Opportunities for diabetes research using the Norwegian Cardiovascular Disease Registry

While Norway has many outstanding health registries that are used as a foundation for surveillance, quality control and epidemiologic research, it was recognized that a knowledge gap existed regarding the prevalence, incidence, and quality of health care delivery for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) which remains the primary cause of death in the country. Given broad agreement for the need for a registry by patient organizations, research environments and health authorities, the Norwegian Parliament decided to establish the Norwegian Cardiovascular Disease Registry (NCVDR) in March 2010 and then adopted new regulations in December 2011 which established the NCVDR. The registry consists of a core registry housed and maintained by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) that is supplemented with information from the medical quality registries housed and maintained by the hospital trusts. Given the burden of CVD among patients with diabetes and the unique challenges of medical care for CVD patients with diabetes, the registries also provides a new opportunity to advance diabetes research in Norway.