The Headache Diary becomes part of national headache research

NorHead (Norwegian Centre for Headache Research) is a research centre led from NTNU, aiming to gather knowledge about and develop new treatment methods for headache disorders. In collaboration with Youwell and KBB Medic, NorHead is now putting the Headache Diary - one of Norway's most popular health apps, with over 100,000 downloads - to use as national research infrastructure.

The challenge

Clinical data is essential for headache research, but building a new research app with its own user base from scratch takes time, and few people would likely adopt it. NorHead instead wanted to build on a solution that already had a large number of active users, and that could be developed further into a research tool - not a system with no existing users. At the same time, the solution had to meet strict requirements for privacy, data security, and traceability, with multiple levels of consent and a direct, secure connection to NTNU's own research database (HUNT Cloud).

How Youwell addressed the challenge

Youwell and subcontractor KBB Medic AS deliver a solution in two parts: the Headache Diary itself - the app users already know, where they log headache episodes, medication use, and symptoms in under a minute a day - and the Youwell platform as the research tool behind it. Users can give digital research consent directly in the app, with secure identification and a connection to the NorHead Research Registry. Researchers get their own portal for building studies, setting up forms and measurement plans tailored to each study, and following their own participants in real time. The data is secured at multiple levels - from anonymous personal use to data sharing with clinical studies - and transferred securely to NTNU's research database on HUNT Cloud.

Results customers experience

• Over 100,000 downloads since 2020, without any form of marketing - one of Norway's most popular health apps
• 3.6 million headache days logged by users
• Over 24,000 instances of data shared directly with a clinician
• Over 6,000 existing users have already agreed to be invited to research studies
• Available in seven languages, including English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian
• The Youwell platform is already in use at every health trust in Norway, and at major research centres such as INTROMAT, ForHelse, and UngMeistring