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

Read more about the project

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

Integrative approaches for large-scale transcriptome-wide association studies (2016)

Nature Genetics
Gusev A, Ko A, Shi H, Bhatia G, Chung W, Penninx BWJH, Jansen R, de Geus EJC, Boomsma DI, Wright FA, Sullivan PF, Nikkola E, Alvarez M, Civelek M, Lusis AJ, Lehtimaki T, Raitoharju E, Kahonen M, Seppala I, Raitakari OT, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Price AL, Pajukanta P, Pasaniuc B
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))

Childhood Psychosocial Factors and Coronary Artery Calcification in Adulthood The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2016)

JAMA Pediatrics
Markus Juonala, Laura Pulkki-Råback, Marko Elovainio, Christian Hakulinen, Costan G. Magnussen, Matthew A. Sabin, David P. Burgner, David L. Hare, Olli Hartiala, Heikki Ukkonen, Antti Saraste, Sami Kajander, Nina Hutri-Kähönen, Mika Kähönen, Irina Rinta-Kiikka, Tomi Laitinen, Sakari Kainulainen, Jorma S. A. Viikari, Olli T. Raitakari
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))

Meta-analysis of rare and common exome chip variants identifies S1PR4 and other loci influencing blood cell traits (2016)

Nature Genetics
Pankratz N, Schick UM, Zhou Y, Zhou W, Ahluwalia TS, Allende ML, Auer PL, Bork-Jensen J, Brody JA, Chen MH, Clavo V, Eicher JD, Grarup N, Hagedorn EJ, Hu B, Hunker K, Johnson AD, Leusink M, Lu Y, Lyytikäinen LP, Manichaikul A, Marioni RE, Nalls MA, Pazoki R, Smith AV, van Rooij FJ, Yang ML, Zhang X, Zhang Y, Asselbergs FW, Boerwinkle E, Borecki IB, Bottinger EP, Cushman M, de Bakker PI, Deary IJ, Dong L, Feitosa MF, Floyd JS, Franceschini N, Franco OH, Garcia ME, Grove ML, Gudnason V, Hansen T, Harris TB, Hofman A, Jackson RD, Jia J, Kähönen M, Launer LJ, Lehtimäki T, Liewald DC, Linneberg A, Liu Y, Loos RJ, Nguyen VM, Numans ME, Pedersen O, Psaty BM, Raitakari OT, Rich SS, Rivadeneira F, Di Sant AM, Rotter JI, Starr JM, Taylor KD, Thuesen BH, Tracy RP, Uitterlinden AG, Wang J, Wang J, Dehghan A, Huo Y, Cupples LA, Wilson JG, Proia RL, Zon LI, O'Donnell CJ, Reiner AP, Ganesh SK
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))