Health services and prevention research at Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus helps to understand organizational dynamics in healthcare, people’s interactions with health services and medical technologies, and the interplay between healthcare, society, and the individual.
Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus places a special focus on research into the prevention of diabetes and related conditions, including how overweight and diabetes can be prevented—from both a system-level and individual perspective—as well as understanding health inequalities as a factor in disease development.
Evaluation of a largescale test of SAMBLIK-Diabetes.
The overall research aim is to study and evaluate the use of data sharing across general practice, hospitals and municipalities.
The research project investigates the data sharing platform SAMBLIK-Diabetes that health professionals can use to treat people living with type 2-diabetes.
The research is carried out in three work packages with a focus on:
- Health professionals' use and perceived user value
- Implementation of SAMBLIK-Diabetes
- Patient and public involvement in SAMBLIK-diabetes
Based on the work packages, a research-based proposal for a scalable model for implementing data sharing in the healthcare system in general and SAMBLIK-diabetes specifically is developed.
Contact
Andreas Kjær Stage
Andrsg@rm.dk
Sara Marie Hebsgaard Offersen
sarheb@rm.dk
Annelli Sandbæk
anesnd@rm.dk
Thim Prætorius
thipra@rm.dk
DP-Next is a project aimed at developing the next generation of sustainably effective strategies for the prevention of type 2-diabetes in the 21st century with a particular focus on Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. The project is funded by a Steno National Collaborative Grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation and will officially begin on September 1st, 2025.
You can read more about the project here:
Overview of DP-Next
Contact
Daniel Witte
daniel.witte@ph.au.dk
Luke Johnston
lwjohnst@ph.au.dk
Jane Nautrup Østergård
janeos@rm.dk
Gunnar Toft
guntof@rm.dk
Embodied Young Lives: Children’s and Adolescents’ Perspectives on Body Size and Well-Being in Everyday and Institutional Contexts (WP3).
Embodied Young Lives is a research project exploring how children and young people experience the body and well-being in various every day and institutional contexts.
In subproject WP3, the focus is on the Danish efterskole as a unique setting where young people develop identity, relationships, and embodied communities.
The project follows students through an entire school year to understand how they perceive body and well-being in daily life.
The research is based on ethnographic methods, with researchers participating in daily school life and engaging in conversations with students in different situations.
The aim is to bring forward young people’s own perspectives and provide insights to professionals working with young people.
The project will conclude in early 2027 and contribute with both practical knowledge and academic publications.
The project is carried out in collaboration with the National Center for Obesity (NCFO) and the National Research and Analysis Center for Welfare (VIVE).
The project is supported with a total of 4 million DKK from the Center for Healthy Life and Well-being.
Contact
Else Ladekjær
elseld@rm.dk
Marie Ørts Rahbæk
marirb@rm.dk
Understand the lived life with diabetes and chronic diseases over time
There is a lack of knowledge about how life with diabetes and other chronic diseases develops over time. Without this insight, it is difficult to understand the burden of disease and improve treatment and prevention. Traditional studies provide snapshots, but to capture long-term trends, data that follows patients over several years is required.
Health in Central Denmark (HiCD) is a large survey that is sent at intervals to a broad group of people with and without diabetes in the Central Denmark Region. These patient-reported outcomes (PRO) are linked with national health registers, giving researchers a unique opportunity to analyze disease progression and health trends over time.
Read more about the project Health in Central Denmark here:
More information about Health in Central Denmark
Do you have a research question we could collaborate on and investigate in HiM? Contact us to learn more.
Contact
Kasper Norman
kanoan@rm.dk
Tinne Laurberg
tinlaurb@rm.dk
Lasse Hansen
lassehan@rm.dk
Anette Andersen
anette.andersen@rm.dk
Annelli Sandbæk
anesnd@rm.dk
Misaligned incentives in health care is a fundamental challenge that haunts the delivery of high-quality and coherent care, particularly for patients living with a chronic disease. Estimates suggest that around 20% of people living with type 2-diabetes in Denmark could achieve better outcomes through improved coherence in care.
We make two observations. First, the most complex patients need the most complex set of incentives to solve a high level of organizational and care complexity. Second, the least complex patients need the least complex set of incentives to solve a lower level of organizational complexity. The project aim is to develop and test two models of incentives capable of solving a high and low level of complexity. The models will be applicable to other chronic diseases and other contexts.
Contact
Eskild Klausen Fredslund
eskfre@rm.dk
Sara Marie Hebsgaard Offersen
sarheb@rm.dk
Thim Prætorius
thipra@rm.dk
Integrated Diabetes Care in Aarhus is a hands-on and holistic program in Public Health Aarhus West. The program is specifically aimed at people with type 2-diabetes in Aarhus, where the general practitioner or the SDCA outpatient clinic assesses that additional support is needed to manage the disease and reduce the risk of developing late complications. The program spans over a year.
Integrated Diabetes Care in Aarhus’ is a cross-sectoral project with collaboration across the municipality, general practice, and hospital. The project is a social investment project, which means that the Social Investment Fund and the Council for Social Investments in Aarhus Municipality provide funding for the project.
