Katja Pahkala profile picture
Katja
Pahkala
Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
Adjunct professor / Dosentti

Contact

+358 40 578 6122
Kiinamyllynkatu 10
20520
Turku

Areas of expertise

Cardiovascular health
prevention
childhood
physical activity
diet
epidemiology
longitudinal studies

Biography

I have devoted my research career to examining early life determinants of cardiometabolic health with the ultimate aim to improve primordial prevention of cardiometabolic diseases.

Teaching

I have supervised 10 undergraduate studies and two doctoral studies. Currently I supervise seven doctoral students and one undergraduate student.

Research

I am a long-standing senior researcher and the vice director of the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC). I am also the vice principal investigator of the globally unique atherosclerosis prevention trial, the STRIP study (Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project), which commenced in 1990 and has extensively studied the 1062 participants since age 7 months to 20 years with repeated assessment of diet, lifestyle and versatile cardiometabolic health markers. I have supervised doctoral students since 2010 and at present my own research group includes seven doctoral students.

Publications

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Associations of Leisure-Time Physical Activity Trajectories with Fruit and Vegetable Consumption from Childhood to Adulthood: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2019)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Lounassalo I, Hirvensalo M, Kankaanpää A, Tolvanen A, Palomäki S, Salin K, Fogelholm M, Yang X, Pahkala K, Rovio S, Hutri-Kähönen N, Raitakari O, Tammelin TH
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Genetic predisposition to higher body fat yet lower cardiometabolic risk in children and adolescents (2019)

International Journal of Obesity
Anna Viitasalo, Theresia M. Schnurr, Niina Pitkänen, Mette Hollensted, Tenna R. H. Nielsen, Katja Pahkala, Niina Lintu, Mads V. Lind, Mustafa Atalay, Christine Frithioff-Bøjsøe, Cilius E. Fonvig, Niels Grarup, Mika Kähönen, Anni Larnkjaer, Oluf Pedersen, Jens-Christian Holm, Kim F. Michaelsen, Timo A. Lakka, Terho Lehtimäki, Olli Raitakari, Torben Hansen, Tuomas O. Kilpeläinen
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors (2019)

Nature Genetics
Warrington N.M., Beaumont R.N., Horikoshi M., Day F.R., Helgeland Ø., Laurin C., Bacelis J., Peng S., Hao K., Feenstra B., Wood A.R., Mahajan A., Tyrrell J., Robertson N.R., Rayner N.W., Qiao Z., Moen G.-H., Vaudel M., Marsit C.J., Chen J., Nodzenski M., Schnurr T.M., Zafarmand M.H., Bradfield J.P., Grarup N., Kooijman M.N., Li-Gao R., Geller F., Ahluwalia T.S., Paternoster L., Rueedi R., Huikari V., Hottenga J.-J., Lyytikäinen L.-P., Cavadino A., Metrustry S., Cousminer D.L., Wu Y., Thiering E., Wang C.A., Have C.T., Vilor-Tejedor N., Joshi P.K., Painter J.N., Ntalla I., Myhre R., Pitkänen N., van Leeuwen E.M., Joro R., Lagou V., Richmond R.C., Espinosa A., Barton S.J., Inskip H.M., Holloway J.W., Santa-Marina L., Estivill X., Ang W., Marsh J.A., Reichetzeder C., Marullo L., Hocher B., Lunetta K.L., Murabito J.M., Relton C.L., Kogevinas M., Chatzi L., Allard C., Bouchard L., Hivert M.-F., Zhang G., Muglia L.J., Heikkinen J., Morgen C.S., van Kampen A.H.C., van Schaik B.D.C., Mentch F.D., Langenberg C., Luan J., Scott R.A., Zhao J.H., Hemani G., Ring S.M., Bennett A.J., Gaulton K.J., Fernandez-Tajes J., van Zuydam N.R., Medina-Gomez C., de Haan H.G., Rosendaal F.R., Kutalik Z., Marques-Vidal P., Das S., Willemsen G., Mbarek H., Müller-Nurasyid M., Standl M., Appel E.V.R., Fonvig C.E., Trier C., van Beijsterveldt C.E.M., Murcia M., Bustamante M., Bonas-Guarch S., Hougaard D.M., Mercader J.M., Linneberg A., Schraut K.E., Lind P.A., Medland S.E., Shields B.M., Knight B.A., Chai J.-F., Panoutsopoulou K., Bartels M., Sánchez F., Stokholm J., Torrents D., Vinding R.K., Willems S.M., Atalay M., Chawes B.L., Kovacs P., Prokopenko I., Tuke M.A., Yaghootkar H., Ruth K.S., Jones S.E., Loh P.-R., Murray A., Weedon M.N., Tönjes A., Stumvoll M., Michaelsen K.F., Eloranta A.-M., Lakka T.A., van Duijn C.M., Kiess W., Körner A., Niinikoski H., Pahkala K., Raitakari O.T., Jacobsson B., Zeggini E., Dedoussis G.V., Teo Y.-Y., Saw S.-M., Montgomery G.W., Campbell H., Wilson J.F., Vrijkotte T.G.M., Vrijheid M., de Geus E.J.C.N., Hayes M.G., Kadarmideen H.N., Holm J.-C., Beilin L.J., Pennell C.E., Heinrich J., Adair L.S., Borja J.B., Mohlke K.L., Eriksson J.G., Widén E.E., Hattersley A.T., Spector T.D., Kähönen M., Viikari J.S., Lehtimäki T., Boomsma D.I., Sebert S., Vollenweider P., Sørensen T.I.A., Bisgaard H., Bønnelykke K., Murray J.C., Melbye M., Nohr E.A., Mook-Kanamori D.O., Rivadeneira F., Hofman A., Felix J.F., Jaddoe V.W.V., Hansen T., Pisinger C., Vaag A.A., Pedersen O., Uitterlinden A.G., Järvelin M.-R., Power C., Hyppönen E., Scholtens D.M., Lowe W.L., Jr, Davey Smith G., Timpson N.J., Morris A.P., Wareham N.J., Hakonarson H., Grant S.F.A., Frayling T.M., Lawlor D.A., Njølstad P.R., Johansson S., Ong K.K., McCarthy M.I., Perry J.R.B., Evans D.M., Freathy R.M.; EGG Consortium
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Association of Birth Weight With Type 2 Diabetes and Glycemic Traits: A Mendelian Randomization Study (2019)

