Division of Insurance Medicine

Professor Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz was invited by the Belgium government to speak at the high level conference on Mental Health and Work in Brussels. Professor Mittendorfer-Rutz outlined evidence-based strategies which can facilitate the entrance in the labour market of individuals with mental health complaints. The conference was organized as part of the Belgian presidency recognizing the challenge of taking action to combat psychosocial risks at work.

Fitsum Teni has defended his thesis entitled Activity restrictions, treatment and work disability among people with multiple sclerosis.

Chantelle Murley has successfully defended her thesis entitled Work disability, economic situation, and societal costs of multiple sclerosis in Sweden.

Ridwanul Amin has defended his thesis entitled Suicidal behaviour and healthcare use among refugees.

Emilie Friberg has been granted 3,2 million from the AFA Insurance in order to study health and work ability among pedestrians of working age who were injured in a fall accident in a road environment or in a collision with another road user.

Kristin Farrants has been granted 3.8 million from AFA Insurance to study sickness absence and disability pension among blue-collar workers in the trade industry during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kristina Alexanderson, Professor of Social Insurance at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience is awarded the medal for her excellent contribution to the development of social insurance research and competence at KI. She has placed KI firmly on the map as a leading university in the field, nationally as well as internationally.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are taking part in three projects funded as part of the EU’s second major investment in research on COVID-19 and the pandemic. The total research grant for KI amounts to just over SEK 14 million. Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz is the leader of the RESPOND study at KI.

Per Lytsy and Emilie Friberg have compiled a new report that contains two systematic literature reviews on the existing research on the factors which create healthy and vital workplaces.

Jurgita Narusyte has been granted 4.9 million SEK from AFA Insurance in order to investigate how depression, anxiety and ADHD in young people relate to sickness absence later in life.

Mirkka Söderman has defended her thesis entitled Healthcare professionals’ work with sickness absence : with focus on oncology.

Rasmus Elrud has defended his thesis entitled Sickness absence, disability pension, and permanent medical impairment among car occupants injured in a crash.

In a new Swedish study, published in the medical journal Neurology, it was found that people with cluster headache have twice as many sick-leave days as people without. The researchers also found that women with cluster headache had twice as many sick-leave days as men with the same disease. That an episodic disease has some effect on working life was expected, but not that the differences were that large.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and their colleagues in Germany, the USA and Finland have studied the safety of very long-term antipsychotic therapy for schizophrenia. According to the study, which is published in the scientific journal World Psychiatry, mortality was higher during periods when patients were not on medication than when they were.

Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz was inaugurated as KI´s first professor in Insurance Medicine during a ceremony held in Aula Medica.

"We represent many disciplines within medical science, but we are united in the aim of improving people’s health,” said Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz in her professor’s speech.