DDI Tromsø

DDI (Dementia Disease Initiation) is a national research network focusing on clinical and translational research on neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer´s Disease, that may lead to dementia. Patients are recruited and followed at all university hospitals, and included in ongoing research projects and clinical trials since 2013. DDI has a common infrastructure, including customized searchable database (clinical and cognitive data, multimodal imaging, genetics, proteomics) located at "tjenester for sensitive data" (TSD) located at the University of Oslo (UiO). DDI also connects to international studies like PMI-AD (see seperate page)

In Tromsø, DDI is situated within the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital of North-Norway and is currently led by clinical psychologist and Associate Professor II, Bjørn-Eivind Kirsebom. UiT (The Arctic University of Norway) is a collaborative partner in this initiative.

Over the years, DDI has generated several new local PhD and post-doctoral projects. In Tromsø, a Norwegian/Swedish collaboration has been established to develop regression-based normative reference data for neuropsychological tests.

Nationally, the establishment of the DDI consortium was supported by Norges Forskningsråd (NFR) in 2012. Tromsø has received additional support from grants provided by UiT and the regional health authorities: Helse Nord (HNF1401-18; HNF1410-18; HNF1540-20; HNF1569-21 & HNF1665-23).