Research at the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine

Research projects

The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS) - Epidemiologic study on atherosclerotic precursors in Finnish children and young adults

The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study is one of the largest follow-up studies into cardiovascular risk from childhood to adulthood. The main aim is to determine the contribution made by childhood lifestyle, biological, and psychological measures to the risk of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood.

Project Leader: Academy Professor Olli Raitakari

Read more about the project

The STRIP Project - A Prospective Randomized Trial of Atherosclerosis Prevention in Infancy and Childhood - An Epidemiological Study

The STRIP study is unique worldwide; no other study has started dietary intervention in infancy and continued it for 20 years, and simultaneously collected data with repeated measurements on a vast number of risk factors and subclinical markers for cardiovascular health.

The main purpose of the STRIP Study (Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project) is the prevention of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease by a dietary intervention which began in infancy and has continued to early adulthood. The trial was launched in 1990 when 1062 7-month-old children and their families were enrolled. Half of the families have received individualized dietary and other life-style counseling at least twice a year whereas the rest of the families have served as a control group. The STRIP Study intervention continued until the participants reached the age of 20 years.

Project Leader: Academy Professor Olli Raitakari

Recent publications of the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine

Genetic analysis for a shared biological basis between migraine and coronary artery disease (2015)

Neurology-Genetics

Winsvold BS, Nelson CP, Malik R, Gormley P, Anttila V, Vander Heiden J, Elliott KS, Jacobsen LM, Palta P, Amin N, de Vries B, Hämäläinen E, Freilinger T, Ikram MA, Kessler T, Koiranen M, Ligthart L, McMahon G, Pedersen LM, Willenborg C, Won HH, Olesen J, Artto V, Assimes TL, Blankenberg S, Boomsma DI, Cherkas L, Davey Smith G, Epstein SE, Erdmann J, Ferrari MD, Göbel H, Hall AS, Jarvelin MR, Kallela M, Kaprio J, Kathiresan S, Lehtimäki T, McPherson R, März W, Nyholt DR, O'Donnell CJ, Quaye L, Rader DJ, Raitakari O, Roberts R, Schunkert H, Schürks M, Stewart AF, Terwindt GM, Thorsteinsdottir U, van den Maagdenberg AM, van Duijn C, Wessman M, Kurth T, Kubisch C, Dichgans M, Chasman DI, Cotsapas C, Zwart JA, Samani NJ, Palotie A