Spotlight on: High blood pressure
At least 1.8 million Swedes have high blood pressure, so-called hypertension. But even though blood pressure medication is considered one of the most important life-saving treatments, many people go around with high blood pressure without knowing it. The only way to find out your blood pressure is by getting it measured. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet work closely with the health service to improve both prevention and treatment of hypertension.
Photo: Jens Magnusson.
Are you keeping track of your blood pressure?
The main risk factor for developing high blood pressure is age. Even in middle age, your vessels may have difficulty keeping up. But a lot of people who have high blood pressure don’t even know it.
Beetroot juice lowers pressure
Can you lower your blood pressure by drinking beetroot juice? Yes, you actually can. Mattias Carlström, a docent in physiology and a research group leader, explains the connection.
Disease or risk factor?
Is high blood pressure a disease or a risk factor for disease? Confusingly, it’s both.
Blood pressure – true or false?
Is it really true that licorice raises blood pressure and that blood pressure medication increases the risk of becoming seriously ill in covid-19? The researchers arrange the concepts.
“We know too little about blood pressure in atrial fibrillation”
Joakim Olbers is a cardiologist and has recently presented a thesis on blood pressure in atrial fibrillation, in which the rhythm of the heart becomes irregular.
Photo: Oscar Omne“I call myself a professional stroke survivor”
After Annelie had a stroke as a pregnant woman, she decided to set goals. One of them was to be able to run again.
Photo: Oscar Omne“They say my high blood pressure is hereditary”
Camilla has had high blood pressure since the age of twenty, despite a healthy lifestyle. The explanation may be that it is hereditary.
Photo: Oscar Omne“The healthcare system sends an unclear message”
Peter takes five different blood pressure medications due to high stress levels, but thinks that the information he received from the healthcare system is unclear.
More about heart and vessels
Photo: Björn ÖbergSpotlight on Cardiac Arrest
As few as one in ten survive a cardiac arrest outside of hospital. But researchers have a whole battery of studies underway in the attempt to optimise all parts of the chain of survival.
Photo: Johannes FrandsenInternet CBT may help to heal a broken heart
It is common for middle-aged women with suspected myocardial infarction to be diagnosed with broken heart syndrome instead, which is triggered by stress and grief. Per Tornvall hopes that his research will result in more people receiving the correct diagnosis and fewer people suffering a relapse. He is now testing to see if internet CBT may help to heal the heart.
Photo: Getty ImagesResearch groups in cardiology and cardiovascular disease
Find research groups and units in the area of cardiology and cardiovascular disease at Karolinska Institutet. The list is compiled automatically from our research information database and is based on the Swedish standard classification of research subjects.