RESEARCHER PORTRAIT. Ola Rolfson, professor of orthopaedics and head of the department, sheds light on the unique opportunities for orthopaedic research in Gothenburg. Additionally, he addresses a persistent challenge in joint replacement surgery that he is actively seeking to resolve. Twenty years ago, Ola Rolfson served as a resident physician in orthopaedics at Kungälv Hospital, where he had a mentor named Lennart Gustafsson. “Lennart had an incredible ability to inspire people.…
Better survival rates among heart patients with Down syndrome
NEW STUDY. Since 1990, the mortality rate for children born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect has more than halved. This has been shown by a study by the University of Gothenburg. However, the mortality rate in this group is still 85% higher, compared to others who have a congenital heart defect but were not born with Down syndrome. Congenital heart defects are very common among people with…
Risk of serious infection even in low-active IBD
NEW STUDY. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an independent risk factor for serious infection, even at very low levels of gastrointestinal inflammation. This has been shown by a study at the University of Gothenburg. IBD is an umbrella term for chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, with a population prevalence of around 0.5%. The main types of IBD are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Unlike irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), IBD results in…
Severe COVID-19 twice as common among bus drivers
NEW STUDY. Bus drivers were at double the risk of being hospitalised for severe COVID-19 in the later stages of the pandemic, and several occupations in education and healthcare were also at risk of serious illness. This has been shown by a study at the University of Gothenburg. The study is based on large amounts of data from several different registers, totalling 552,562 cases of confirmed COVID-19 infection and 5,985…
Dementia the top COVID-19 risk factor for seniors in care
NEW STUDY. In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, dementia was the dominant risk factor for the disease among residents of Swedish nursing homes. This elevated risk applied to both getting infected with and dying of COVID-19, a University of Gothenburg study shows. The purpose of the study, now published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, was to analyze risk factors for infection with COVID-19 and dying…