medicine, registries, research

ID: 363061842