Life-style factors and VTE
In contrast to coronary artery disease (e.g. myocardial infarction), the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) has not declined during the last decades. In order to reduce the incidence of VTE in the population, it is important to identify how health behaviours such as education level, physical activity, diet, coffee, and tobacco and alcohol habits affect the incidence of VTE.
In this project, we investigate the associations between various health behaviours (physical activity and muscle strength, smoking, dietary habits etc.) and the risk of VTE in large population-based cohorts (Tromsø and HUNT studies). Information on health behaviours were largely assessed by self-administered questionnaires, and we have established well-validated outcome registers for VTE during follow-up in our cohorts.
IMPROVE project: Profiling of serum metabolites (the serum metabolome) may provide an opportunity to address important gaps in knowledge on the pathophysiological mechanisms of VTE, with the potential to identify novel biomarkers and unravel causal pathways. We will integrate data from a metabolome platform with genomic data in order to investigate biological pathways that underlie metabolite regulation of the VTE pathophysiology.
Principal Investigator: John-Bjarne Hansen
External collaborators: Kristian Hveem, Ben Brumpton, Bjørn Olav Åsvold (HUNT Center for Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology), Melliane Muteba Olsen, Kjersti Grønning (Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust), Magdalena Johansson (Umeå University),George Davey-Smith, Nicholas Thompson, Kaitlin H. Wade (University of Bristol)
Publications:
Leknessund et al. Hand grip strength in venous thromboembolism: risk of recurrence and mortality