Jan Hasselström's research
The research is primarily focused on two areas: cardiovascular prevention and medical practice, as well as support systems for the early detection of cancer.
Research focus
Cardiovascular prevention and medical practice
Stroke: In a series of studies and interventions aimed at improving adherence to clinical guidelines, we have shown that patients with a history of stroke are often not followed up or provided with recommended preventive treatment in accordance with current evidence. Ongoing research aims to explore the underlying causes of these quality gaps from the perspectives of primary care physicians, patients, and healthcare organizations, with the goal of developing supportive systems to aid primary care physicians in their work.
Hypertension:In a national collaboration, we have described several aspects of hypertension within the context of primary care. The clinical database Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database (SPCCD) has served as the basis for numerous studies and doctoral theses. Ongoing research focuses on:
- a) factors contributing to the development of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) based on a clinical primary care cohort (PREFERS-hypertension)
- b) methods to facilitate the detection of and dialogue about alcohol use among patients with hypertension
- c) the importance of early detection and the quality of clinical management of hypertension in primary care.
Support systems for early cancer detection
Primary care is often the first point of contact for patients who are later diagnosed with cancer. However, cancer is frequently detected late in the disease course due to vague and overlapping symptoms with common benign conditions, which worsens prognosis.
we are investigating the potential to develop risk-based support systems in primary care for early detection in three project areas:
- a) lung cancer
- b) colorectal cancer
- c) non-specific cancer symptoms
We have published several studies using risk algorithms based on ICD coding, free-text information from medical records, laboratory values, and symptom assessment tools. In the near future, we aim to evaluate the added value of incorporating biomarker data and healthcare administrative data (e.g., visit patterns) to further develop these algorithms into prospectively sustainable tools to support primary care physicians.
Contact
Collaborations and researchers
Stroke projects: Axel Carlsson,docent; Maria Flink, docent, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care; Mia von Euler, professor, Sophiahemmet University; PhD student: Maria Wolf (main supervisor: Jan Hasselström), KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care.
Hypertension project: a) Hans Persson, professor, KI Danderyd Hospital (KI-DS), Department of Cardiology; PhD student: Anna Hellman (main supervisor: Mattias Ekström, docent; co-supervisor: Jan Hasselström), KI-DS, Department of Cardiology.
Hypertension project: b) Johanna Adami, professor, Sophiahemmet University; Maria Hagströmer, professor, KI, NVS, Division of Physiotherapy; PhD student: Åsa Thurfjell (main supervisor: Lena Lund, MD; co-supervisor: Jan Hasselström), KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care .
Hypertension project: c) Boel Brynedal, docent, KI, Department of Global Public Health; Thomas Kahan, professor, KI-DS, Department of Cardiology; PhD student: Anders Norrman (main supervisor: Axel Carlsson, docent; co-supervisor: Jan Hasselström), KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care.
Early cancer detection project a) Lars E. Eriksson, professor, Tina Gustavell, docent, KI, NVS, Division of Nursing; Elinor Nemlander, MD, KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care; PhD student: Mark Albeek (main supervisor: Axel Carlsson, docent), KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care.
Early cancer detection project: b) Axel Carlsson, docent, KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care; Andreas Rosenblad, associate professor, Uppsala University, Department of Statistics; PhD student: Dr. Eliya Abedim (main supervisor: Jan Hasselström), KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care.
Early cancer detection project: c) Elinor Nemlander, MD, postdoc; Axel Carlsson, docent, KI, NVS, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care; Per Ljungman, professor, KI, Department of Medicine, Huddinge; Andreas Rosenblad, associate professor, Uppsala University, Department of Statistics.
Collaboration
In the hypertension projects, collaboration extends beyond the above-mentioned researchers through the Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database (SPCCD) network, including:
- Karolinska Institutet Danderyd Hospital (Thomas Kahan, professor)
- Primary and Dental Care R&D Unit in Skaraborg/University of Gothenburg (Kristina Bengtsson-Boström, professor)
- Sahlgrenska Academy/University of Gothenburg (Charlotta Ljungman, Associate Professor )
- Uppsala University, Department of Pharmacy (Björn Wettermark, professor)
In the early cancer detection projects, additional collaboration includes:
- Regional Cancer Center Stockholm/Gotland (Dr. Marcela Ewing)
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Health Informatics and Logistics (Sebastiaan Meijer, professon and Jayanth Ragothama, associate professor)
- Karolinska Institutet, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery (Annika Sjövall, docent)
Selected publications
Secondary prevention after stroke/transient ischemic attack: A randomized audit and feedback trial.
Geary L, Hasselström J, Carlsson AC, Eriksson I, von Euler M
Acta Neurol Scand 2019 Aug;140(2):107-115
Identifying factors explaining practice variation in secondary stroke prevention in primary care: a cohort study based on all patients with ischaemic stroke in the Stockholm region.
Wolf M, Hasselström JK, Carlsson A, Euler MV, Hasselström J
BMJ Open 2022 Nov;12(11):e064277
The transition from hypertension to hypertensive heart disease and heart failure: the PREFERS Hypertension study.
Ekström M, Hellman A, Hasselström J, Hage C, Kahan T, Ugander M, Wallén H, Persson H, Linde C
ESC Heart Fail 2020 Apr;7(2):737-746
GPs' experiences of phosphatidylethanol in treatment of hypertension: a qualitative study.
Thurfjell Å, Sandlund C, Adami J, Hasselström J, Hagströmer M, Lundh L
BJGP Open 2023 Dec;7(4):
The Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database (SPCCD): 74 751 hypertensive primary care patients.
Hasselström J, Zarrinkoub R, Holmquist C, Hjerpe P, Ljungman C, Qvarnström M, Wettermark B, Manhem K, Kahan T, Bengtsson Boström K
Blood Press 2014 Apr;23(2):116-25
Improved treatment and control of hypertension in Swedish primary care: results from the Swedish primary care cardiovascular database.
Holmquist C, Hasselström J, Bengtsson Boström K, Manhem K, Wettermark B, Hjerpe P, Kahan T
J Hypertens 2017 Oct;35(10):2102-2108
Predicting new cases of hypertension in Swedish primary care with a machine learning tool.
Norrman A, Hasselström J, Ljunggren G, Wachtler C, Eriksson J, Kahan T, Wändell P, Gudjonsdottir H, Lindblom S, Ruge T, Rosenblad A, Brynedal B, Carlsson AC
Prev Med Rep 2024 Aug;44():102806
Lung cancer prediction using machine learning on data from a symptom e-questionnaire for never smokers, formers smokers and current smokers.
Nemlander E, Rosenblad A, Abedi E, Ekman S, Hasselström J, Eriksson LE, Carlsson AC
PLoS One 2022 ;17(10):e0276703
A machine learning tool for identifying non-metastatic colorectal cancer in primary care.
Nemlander E, Ewing M, Abedi E, Hasselström J, Sjövall A, Carlsson AC, Rosenblad A
Eur J Cancer 2023 Mar;182():100-106
A machine learning tool for identifying metastatic colorectal cancer in primary care.
Abedi E, Ewing M, Nemlander E, Hasselström J, Sjövall A, Carlsson AC, Rosenblad A
Scand J Prim Health Care 2025 Sep;43(3):585-593