The Arctic climate is changing, and will involve not only warming, but also a higher occurrence of weather extremes and shifting weather. A big part of the working population in the Arctic is exposed to varying temperature conditions, mostly through working outdoors but also through work in special conditions, like cold storages or metal smelters.
Type 2 diabetes is a common condition in the general population and often also occurs together with high blood pressure (hypertension). These people may have a higher risk of health problems at both high and low surrounding temperatures, compared to those without a disease. The reasons could be because their heart, blood vessels, nervous- or metabolic system can react differently than those of healthy people.
A new PhD project will focus on these important topics.
Our PhD student Mojdeh Rafieian started to work with the project "Cardiovascular Responses to Short-Term Cold and Heat Exposure in Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertension." in August 2023. She has a background of nursing and a Master of Science in Global Health from the Norwegian University of Technology and Sciences in Trondheim, Norway.
The aim of the project is to investigate how advanced type 2 diabetes and hypertension influences cardiovascular responses during short-term whole-body exposure to both cold and hot environments. The other aim is to examine the association between environmental temperature and hospitalization rates linked to cardiovascular events (heart attacks or strokes) among individuals having type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Mojdeh plans to utilize data derived from the "DiabColdHeat-study," a laboratory investigation, as well as data from the "Tromsø study," a population-based study reaching back to the 1970’s.
PhD supervisors are Tiina Ikäheimo , Anje C Höper , and Erlend Farbu Department of Community Medicine (ISM) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway,, and there is also collaboration with Oulu university, Finland.
For further information, contact mojdeh.rafieian@uit.no.
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