Project grant from The Swedish Heart Lung Foundation to Professor Jonas F. Ludvigsson
The Swedish Heart Lung Foundation (Hjärt-Lungfonden) has awarded Jonas F. Ludvigsson a 3-year-grant for the project ”Inflammatory bowel disease, inflammation and risk of cardiovascular disease”.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consists of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. IBD occurs in both children and adults. Ludvigsson’s research group has previously demonstrated a link between IBD and cardiovascular disease, and with the new support from The Swedish Heart Lung Foundation, the group will now extend their research.
To start with they will examine the role of mucosal healing in IBD and risk of cardiovascular disease. In part 2, they will study if AI can predict the risk of myocardial infarction in IBD. In part 3, they will use Mendelian randomisation to examine the potential role of inflammatory proteins between IBD and cardiovascular disease.
“This grant will increase our understanding of the association between inflammation and cardiovascular disease”, says Professor Jonas F. Ludvigsson at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, KI, and senior consultant at the Department of Pediatrics at Örebro University Hospital.
“Our results can help the physicians identify individuals at high risk of cardiovascular disease, we also hope that our data might help develop new treatments for cardiovascular disease”, says Ludvigsson.
The researchers will use data from the so called “ESPRESSO study” that includes all gastrointestinal biopsies in Sweden. Data have since been linked to Swedish registers.