Trauma in the 7th Tromsø survey

The aim of this study is to map the occurrence of traumatic life events in the 7th Tromsø Study and to examine how these are related to a range of health variables including anxiety, depression, alcohol and tobacco use, sleep difficulties, pain, dental health, obesity, diabetes, respiratory, skin, and cardiovascular diseases, birth complications, cognitive function, school dropout, as well as the use of prescription drugs, health services, and mortality.

The study will also examine moderating factors such as personality, social support, resilience, and physical activity, and possible mediating factors such as metabolic and neuroendocrine risk factors. There are also opportunities to study genetic risk for the development of psychopathology, interactions between genes and environment, and possibly epigenetic mechanisms underlying these. The results will be an important contribution to increasing knowledge about stressful life events, protective factors, and somatic and mental health in the population.

The research group for clinical psychology developed a total of ten questions about stressful and potentially traumatizing life events that were included in the 7th Tromsø Study. So far, eight articles based on this data have been published, and two have been submitted to scientific journals for peer review.

See also here

Publications:

Thimm, J. C., Kristoffersen, A. E., & Ringberg, U. (2020). The prevalence of severe grief reactions after bereavement and their associations with mental health, physical health, and health service utilization: A population-based study. European Journal of Psychotraumatology. 11:1. doi:10.1080/20008198.2020.1844440

Nermo, H., Willumsen, T., Rognmo, K., Thimm, J., Wang, C. E. A., & Johnsen, J.-A. K. (2021). Dental anxiety and potentially traumatic events: A cross-sectional study based on the Tromsø Study: Tromsø 7. BMC Oral health, 21, 600. doi:10.1186/s12903-021-01968-4

Thimm, J.C., Rognmo, K., Rye, M., Flåm, A. M., Næss, E. T., Skre, I. & Wang, C. E. A. (2023). The prevalence of potentially traumatic events in the seventh survey of the population-based Tromsø study (Tromsø 7). Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 51(7), 1050-1060. doi:10.1177/14034948211051511

Thimm, J. C., Rognmo, K., Nermo, H., Johnsen, J.-A-. K., Skre, I., & Wang, C. E. A. (2023). Associations between stressful life events in childhood/adolescence and adulthood: Results from the 7th Tromsø survey, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14:2. doi:10.1080/20008066.2023.2237360

Husberg-Bru, V., Hopstock, L. A., Thimm, J. C., Lid, T. G., Rognmo, K., Wang, C. E. A. W. & Gustavson, K. (2024). Potentially traumatic events and the association with hazardous alcohol use in 19,128 middle aged and elderly adults: the Tromsø Study 2015–2016. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. doi:10.1007/s00127-024-02801-3

Thimm, J. C., Rognmo, K., Skre, I., & Wang, C. E. A. (2025). Stressful and potentially traumatic events and healthcare utilization: The 7th Tromsø survey. BMC Health Services Research. doi.org/10.1186/s12913-025-12604-0

Caglayan, S., Høye, A., Thimm, J. C., Wang, C. E. A., & Grønli, O. K. (2025). Association of adverse childhood experiences with physical illness and self-rated health in the population based Tromsø Study. European Journal of Public Health.https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaf031

Nermo, H., Goll, B. J., Isaksen, S., Trondsen, S. E., Rognmo, K., Thimm, J. C., Wang, C. E. A.,Willumsen, T., & Johnsen, J. A. K.  (akseptert). Associations between cumulative exposure to potentially traumatic events and self-reported oral health in the Tromsø study: Tromsø7. BMC Oral Health.

Internally funded by the Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and several smaller funding sources for individual articles.