News archive

Olof Stephansson's research group receives Alvarenga's prize 2023 for the article: "Risk of postpartum hemorrhage with increasing first stage of labor duration" with the motto "How long it takes to give birth can affect the risk of bleeding". The prize is awarded by the Swedish Society of Medicine (Svenska Läkaresällskapet).

Childhood-onset type 1 diabetes (onset <age 18) and neurodevelopmental disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disability, globally represent substantial health challenges. The conditions also pose substantial challenges to the individuals, their families, and healthcare systems.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, often with onset during childhood, that requires lifelong insulin therapy due to the loss of pancreatic beta-cells.

Close relatives of people with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease have a higher risk of developing liver cancer and dying from liver-related diseases, according to a national study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Journal of Hepatology. This means that family members could also benefit from the lifestyle advice that is currently only given to patients, the researchers conclude.

CLINICUM is part of the region-wide initiative that aims to strengthen the quality of clinical and translational research. In its entirety, CLINICUM consists of a central function and seven nodes which represent the care provider organizations in Region Stockholm and SLSO. The nodes' activities aim to offer scientific advice and to provide methodological support and guidance in the planning and execution of research projects.

It is quite common that individuals who have one psychiatric condition, also qualify for other psychiatric conditions. This observation questions the conventional belief that different diagnoses are independent, and instead implies the possibility of a set of factors that increases risks for several types of mental health problems.

The podcast Riskzonen, featuring well-known KI staff members Mattis Öberg and Emma Frans, is back with a new season! The four episodes were released in May and June, and after a brief break over summer, more episodes will now be released each Monday, starting on 28 August. Each episode features the topic health crisis, in one way or another, ranging from relief efforts in war to antibiotic resistance. The new season is made in collaboration with the Centre for Health Crises.

Low concentrations of air pollutants are associated with poorer health, and previous research has found a link between air pollution and dementia risk. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, among others, have now investigated this connection. The study, published in the journal Neurology, contributes to a better understanding of the biological mechanisms that might explain why air pollution seems to increase the risk of developing dementia.

Many men in northern Europe over the age of 60 suffer from the so-called Viking disease, which means that the fingers lock in a bent position. Now researchers at Karolinska Institutet, together with colleagues, have used data from over 7,000 affected individuals to look for genetic risk factors for the disease. The findings, which have been published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, show that three of the strongest risk factors are inherited from Neanderthals.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a type of cancer that occurs in the nasopharynx, which is located behind the nose and above the back of the throat. NPC has a geographically skewed distribution worldwide, with high incidence rates in East and Southeast Asia. NPC is difficult to detect early, and treatment usually involves radiation therapy, chemotherapy or a combination of the two.

Older autistic adults have a significantly higher risk of injury, especially self-inflicted, and physical conditions such as type 2 diabetes, anaemia, heart failure and COPD. This is according to a large-scale registry study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.

In a nationwide Swedish study involving more than 12,000 individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), researchers found a significantly increased risk of severe infections requiring hospital admission. The study was published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

In a nationwide Swedish study of more than 12,000 patients with microscopic colitis (MC), researchers from Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet found an increased risk of acute pancreatitis compared to the general population. The study has been published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

The award is presented by the Pediatric research foundation ”Stiftelsen Barnforskningen” at the Astrid Lindgren Children’s hospital.

The Strategic Research Program in epidemiology (SFOepi) at Karolinska Institutet now announces funding for three different types of grants; Consolidator Grant for junior researchers, Junior Scholar Grants in Epidemiology or Biostatistics and small grants.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and the likelihood of surviving the disease is higher if the cancer is detected early and the tumour is relatively small and not very aggressive.

Why is it that certain mammals have an exceptional sense of smell, some hibernate, and yet others, including humans, are predisposed to disease? In a major international research project where researchers at Karolinska Institutet participated, has surveyed and analysed the genomes of 240 different mammals. The results, now published in 11 articles in the journal Science, shows which regions have important functions in mammals.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women and many women are being treated to prevent the cancer from returning, for example with adjuvant hormone therapy. This therapy is prescribed as a once-a-day pill for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients (around 80% of all cases) for a duration of at least five years.

In a Swedish systematic review published in Acta Paediatrica, researchers from Karolinska Institutet, University of Gothenburg, Umeå University, and the Swedish agency for health technology assessment and assessment of social services, mapped the current knowledge of hormonal treatment in youths <18 years with gender dysphoria.

In a nationwide Swedish study of 207 births to women with an earlier diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), researchers found an increased risk of both maternal and neonatal adverse outcomes. The study was published in eClinicalMedicine and is a collaboration between Washington University in St Louis and Karolinska Institutet.

Predictions are becoming more and more a part of our lives, and they are becoming increasingly useful in medical science as the science evolves. Increased understanding of disease and its treatments allows us to use predictions based on predictive biomarker signatures to optimize treatment outcomes for increasingly specific subject groups.

The risk of developing cardiovascular disease is lower in people with obesity who have a genetic predisposition for high BMI than people with obesity influenced mainly by environmental factors such as lifestyle, researchers from Karolinska Institutet report in eClinicalMedicine.

A Scandinavian collaboration led by KI researchers shows that of individuals treated in specialist care for major depressive disorder (MDD), many have a severe prognosis, for instance experiencing recurrence, developing other psychiatric disorders, requiring inpatient treatment, and some even dying by suicide. This research was based on 273,000 individuals with MDD in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The findings are published in Lancet Regional Health Europe.

In a new thesis from Karolinska Institutet, the focus was on the use of multiomics data in the discovery of disease signatures.