Contact
Thim Prætorius
thipra@rm.dk
Anette Andersen
anette.andersen@rm.dk
Annelli Sandbæk
anesnd@rm.dk
Men’s Health Program is a systems-oriented health promotion initiative targeting men at high risk of type 2 diabetes. The project aims to promote physical, mental, and social health among men through close collaboration with professional football clubs and local communities.
The goal is to develop and test health services in close interaction with the target group and local stakeholders.
Through workshops and activities, the program builds capacity within clubs and communities to mobilize health-promoting efforts.
The project investigates whether the Men’s Health Program produces positive outcomes for men’s physical, mental, and social health (individual level), as well as whether it enhances capacity and ownership in the community to mobilize and implement health promotion activities (systems level).
The Men’s Health Program runs from January 2024 to December 2026. The project is a collaborative effort across all five Steno Centers in Denmark.
Contact
Jane Nautrup Østergaard
janeos@rm.dk
Pernille Møller Jensen
pemojn@rm.dk
Eeva-Liisa Røssell Johansen
eevjoh@rm.dk
A multiple case-study of implementing organizational innovation in complex organizations.
This project explores the implementation of the same organizational innovation, multidisciplinary teams (MDT) within diabetes care, across the five Steno Diabetes Centers in Denmark. The setup, implementation, and operation of the MDT model is unique to each center, but created based on the same mandate.
This organizational innovation provides for a compelling multi-case study because systematically studying multiple implementations provides different vantage points onto a shared phenomenon. The project plans to develop a process model for implementing complex organizational innovation that crosses organizational and professional boundaries, and which healthcare leaders and professionals can use in practice.
Contact
Andreas Kjær Stage
Andrsg@rm.dk
Thim Prætorius
thipra@rm.dk
This project direct attention to patients’ personality traits to shed new light on the onset and progression of type 2-diabetes, lifestyle and health-related behaviours and diabetes complications. Personality traits refer to stable individual differences in the way persons tend to think, feel, and behave.
A robust measure is the Big Five Model with five core dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability.
To unpack the link between personality traits on type 2-diabetes, the project leverages large-scale register data. This research has the potential to develop insights on more personalized approaches to prevention and care in turn holding the potential to improve health outcomes and quality of life.
Contact
Eskild Klausen Fredslund
eskfre@rm.dk
Henrik Støvring
hersto@rm.dk
Thim Prætorius
thipra@rm.dk
The purpose of the project database is to create a common database for research projects associated with Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus (SDCA).
The research projects under the project database will primarily concern studies of factors that can help predict the development of diabetes and other chronic diseases or conditions that can be equated with chronic disease, as well as consequences and complications related to this.
In addition, the project database will form the basis for descriptive analyses in the field of disease and health.
You can find the database her:
SDCA’s Project Database – Registers Project Database
Contact
Gunnar Vase Toft
GUNTOF@rm.dk
Daniel Witte
daniel.witte@ph.au.dk
Sigrid Bjerge Gribsholt
sigrgrib@rm.dk
Rasmus Møller Jørgensen
rasmujer@rm.dk
Kasper Norman
KANOAN@rm.dk
Marie Kempf Frydendahl
MAIPEE@rm.dk
A Feasibility Study of a Systems-Oriented Health Intervention in Social and Health Care Education and Municipal Internship Settings in Two Danish Municipalities.
PROVE IT is a research project aimed at promoting health and well-being among vocational students in social and healthcare education (SOSU) through a systems-oriented approach. The project takes place at two Municipalities and associated SOSU schools and internship places in the Central Denmark Region and the Capital Region.
The initiative is based on the theme "Healthy and Strong Body" and involves students, staff, municipalities, and local actors. Through workshops and collaboration, concrete initiatives are developed across school, internships, and potentially also during leisure time.
The goal is to create sustainable health improvements and increase physical activity and well-being among the students.
The project runs from December 2022 to December 2025 and is led in collaboration with Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen.
If successful, the model aims to be scaled up to more municipalities and educational institutions.
Contact
Line Grønholt Olesen
ligole@rm.dk
Helene Kirkegaard
helene.kirkegaard@rm.dk
Jane Nautrup Østergaard
janeos@rm.dk
Register data are used in both clinical studies and epidemiological studies. This webpage contain guidelines for working with register data on Statistics Denmark as well as a checklist for initiating new research projects.
Read more about Registerbased research
Contact
Annelli Sandbæk
anesnd@rm.dk
Adam Hulman
adahul@rm.dk
Most people living with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are found, assessed and treated in general practice (GP). To support this collaboration with hospital specialists can be a cornerstone. In 2021-2024, Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus (SDCA) in collaboration with PLO-Aarhus carried out a project on video conferencing on T2D and three related diseases.
The purpose of the project was to develop, test and evaluate video conferencing between endocrinologists and GP in Aarhus Municipality as a model for collaboration, dialogue and shared learning. Based on a randomised trial, the clinical results were promising and both hospital and GP found the conferences valuable. To benefit persons living with T2D, SDCA wants to further develop and test video conferencing on T2D more broadly in the Central Denmark Region.
Contact
Anne Kongerslev Wermuth
annwer@rm.dk
Steen Bønløkke Pedersen
steepede@rm.dk
Annelli Sandbæk
anesnd@rm.dk
Thim Prætorius
thipra@rm.dk