Inuit Health in Transition: the Nuka study

Inuit Health in Transition. The NuKa study

Peter Bjerregaard

Peter Bjerregaard

During 2003-2007, about 3,500 adult Inuit participated in the NuKa study in 29 communities in Nunavik and West Greenland. Participants were interviewed, filled in a questionnaire, were examined and gave blood and other biological samples. The studies in Nunavik and Greenland are not identical but share protocols on diabetes, heart disease, diet, smoking, social capital, self rated health, gambling and many other topics. The study is being geographically expanded to cover also Nunavut, Labrador and East Greenland, and comparable studies have yielded data from Alaska Natives and Norwegian Sami.

A number of researchers will present results from the study at this meeting and we shall hear a lot about the link between diet and health. I will take one step back and look at the social determinants of dietary patterns in Greenland in a life course perspective. First different ways to determine dietary patterns will be examined; then the association of parents' background, childhood conditions, education, place of residence, job and wealth with diet will be analysed. Finally, the association of diet with other determinants of cardiovascular health such as smoking, drinking and physical activity will be explored.