Aim of the study
The aim of the HELIUS study is to gain insight into the health of Amsterdam residents from different ethnic origins and the reasons for health differences. The knowledge that the HELIUS study provides can ultimately help to better deal with health problems and improve medical care. Questions we would like to find answers to through the HELIUS study include:
Why are people of Surinamese origin more likely to develop diabetes and high blood pressure? And why is overweight so much more common in certain groups of Amsterdam residents? Why do we see asthma more often among people of Turkish and Moroccan origin? And why do Moroccans suffer less from cardiovascular disease than people of Dutch origin?
The answers to these and other questions are needed to improve medical care and to better tackle health problems in the future.