PhD project My doctoral project explores the associations between the biomarkers leptin and adiponectin and cardiovascular diseases such as aortic valve stenosis and myocardial infarction. This is done through epidemiological, cohort-based studies on prospectively collected, population-based data with blood samples stored in biobanks, mainly from the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS).
The overall aim of these doctoral studies is to investigate the impact of the adipokines leptin and adiponectin in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, as well as in dementia in elderly. Findings may contribute to a better understanding of disease mechanisms, hypothetically leading to improved prediction of prognosis and ultimately possible new treatments of these common public diseases.
Overweight and obesity are a growing problem worldwide. In recent decades, it has been discovered that adipose tissue is an important and complex endocrine organ. The signaling factors are derived from adipose tissue, so-called adipokines, which regulate metabolic homeostasis through several different pathways. Adipokines have been investigated in detail as possible links to several diseases, not least cardiovascular diseases. Increased fat mass generates higher circulating levels of adipokines, such as leptin, except for adiponectin which has an inverse ratio. Elevated leptin levels have also been associated with heart attack, stroke, and aortic stenosis, while low levels of adiponectin are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and faster progression of aortic stenosis.
Adipokines are possible mediators of the increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with metabolic syndrome and it has been shown that both leptin and adiponectin are associated with the development of e.g. type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis.
My main material comes from the population-based cohort Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study consisting of three sub-cohorts: MONICA, VIP and MSP. In the WHO's MONICA project in northern Sweden, data was collected from 8 surveys conducted between 1986 and 2022 of 13500 individuals (25-74 years).
Since 1985, residents have been invited to regular health check-ups in their 40s, 50s and 60s, and at the same time are offered to participate in research where they provide survey data on lifestyle factors as well as measurements and blood tests for future research. Outcome data, including causes of death and hospitalizations with ICD codes, have been obtained from the National Board of Health and Welfare.
