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

Discovery and Fine-Mapping of Glycaemic and Obesity-Related Trait Loci Using High-Density Imputation (2015)

PLoS Genetics
Horikoshi M, Magi R, van de Bunt M, Surakka I, Sarin AP, Mahajan A, Marullo L, Thorleifsson G, Hagg S, Hottenga JJ, Ladenvall C, Ried JS, Winkler TW, Willems SM, Pervjakova N, Esko T, Beekman M, Nelson CP, Willenborg C, Wiltshire S, Ferreira T, Fernandez J, Gaulton KJ, Steinthorsdottir V, Hamsten A, Magnusson PKE, Willemsen G, Milaneschi Y, Robertson NR, Groves CJ, Bennett AJ, Lehtimaki T, Viikari JS, Rung J, Lyssenko V, Perola M, Heid IM, Herder C, Grallert H, Muller-Nurasyid M, Roden M, Hypponen E, Isaacs A, van Leeuwen EM, Karssen LC, Mihailov E, Houwing-Duistermaat JJ, de Craen AJM, Deelen J, Havulinna AS, Blades M, Hengstenberg C, Erdmann J, Schunkert H, Kaprio J, Tobin MD, Samani NJ, Lind L, Salomaa V, Lindgren CM, Slagboom PE, Metspalu A, van Duijn CM, Eriksson JG, Peters A, Gieger C, Jula A, Groop L, Raitakari OT, Power C, Penninx BWJH, de Geus E, Smit JH, Boomsma DI, Pedersen NL, Ingelsson E, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, Ripatti S, Prokopenko I, McCarthy MI, Morris AP; ENGAGE Consortium
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))

Meta-analysis of Genome-wide Association Studies for Neuroticism, and the Polygenic Association With Major Depressive Disorder (2015)

JAMA Psychiatry
de Moor MH, van den Berg SM, Verweij KJ, Krueger RF, Luciano M, Arias Vasquez A, Matteson LK, Derringer J, Esko T, Amin N, Gordon SD, Hansell NK, Hart AB, Seppälä I, Huffman JE, Konte B, Lahti J, Lee M, Miller M, Nutile T, Tanaka T, Teumer A, Viktorin A, Wedenoja J, Abecasis GR, Adkins DE, Agrawal A, Allik J, Appel K, Bigdeli TB, Busonero F, Campbell H, Costa PT, Davey Smith G, Davies G, de Wit H, Ding J, Engelhardt BE, Eriksson JG, Fedko IO, Ferrucci L, Franke B, Giegling I, Grucza R, Hartmann AM, Heath AC, Heinonen K, Henders AK, Homuth G, Hottenga JJ, Iacono WG, Janzing J, Jokela M, Karlsson R, Kemp JP, Kirkpatrick MG, Latvala A, Lehtimäki T, Liewald DC, Madden PA, Magri C, Magnusson PK, Marten J, Maschio A, Medland SE, Mihailov E, Milaneschi Y, Montgomery GW, Nauck M, Ouwens KG, Palotie A, Pettersson E, Polasek O, Qian Y, Pulkki-Råback L, Raitakari OT, Realo A, Rose RJ, Ruggiero D, Schmidt CO, Slutske WS, Sorice R, Starr JM, St Pourcain B, Sutin AR, Timpson NJ, Trochet H, Vermeulen S, Vuoksimaa E, Widen E, Wouda J, Wright MJ, Zgaga L, Porteous D, Minelli A, Palmer AA, Rujescu D, Ciullo M, Hayward C, Rudan I, Metspalu A, Kaprio J, Deary IJ, Räikkönen K, Wilson JF, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, Bierut LJ, Hettema JM, Grabe HJ, van Duijn CM, Evans DM, Schlessinger D, Pedersen NL, Terracciano A, McGue M, Penninx BW, Martin NG, Boomsma DI
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))