News archive

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) find it harder to get pregnant, have more frequent miscarriages and have a higher risk of developing endometrial cancer. Now, in a new study published in Nature Medicine, Swedish researchers have shown that the uterine lining of these women differs in terms of both the composition of individual cells and gene expression. The results open the door to new drug treatments.

Analyses of self-tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) can be used to divide HPV-positive women into three risk groups, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet and Queen Mary University of London published in PLOS Medicine. This method could be important for enhancing cervical cancer screening.

Women who suffer severe complications during their first pregnancy or delivery are less inclined to have more babies, a study published in JAMA by researchers at Karolinska Institutet reports. Given the recent steady decline in birth rate in Sweden, the researchers propose monitoring in antenatal care to address the problem.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) has published this year's 100 list of the most promising research projects from Sweden's colleges and universities. All applications to the list have been reviewed by IVA's expert group and the selected projects are considered to have great potential to benefit society. The list includes several projects involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Cervical cancer is a major global health problem. It ranks as the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths among women, despite the disease being largely preventable. Now, researchers from Karolinska Institutet have received funding from the UICC to investigate how an HPV self-screening programme can be implemented in war-torn Ukraine.

Severe, lasting hot flushes during menopause are associated with atherosclerosis in the coronary artery, new research from Karolinska Institutet and Linköping University and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association reveals.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Maastricht University have developed a technique that enables the examination of embryos for all known genetic abnormalities with a single test. The new method is more accurate and faster than existing techniques, increasing the chance of a healthy child for parents at increased risk of inherited conditions. The research was published today in Nature Communications

In first-time mothers requiring vacuum-assisted delivery, a lateral episiotomy (angled cut) in the tissue between the vaginal and anal opening more than halves the risk of obstetric anal sphincter injury, a severe form of perineal trauma between the vulva and anus. This according to a randomised clinical study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm’s Danderyd Hospital, the results of which are published in The BMJ.

Angelique has a background in KI, where she obtained her medical degree, her path has been paved through many years of clinical service at Karolinska University Hospital and she is a specialist in both gynecology & obstetrics and gyneoncology.

Women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) have a higher risk of perinatal depression. Conversely, women with perinatal depression have a higher risk of developing premenstrual disorders. This is shown in a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal PLOS Medicine.

After the egg has been fertilized by a sperm, the surrounding egg coat tightens, mechanically preventing the entry of additional sperm and the ensuing death of the embryo. This is according to a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in the journal Cell. The work also explains how mutations in egg coat proteins can cause female infertility and may eventually lead to new contraceptive methods.

In recent years, the treatment landscape for solid tumors has undergone a notable change. With new cancer treatments, the future looks brighter for many young cancer patients, making fertility issues and future family planning an important aspect. Six specialists in oncology and onco-fertility at the Department of Oncology-Pathology join forces to compile knowledge and recommendations on this important issue.

Skin-to-skin contact between parent and child during the first hours after a very premature birth helps develop the child's social skills. This is according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and others. The study also shows that fathers may play a more important role than previous research has shown.

KI-researcher Pauliina Damdimopoulou has been awarded a EUR 2 million ERC Consolidator Grant (European Research Council) for the SAFER project (SAfeguarding female FERtility-development of human-relevant in vitro tools for reproductive toxicity). The research will investigate the impact of commonly occurring environmental chemical contaminants on women's reproductive health. The grant is awarded under Horizon Europe, the EU's programme for research and innovation.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormone disorder in women. Studies have shown that the change in hormones is accompanied by variations in immunological B cells. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now established that the syndrome is not caused by B cells, the role of which remains unclear. The study is published in eLife.

Researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Karolinska Institutet are part of a collaborative study that has made progress in the testing of an innovative contraceptive method, a vaginal gel, that preclinical studies have shown prevents sperm from reaching the egg. The results are described in a paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

A new study published in The Lancet shows that medical abortion can be carried out both safely and effectively via telemedicine, without a routine ultrasound examination. The study, which is a collaboration between researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Cape Town in South Africa, highlights the opportunities to provide safe and effective abortion services in low-resource settings.

Having a baby at an early age is fraught with risk. Advice from other teenagers can be one way of increasing the use of contraceptives amongst refugee girls in Uganda.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Bristol have investigated the relationship between mode of delivery and sexual well-being several years after childbirth. The study, published in the journal BJOG, showed no difference in sexual frequency or sexual satisfaction in women who were delivered vaginally or by caesarean section.

To investigate the long-term benefit of hormone-lowering treatment, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have done a 20-year follow-up of premenopausal women with breast cancer. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, indicates that the treatment provides protection even after a longer period of time and that different patients seem to benefit from different hormonal treatments.

A new study shows that the menstrual phase has effects on the microbiome. “This will be very important for planning future studies, both in basic science and for interventions aiming to improve the vaginal microbiome”, corresponding author Ina Schuppe Koistinen at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell biology at Karolinska Institutet, says.

Women who have had one ovary surgically removed (unilateral oophorectomy) are less likely to become pregnant after in vitro fertilisation and give birth to fewer babies than women with both ovaries. That is according to an extensive meta-analysis published in the journal Fertility and Sterility by researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

When she was 14 years old Jessica Strid was treated for cancer and was told that it would be difficult for her to get pregnant. Today she has two children. ”I am very grateful”, she says.

Many young people whose fertility have been impaired due to cancer treatment can today be helped to become parents. Kenny Rodriguez-Wallberg, Adjunct Professor at the Department of Oncology and Pathology at Karolinska Institutet and Senior Consultant at Karolinska University Hospital, answers six common questions.

Erik Vismer and his wife sought help from an IVF clinic to get children. What they didn’t expect was the effort and time that the process demanded from them. Read an in-depth article series from KI’s Swedish popular science magazine.

According to the WHO, almost 50 million couples worldwide are involuntarily childless while demand for assisted fertilisation is expected to grow as treatments have become both more effective and more widely accessible. Read the first article from a in-depth series about infertility from KI’s Swedish popular science magazine.

A study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet and IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences – demonstrates how zika and herpes viruses can lead to brain malformations during early pregnancy. The researchers used 3D models of human brains to study which mechanisms are involved in virus-induced microcephaly, a condition where babies are born with smaller-than-usual heads. The results are published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Men with stable coronary artery disease who are on Viagra due to impotence seem to live longer and have a lower risk of experiencing a new heart attack, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reports.

Study shows that the legalization of abortion in Mexico City shows how access to legal and safe abortion reduces abortion-related morbidity such as bleeding.

How the immune system adapts to pregnancies has puzzled scientists for decades. Now, findings from an international group of researchers, led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, reveal important changes that occur in the thymus to prevent miscarriages and gestational diabetes. The results are published in the journal Nature.

Women with breast cancer whose eggs or ovarian tissue were frozen had more children after their diagnosis than women who did not undergo fertility preservation using those methods before start of cancer treatment. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in JAMA Oncology. According to the researchers, the result highlights the importance of reproductive counseling and fertility preservation for women who are diagnosed with cancer at a young age.

Women receiving fertility-sparing surgery for treatment of borderline ovarian tumours were able to have children, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in Fertility & Sterility shows. Natural fertility was preserved in most of them and only a small proportion required assisted reproductive treatment such as in vitro fertilization. Survival in the group was also as high as in women who had undergone radical surgical for treatment of similar tumours.

Modafinil is used to treat conditions such as narcolepsy. Reports have associated the drug with an increased risk of malformation in babies born to mothers who had taken it while pregnant. Now, a large registry study involving over two million pregnant women in Sweden and Norway shows that there is no such association. The study, which is published in JAMA, was conducted by researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have analysed all cell types in the human ovary and found that the hotly debated so-called egg stem cells do not exist. The results, published in Nature Communications, open the way for research on improved methods of treating involuntary childlessness.

Children conceived with assisted reproductive techniques have a somewhat higher mortality risk during their first weeks of life than children conceived naturally, according to a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility. The researchers link the increased risk to a higher degree of premature births in IVF-conceived children. The risk of infant mortality is still very small for both groups and after 1 year of age there is no difference.

Babies born with low birth weights are more likely to have poor cardiorespiratory fitness later in life than their normal-weight peers. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal JAHA. The findings underscore the importance of prevention strategies to reduce low birth weights even among those carried to at term delivery.

Patients with the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis have a higher risk of dying from colorectal cancer, despite modern therapy, even though the risk has declined in recent years. This is according to a new study published in the scientific journal The Lancet by a team of Swedish and Danish researchers.

Women who have C-sections are no more likely to have children who develop obesity than women who give birth naturally, according to a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal PLOS Medicine. The findings contradict several smaller studies that did find an association between C-section deliveries and offspring obesity but did not consider the numerous maternal and prenatal factors that the researchers did in this study.

Daughters of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are five times more likely to be diagnosed with PCOS as adults, and the generational transmission is driven by high androgen levels during pregnancy, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report. Their results, which are based on register-based and clinical studies as well as transgenerational animal studies, are published in Nature Medicine.

Inducing labor after 41 instead of 42 full weeks of pregnancy appears to be safer in terms of perinatal survival, according to new research from the University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The current study is expected to provide a key piece of evidence for upcoming decisions in maternity care.

Pregnant women with eating disorders should undergo extended pregnancy screenings considering their increased risk of complications. That is the conclusion from a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The researchers were, for example, able to show that children to mothers with eating disorders had an increased risk of premature birth and being born with a small head circumference.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences have investigated the effects of testosterone supplementation in young athletically active women in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. The results, which are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, show that there is a causal relationship between elevated male sex hormone levels and increased aerobic capacity in young women. There was also an increase in muscle mass but not muscle strength.

Children born to women who underwent gastric bypass surgery before becoming pregnant had a lower risk of major birth defects than children born to women who had severe obesity at the start of their pregnancy. That’s according to a matched cohort study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Örebro University published in the scientific journal JAMA. The findings indicate that weight-loss and improved blood sugar control could reduce the risk of major birth defects.

Women have an increased risk of high-grade cervical lesions returning after surgery if there have been lesions in the resection margin, especially if high-risk HPV (human papillomavirus) is found in the follow-up test, reports a new longitudinal study from Karolinska Institutet published in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The researchers also found that many other diseases can be independent risk factors in lesion recurrence.

Young women with early stage ovarian cancer can undergo fertility-preserving surgery without affecting the safety of their cancer treatment, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report in a national study published in the journal Gynecologic Oncology.

Maternal obesity and androgen excess induce sex-specific anxiety in the offspring, according to a study on mice by researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in The FASEB Journal. The findings may help explain why children born to mothers with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have increased risk of developing anxiety later in life.

Postmenopausal hormone therapy is not associated with increased risk of stroke, provided that it is started early, according to a report from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal PLOS Medicine.