Yesterday I had the pleasure to visit the West-Frisian diabetes research and care center in Hoorn, the Netherlands. This center is a truly unique initiative in which research, innovation and implementation for diabetes prevention and care is realised. This initiative started with the now internationally renowned longitudinal Hoorn study which has to date generated more than 150 scientific publications and still counting (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez, and use Hoorn study as your search term to get a nice overview).
In 1989, the Hoorn Study was designed and started to study the prevalence and determinants of type 2 diabetes in the general population in the Netherlands. The Hoorn Study cohort has been monitored ever since and has been extended to include additional study populations. In 1996, to support diabetes care in the region, Professor Giel Nijpels initiated the West-Frisian Care System with a diabetes research centre. Over the years, the number of patients with diabetes who participate in the West-Frisian Care System grew to more than 4000, and the care system encouraged new research. The number of ongoing research projects within the Hoorn Study also grew, and so, in November 2005, a new and larger diabetes research centre opened near Hoorn’s local hospital. The new centre is what I visited: a basic but pleasant building staffed by a very skilled and enthusiastic team, equipped with a vascular laboratory, an ophthalmologic examination unit, storage facilities, and test equipment. A number of researchers presented their studies: clear, well-organised presentations of exciting research related to the determinants, prevention, care and comorbidities of diabetes.
This center strives to realise true integrated diabetes care and to cover the continuum from fundamental research to implementation studies, directly linked to real practice. The Hoorn Study and the West-Frisian Care System’s research activities are part of the EMGO-institute (www.emgo.nl) of the VU University Medical Center (see www.vumc.nl/) and rightly so: it is a very good example of applied research directly linked to improving extramural health care for one of our priorities: diabetes and overweight, its main modifiable determinant.
In 1989, the Hoorn Study was designed and started to study the prevalence and determinants of type 2 diabetes in the general population in the Netherlands. The Hoorn Study cohort has been monitored ever since and has been extended to include additional study populations. In 1996, to support diabetes care in the region, Professor Giel Nijpels initiated the West-Frisian Care System with a diabetes research centre. Over the years, the number of patients with diabetes who participate in the West-Frisian Care System grew to more than 4000, and the care system encouraged new research. The number of ongoing research projects within the Hoorn Study also grew, and so, in November 2005, a new and larger diabetes research centre opened near Hoorn’s local hospital. The new centre is what I visited: a basic but pleasant building staffed by a very skilled and enthusiastic team, equipped with a vascular laboratory, an ophthalmologic examination unit, storage facilities, and test equipment. A number of researchers presented their studies: clear, well-organised presentations of exciting research related to the determinants, prevention, care and comorbidities of diabetes.
This center strives to realise true integrated diabetes care and to cover the continuum from fundamental research to implementation studies, directly linked to real practice. The Hoorn Study and the West-Frisian Care System’s research activities are part of the EMGO-institute (www.emgo.nl) of the VU University Medical Center (see www.vumc.nl/) and rightly so: it is a very good example of applied research directly linked to improving extramural health care for one of our priorities: diabetes and overweight, its main modifiable determinant.
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