Cardiovascular diseases and diabetes

Our research on cardiovascular diseases and diabetes focuses on how medicines are prescribed and used within healthcare and in the population. Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death. The main risk factors are smoking, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, overweight, physical inactivity, and diabetes. In recent years, the incidence of heart attacks and strokes has decreased, partly because several effective medicines have been introduced. However, many people still suffer unnecessarily from premature death and reduced quality of life, and several studies have identified areas for improvement ranging from health promotion and prevention to how healthcare follows clinical guidelines and how well patients adhere to their medication treatments.

We conduct several research projects on medicines used for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes:

• In collaboration with primary care in Region Stockholm and Västra Götaland, as well as Karolinska Institutet and the University of Gothenburg, the SPCCD – Swedish Primary Care Cardiovascular Database has been created. It includes medical record data linked to national registers for research on hypertension. You can read more about the database here.
• Studies on the use, benefits, and risks of statins and other lipid-lowering drugs in different population groups.
• Studies on the prescribing and use of medicines among patients with type II diabetes, in collaboration with primary care in Region Uppsala.
• Studies on the effects of the pandemic and the relationship between medicines and COVID-19 infection. In some ongoing studies, we have examined the pandemic’s impact on the use of diabetes medicines, antihypertensives, and anticoagulants.

Selected publications in the field

• Fors A, Forslund T, Sundström A, Wettermark B. Prescribing patterns of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in the Swedish capital region-a register-based cross-sectional study. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2025;81(5):739-75
  
• Samuelsen PJ, Wettermark B, Nyberg F, Hajiebrahimi M. Initiation of anticoagulants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden: an interrupted time series analysis. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol. 2025;136(2):e14119
  
• Treciokiene I, Forslund T, Kahan T, Wettermark B. Have people treated with antihypertensives been diagnosed with hypertension? A cross-sectional study in Stockholm, Sweden. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2025;34(1):e70075
• Wettermark B, Kalantaripour C, Forslund T, Hjemdahl P. Statin treatment for Primary and Secondary Prevention in Elderly Patients – a cross sectional study in Stockholm, Sweden. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2024 Oct;80(10):1571-1580
• Santosa A, Franzén S, Nåtman J, Wettermark B, Parmryd I, Nyberg F. Protective effects of statins on COVID-19 risk, severity and fatal outcome: a nationwide Swedish cohort study. Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 14;12(1):12047. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16357-2.

Contact

Björn Wettermark, professor. bjorn.wettermark@uu.se

Hossein Hajiebrahimi, researcher. hossein.hajiebrahimi@uu.se

Miriam Qvarnström, senior lecturer. miriam.qvarnstrom@uu.se