Short summary

The primary goal of this project is to promote the creation of networks and collaboration between the universities and the university hospitals in the region of Southern Denmark and Schleswig KERN, with help from a research project concerning sleep, work and nutrition and their influence on the metabolism and metabolic diseases. The conditions for such a project is particularly good in this region because of the presence of the Danish Twin Register in Odense and Abteilung für Humanbiologie, a research group for biological rytmes in Kiel.

The secondary goal is to promote the creation of networks and collaborations between researchers, public and private institutions and companies in order to strengthen the flow of knowlegde between these parties; this will enable them to initiate the development of preventive measures against metabolic disorders in the workforce.

Rationale

Three scientific subtargets will enable us to achieve these goals:

1. A mobil research unit will perform a twin study concerning sleep, work, nutrition and metabolism. The collected data will be analyzed in order to find connections and interactions between these abilities and diseases along with gen enviromental interaction.
2. Establishing the interaction between sleep, work, nutrition and metabolism with human biological rythme, based upon genetic and homornal data.
3. Analyzing whether sleep patterns and work patterns influence the activities of the genes.

Subprojects

STATUS SAME, a subproject of GEMINAKAR II
Participants in the Danish GEMINAKAR (GK) twin cohort constitute the study population in this study. GK was established in 1997-2000 and 756 complete pair of twins aged 18-67 years participated in a larger study, where blood tests where drawn and various clinical studies were made.

Twins from this cohort were recruited in the period 2010-2012 to participate in the SAME study. Of the 1,512 twins in GK, 1435 could be invited to participate in the SAME study and 1147 accepted. However, 8 of them were only able to participate with questionnaire responses; hence there are 1,139 twins included with both responses to the questionnaire, blood tests, and anthropometric measurements. Thus is there a participation rate of almost 80, which is extremely fine as questionnaire surveys in Denmark, normally, only can achieve a response rate between 50 and 60.

Among the 1139 visited, there were 44% of monozygotic (identical twins), 39% of same-sexual dizygotic (fraternal), and 17% differently-sexual dizygotic. There were 511 complete twin pairs.
The participating twins were visited in their homes or at a different address, where it was convenient for them. A visit was always in the period 8 to 12 o'clock, as participants had to be fasting and blood tests should be back in the laboratory before 14.30 - ready for analysis on the fresh blood glucose, lipid status and other relevant biomarkers and to further handling and freezing in the biobank of the remaining blood samples.

During visits to the motorhome, the participants had their blood pressure measured, they were weighed, their hip and waist circumference were measured and a number of other clinical studies were conducted. There were taken several blood tests and their three completed questionnaires were reviewed for possible mistakes. SAME is designed to analyze the correlation between the quality of sleep, sleep duration and metabolic diseases. Also investigated is whether sleep and shift work is related to these metabolic disruptions as well as if genetics interact with these factors in the determination of a possible association.

PhD-student Puk Leick is in the project engaged with the influence of physical activity on the connection between cortisol and sleep and insulin and sleep.
The actual study of twins ended in November 2012, after which, blood samples have been analyzed, DNA has been purified, databases have been collected, the data has been purified and the first data set was produced.

Collaborating researchers and departments

OPEN Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital

• PhD-student "Puk Leick

Institute of Regional Health Services Research and The Danish Twin Register, Department of Epidemiology

Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark

• Professor and Head of Institute Kirsten Ohm Kyvik, MD, PhD, MPM
• Associated Professor Christine Dalgård, PhD

Abteilung fuumlr Humanbiologie, Zoologischers Institut, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

• Professor and Head of Institute Manuela Dittmar, MD

Institute of Human Genetics, Universitätsklinik Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel

• Ole Ammerpohl, MD