Epidemiological studies in the Upernavik district, Greenland. Incidence of some chronic diseases 1950-1974.

TLDR

The authors call for comparable studies in Greenlandic districts with greater lifestyle changes to clarify their impact on disease patterns. They followed approximately 1,800 inhabitants of the Upernavik whaling and sealing community from 1950 to 1974, recording all hospital‑diagnosed cases to assess disease incidence. The survey revealed a distinct disease pattern in Greenlanders, with higher apoplexy and epilepsy rates and lower or absent myocardial infarction, diabetes, thyrotoxicosis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and psoriasis, while cancer types differed from Danish patterns but overall incidence remained similar.

Abstract

An epidemiological survey of several chronic diseases in the Upernavik district, Northwest Greenland, is reported. The study population (approx. 1800 inhabitants) is one of the remaining whaling and sealing populations in Greenland. It was observed over the 25-year period 1950-74 as to the incidence of the diseases, which was based on all cases diagnosed in hospital during this period. The disease pattern of the Greenlanders differs from that of West-European populations, having a higher frequency of apoplexy and epilepsy but a lower frequency or absence of acute myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, thyrotoxicosis, bronchial asthma, multiple sclerosis and psoriasis. The distribution of cancer types differs from that of the Danish population, but the total incidence of cancer is of the same magnitude. Further comparable studies should be performed in Greenlandic districts that are characterized by more profound changes in life style, in order to elucidate the effect of these changes on the disease pattern.