CPH Urban Lab
How does our environment and lifestyle affect our body?
Purpose of the project
We want to map and understand how the combination of environmental influences outside the body and physiological processes inside the body collectively and individually affect our health.
We will do this by mapping a number of external and internal factors among citizens living in Copenhagen.
We want to investigate the effect that food, housing, physical activity, social relationships, smoking and alcohol individually or together have on weight, stress, sleep, quality of life and diseases.
Instead of looking at one thing at a time, the project examines how all these factors together affect our health and when in life they have the greatest impact.
This provides a more complete understanding of how our environment and lifestyle affect our bodies.
You can participate in the project if you:
- are at least 18 years old
- have lived in the municipality of Copenhagen for at least 1 year
- own a smartphone
What should you do as a participant?
All participants
Fill out some questionnaires
The questionnaires include questions about demographics, unusual situations, health, wellbeing and quality of life, neighbourhood and moving plans, satisfaction and use of the local area, social environment, personality traits, lifestyle, diet, noise and transportation.
Wear a silicone wristband for 14 days
The wristband absorbs chemical compounds. You need to wear it both during the day and at night. [IMAGE OF THE WRISTBAND]
Have a dust collector in your home for 3 weeks
It's not big and it's not noisy [PICTURE OF DUST COLLECTOR].
Perform a blood and faeces test
You need to do the tests, we'll send you a thorough guide. Most people find it easy.
Selected participants
Out of the 1000 participants, 200 more participants will
Wear one more sensor
Set a sensor at home for a 14-day period.
These sensors detect GPS, particles, volatile organic compounds as well as temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels.
Practical information
Once you have signed up for the project, we will send you some written information and invite you to get some oral information (online) where you can also ask any questions.
If you participate in CPH Urban Lab, you will be asked to download a Danish-owned app called DataDonor.
The app will be your activity tracker and this is also where you will receive your questionnaires, which you fill out online.
You will be sent all materials and procedures for blood and faeces testing.
You will also receive a pre-paid envelope to send the material to us.
We will deliver the sensors to you at a time that suits you.
Timetable
How we take care of your data
At Aarhus University we care about data security.
Therefore, the laws regarding the handling of personal data will be followed and the results will be processed in accordance with GDPR and the Danish Data Protection Act (General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act).
The project is approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency () and the Danish Research Ethics Committee ().
Each participant will receive a unique ID number and will thus be pseudonymised. This number will be used throughout the study. Information about the participants is handled in accordance with the ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ and the ‘Health Act’.
In the project, all data will be treated as confidential, however, participants will be informed if there are any findings that give cause for concern. They will then be encouraged to consult their GP for further medical advice.
All data will be stored on an encrypted server owned by and located at Aarhus University.
All participants will receive a disclosure letter.
In addition, a risk assessment will be prepared internally in the project team for the various data processes in the project. This will be updated once a year.
All analyses of blood samples, silicone wristbands and EDC dust samples will be performed at Aarhus University and will therefore not be transferred abroad. The samples will be stored in a biobank at Aarhus University (Department of Public Health, Research Unit for Environment, Labour and Health, Ole Worms Allé 6 - Building 1181, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark) for further analysis. The samples will be stored in the biobank for 10 years after the end of the project.