JAMA Network Open
Huang T, Wang TA, Zheng Y, Ellervik C, Li X, Gao M, Fang Z, Chai JF, Ahluwalia TVS, Wang YJ, Voortman T, Noordam R, Frazier-Wood A, Scholz M, Sonestedt E, Akiyama M, Dorajoo R, Zhou A, Kilpelainen TO, Kleber ME, Crozier SR, Godfrey KM, Lemaitre R, Felix JF, Shi Y, Gupta P, Khor CC, Lehtimaki T, Wang CA, Tiesler CMT, Thiering E, Standl M, Rzehak P, Marouli E, He M, Lecoeur C, Corella D, Lai CQ, Moreno LA, Pitkanen N, Boreham CA, Zhang T, Saw SM, Ridker PM, Graff M, Van Rooij FJA, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, van Heemst D, Rosendaal FR, de Mutsert R, Burkhardt R, Schulz CA, Ericson U, Kamatani Y, Yuan JM, Power C, Hansen T, Sorensen TIA, Tjonneland A, Overvad K, Delgado G, Cooper C, Djousse L, Rivadeneira F, Jameson K, Zhao W, Liu JJ, Lee NR, Raitakari O, Kahonen M, Viikari J, Grote V, Langhendries JP, Koletzko B, Escribano J, Verduci E, Dedoussis G, Yu CZ, Tham YC, Lim B, Lim SH, Froguel P, Balkau B, Fink NR, Vinding RK, Sevelsted A, Bisgaard H, Coltell O, Dallongeville J, Gottrand F, Pahkala K, Niinikoski H, Hypponen E, Pedersen O, Marz W, Inskip H, Jaddoe VV, Dennison E, YinWong T, Sabanayagam C, Tai ES, Mohlke KL, Mackey DA, Gruszfeld D, Deloukas P, Tucker KL, Fumeron F, Bonnelykke K, Rossing P, Estruch R, Ordovas JM, Arnett DK, Meirhaeghe A, Amouyel P, Cheng CY, Sim XL, Teo YY, van Dam R, Koh WP, Orho-Melander M, Loeffler M, Kubo M, Thiery J, Mook-Kanamori DO, Mozaffarian D, Psaty BM, Franco OH, Wu TC, North KE, Smith GD, Chavarro JE, Chasman DI, Qi L
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Variants in the fetal genome near pro-inflammatory cytokine genes on 2q13 associate with gestational duration (2019)

Nature Communications
Xueping Liu, Dorte Helenius, Line Skotte, Robin N. Beaumont, Matthias Wielscher, Frank Geller, Julius Juodakis, Anubha Mahajan, Jonathan P. Bradfield, Frederick T.J. Lin, Suzanne Vogelezang, Mariona Bustamante, Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia, Niina Pitkänen, Carol A. Wang, Jonas Bacelis, Maria C. Borges, Ge Zhang, Bruce A. Bedell, Robert M. Rossi, Kristin Skogstrand, Shouneng Peng, Wesley K. Thompson, Vivek Appadurai, Debbie A. Lawlor, Ilkka Kalliala, Christine Power, Mark I. McCarthy, Heather A. Boyd, Mary L. Marazita, Hakon Hakonarson, M. Geoffrey Hayes, Denise M. Scholtens, Fernando Rivadeneira, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe, Rebecca K. Vinding, Hans Bisgaard, Bridget A. Knight, Katja Pahkala, Olli Raitakari, Øyvind Helgeland, Stefan Johansson, Pål R. Njølstad, João Fadista, Andrew J. Schork, Ron Nudel, Daniel E. Miller, Xiaoting Chen, Matthew T. Weirauch, Preben Bo Mortensen, Anders D. Børglum, Merete Nordentoft, Ole Mors, Ke Hao, Kelli K. Ryckman, David M. Hougaard, Leah C. Kottyan, Craig E. Pennell, Leo-Pekka Lyytikainen, Klaus Bønnelykke, Martine Vrijheid, Janine F. Felix, William L. Lowe Jr, Struan F.A. Grant, Elina Hyppönen, Bo Jacobsson, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Louis J. Muglia, Jeffrey C. Murray, Rachel M. Freathy, Thomas M. Werge, Mads Melbye, Alfonso Buil, Bjarke Feenstra
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))