GRANTS. Two of the ten research projects that AFA Försäkring (AFA Insurance) chooses to fund are being carried out at Sahlgrenska Academy. Maria Rosvall, professor of social medicine at the Institute of Medicine, is receiving a grant for a project that involves finding factors and markers that can be used to identify young adults who are at risk of contracting cardiovascular disease. Kjell Olmarker, professor of anatomy at the Institute of Biomedicine, is receiving funding for a project about herniated discs with sciatica.
“Among young adults we are seeing signs today of an increase in cardiovascular diseases, a trend we do not see in older generations,” Maria Rosvall says. “Diseases of the heart and blood vessels develop slowly and are often signs of arteriosclerosis. If we can understand the disease process better, and also increase our understanding of the connections with obesity, diabetes, living conditions and lifestyles among young people, we could prevent cardiovascular disease at younger ages.”
Maria Rosvall, who is a professor at the University of Gothenburg and chief physician at Närhälsan in Region Västra Götaland, receives SEK 3,000,000 for her research project. The project is designed to find factors that can be used at an early stage to identify young adults at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. For the project Maria Rosvall and her colleagues will collect and analyze data about young adults through questionnaires, blood tests, physiological tests and ultrasound examinations of blood vessels.
The project will continue until 2020 and is expected to increase knowledge about the relationship between metabolic factors such as obesity and diabetes, lifestyle and living conditions and early signs of cardiovascular disease.
Pain of herniated discs
About 2,500 people undergo surgery for herniated discs annually in Sweden, but knowledge is lacking on the mechanisms behind the pain. Pain in the lumbar region and legs due to a herniated disc that presses against nerves in the spinal column causes suffering for the individual and major costs for society. Kjell Olmarker is receiving a grant of SEK 2,120,000 from AFA Försäkring to investigate how the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) affects the pain of herniated discs and to study the origin of the herniation as well as possibilities for medicating it.
“We intend to try to understand the mechanisms that lead to the release of the tumor necrosis factor,” Kjell Olmarker says. “This could make it possible to design completely new drugs. These would then be directly targeted at the origin of the pain and thus be much more effective than current medication, which is only palliative.”
The project also includes an attempt to find a biological marker so that leakage of a disc can be detected with a blood test. The project will continue until January 2021.
“We are pleased to be able to contribute to this type of research and hope it will be of direct benefit to patients in the form of enhanced opportunities to treat herniated discs and sciatic pain,” Susanna Stymne Airey, head of R&D and the Förebygga unit at AFA Försäkring, states in a press release.
SEK 150 million for research annually
By commission of Sweden’s labor market parties, AFA Försäkring annually allocates about SEK 150 million for research on the work environment and health. The commitments are made through four rounds of grants per year. Kjell Olmarker at the University of Gothenburg is one of ten project managers who was granted research funds at the fourth round of grants in 2017, in which a total of SEK 22,191,000 was allocated to various research projects.
At afaforsakring.se/forskning you will find more information on all of the projects. https://www.afaforsakring.se/forskning/
TEXT: AFA FÖRSÄKRING/ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN
