GRANTS. This year’s recipient of the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation’s prevention grant of SEK 3 million is Anders Rosengren, a professor at the University of Gothenburg. He heads a project to investigate how a digital tool might help prevent cardiovascular disease.
“Anders Rosengren’s study may open up a new way of preventing cardiovascular disease. The tool can easily be used by many people free of charge to encourage healthy living habits and to receive support in managing cardiovascular disease,” says Kristina Sparreljung, secretary general of the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation.
Although cardiovascular diseases have decreased in Sweden, they still cause a lot of suffering and tens of thousands of deaths annually. In Sweden more than two million people live with cardiovascular disease.
Changing and improving lifestyle habits is a key factor in preventing both disease and relapse. Although most of us know it is good to eat green vegetables and fiber-rich foods and to exercise, it is not always easy to make long-term changes in lifestyle habits.
Digital tools have the potential to help people develop new habits in everyday life, but their results are still poorly evaluated.
“In this project, we will investigate the effects of the new digital Lifestyle Tool, which has been developed at Swedish universities. The tool takes a holistic approach to show how food and exercise–as well as stress, loneliness, and our overall outlook on life–are interrelated and affect health,” says Anders Rosengren, a professor at the University of Gothenburg.
The researchers will investigate how well the tool prevents cardiovascular disease in people who have not yet been afflicted. But they will also study those who have already had their first heart attack. In the latter case, the study can help determine whether the Lifestyle Tool prevents a relapse.
About 90,000 people from the general population will be recruited for the study. In addition, about 11,000 people who have already suffered a heart attack will be recruited. Participants will be randomly distributed so that 80 per cent get access to the tool and 20 per cent end up in a control group without the tool.
Link to the too: www.livsstilsverktyget.se
ABOUT THE SWEDISH HEART LUNG FOUNDATION’S PREVENTION GRANT
The new grant for research on lifestyle habits was established by the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation in 2021. The SEK 3 million grant is distributed over a three-year period.
FACTS ABOUT CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
- In Sweden more than two million people live with cardiovascular disease. About 30,000 Swedes die from cardiovascular disease each year, making it the leading cause of death in Sweden. Cardiovascular disease causes about a third of all deaths.
- About a quarter of all people who have a stroke today are working age adults between ages 20 and 69. One in three people who have a heart attack is 20 to 69 years old. The same figure applies to those who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest.
- Examples of successful milestones in research include the measurement of risk markers in blood that make it possible to detect small heart attacks before they become life-threatening; advanced imaging technology for diagnosing strokes; clot-dissolving treatments; and implantable cardioverter defibrillators that restore the heart to a regular rhythm.
- The challenges of research today include being able to predict cardiovascular disease and developing more personalized treatment methods.
Source: Swedish Heart Lung Foundation
By SWEDISH HEART LUNG FOUNDATION
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