Women with mental illness, neuropsychiatric disability, or substance abuse are less likely to go for gynaecological smear tests for cervical cancer and run more than twice the risk of developing the disease. The findings are presented in Lancet Public Health by researchers from Karolinska Institutet, who stress the importance of proactively approaching these women as a preventative measure against cervical cancer.

Competing risks and multi-state models allow us to study complex disease settings and answer composite research questions and should be used more widely in epidemiology.

A Swedish study which followed more than 450,000 individuals after lower or upper gastrointestinal biopsy, suggests that symptoms of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) may start significantly before disease shows up on biopsy. The results were published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine on Feb 23.

Women with rheumatic diseases are at greater risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, but for women with axial spondyloarthritis the risks have decreased over the last ten years, according to a register study from Karolinska Institutet. This decrease coincided with an increased use of biologic drugs during the same period. The study was published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

The interplay between sex steroid hormones, psychiatric- and neurodevelopmental disorders and adverse behavioral outcomes is in focus in a new thesis from Karolinska Institutet.

Infants whose mothers have used snus (a moist oral tobacco product) during pregnancy run three times the risk of sudden infant death, according to a comprehensive registry study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Pediatric Research. The risk was much lower if the mother had stopped taking snus before the first antenatal visit. The researchers conclude that all types of nicotine products should be avoided during pregnancy.

ARFID is strongly influenced by genetic factors, according to a twin study examining this relatively new type of eating disorder. The study has been published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry by researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Frailty can be defined as an aging-related syndrome of physiological decline, characterized by marked vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. It is becoming an important public health concern as the aging population increases.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Symptoms of ADHD often persist into adulthood and psychiatric comorbidities as well as adverse somatic outcomes can emerge across the lifespan.

Prostate cancer is a major global health concern and is the most common cancer-related cause of death in Sweden. Prostate cancer screening using PSA reduces prostate cancer mortality but also leads to significant overdiagnosis and overtreatment of low-risk cancers. The pathological evaluation of prostate biopsies determines the therapeutic course of treatment for prostate cancer patients.

In a review paper published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Lund University describe the content and quality of the Swedish Medical Birth Register (MBR), using original Medical Birth Register data, Swedish-language and international publications based on the register. The researchers conclude that the register contains high-quality pregnancy-related information on more than 5 million births during five decades.

The risk of complications in assisted reproduction is higher when two embryos are transferred, instead of one embryo. This has been shown in a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, which included all births in Sweden 2007-2017.

Breathing in common workplace dust and fumes may increase the risk of developing severe rheumatoid arthritis, especially in combination with smoking and genetic susceptibility to the disease, suggests a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Prostate cancer constitutes an essential public health issue, as it is a major cause of male deaths. Early detection through an organised testing program with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and systematic biopsy is not in place in most countries due to the risk of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of low-risk cancers. Now there are two proposed approaches to tackle this problem; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the serum-based reflex test “Stockholm3”.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type in women globally, but there is a continuous decline in mortality rates. A partial explanation for this may be that effective treatments are being developed for subgroups of breast cancer patients. It is still challenging to optimise treatment plans for every individual.

An observational study at Karolinska Institutet shows that babies suffering oxygen-deficiency complications at birth are almost twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease during childhood and early adulthood as those without such complications. Still, the absolute risk of cardiovascular disease is very low in young age. The findings are published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

Through the ESPRESSO cohort, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, University of Newcastle, Australia, University of Washington, Seattle, and Karolinska Institutet examined the risk of cancer among 75,000 patients with a diagnosis of diverticular disease and colorectal histopathology. The paper is now published in JNCI, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Autistic young men and women are more affected by psychiatric conditions and have an increased risk of being hospitalized as a result of their mental illness compared with non-autistic people. Autistic women are particularly vulnerable. This is shown by researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Hepatitis A is an acute liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV) and transmitted via the faecal-oral route through person-to-person transmission, contaminated food or water. While hepatitis A infection is mostly asymptomatic in children, the frequency and severity of symptoms increases with age, with the elderly and patients with other liver disease at risk of hospitalisation, acute liver failure and death.

A randomized study, known by the acronym NordICC – Northern - European Initiative on Colorectal Cancer - shows colonoscopy screening reduces the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent. The reduction is much smaller than experts previously assumed. The NordICC study is now published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

During the Annual pediatric IBD meeting in Örebro on September 29-30, Jonas F Ludvigsson received this year’s honorary award "the Gut Feeling" SPGHN, the Swedish Association for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, amidst the cheers of the audience. The prize is awarded after voting by pediatricians in Sweden.

Depression is common in individuals with endocrine-metabolic disorders and vice versa. In a study involving 2.2 million people in the Swedish population, researchers at Karolinska Institutet confirmed that individuals with endocrine-metabolic disorders have increased rates of depression and found that there are also higher rates of depression in their siblings. The study is published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Infections in pregnant women have been linked to an increased risk of neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism, in the child later in life. But it does not seem to be the infections themselves that cause autism, researchers from Karolinska Institutet show in a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Sweden initially chose a different disease prevention and control path during the pandemic than many other European countries. In June 2020, the Swedish Government established a national Commission to examine the management of COVID-19 in Sweden. In a review, Professor Jonas F Ludvigsson summarizes and comments on the findings of the commission inquiry. The review is published in Acta Paediatrica.

In a recent study researchers from Karolinska Institutet, among others, have characterised the new omicron variant BA.2.75, comparing its ability to evade antibodies against current and previous variants. The study, published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, suggests that BA.2.75 is not more resistant to antibodies than the currently dominating BA.5, which is positive news.

Esophageal cancer is the seventh most common cancer world-wide and a lethal malignancy causing a considerably high number of deaths. There is currently no promising method for prevention, early detection, or screening of esophageal cancer so most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, which is associated with a poor prognosis.