Olli Raitakari profile picture
Olli
Raitakari
Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
InFLAMES Flagship
MD/PhD

Contact

+358 29 450 2304
Kiinamyllynkatu 10
20520
Turku

Areas of expertise

cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
risk factors
vascular epidemiology
genetic epidemiology
epidemiology
dietary intervention
cohort studies
follow-up studies

Biography

EDUCATION AND DEGREES
 
2001   Docent in Clinical Physiology
1997-1999  Postdoc training, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia
1997   Docent in Epidemiology
1996   Specialist in Clinical Physiology 
1995   Doctorate, PhD
1989   Licentiate in Medicine, MD

CURRENT POSITIONS

2017-                 Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, Director of the Research Centre of Applied and 
                          Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Finland                         

 

PAST POSITIONS

2012-2016                          Academy Professor, University of Turku

2007-2016                          Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine (part time), University of Turku

2007-2008                          Senior Scientist Grant, Academy of Finland

2004-2016                          Chief Physician, Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku
                                           University Hospital (leave of absence 2012-2016)

2002-2004                          Consultant in Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital

2002 (1 mo)                        Head of Nuclear Medicine Department, Turku University Hospital

2000-2003 (3 mo)               Head of Clinical Physiology Department, Turku University Hospital

2000-2005                          Senior Fellow Post, Academy of Finland

1998-2000                          Postdoctoral Research Post, Academy of Finland

1996-1997                          Consultant in Clinical Physiology, Turku University Hospital

1991-1996                          Positions as Resident in Clinical Chemistry, Nuclear Medicine, and Clinical 
                                           Physiology, Turku University Hospital

1988-1990                          Positions as General Practioner and Resident in Internal Medicine or Surgery


Research

Evidence suggest that many non-communicable disease outcomes have roots in childhood and may even stem of adverse ancestral exposures. Improved knowledge how various ancestral and early-life exposures lead to adult disease outcomes is essential in developing better preventive practices and policies that lead to improved public health. My mission has been to contribute to this knowledge-base by working in epidemiologic cohort studies with follow-up from childhood to adulthood. I am the Principal Investigator of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS), the largest study in Europe with a follow-up of cardiovascular risk factors from childhood to adulthood. I am also the Director of the STRIP Study, which is a leading long-term pediatric dietary intervention study testing the hypothesis that modifying the fat quality diet will have beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk early in life. During the past years, I have organized several field studies in these cohorts, and introduced novel technologies, such as imaging studies, genetic epidemiology methods and metabolomics approaches in these unique population resources. Our research has contributed to the understanding of pre-clinical development of atherosclerosis in children and young adults, including the effects of diet, life-style, metabolic risk factors, psychological traits and psychosocial factors, inflammation, hormones and genetic markers. For example, by applying non-invasive imaging methods in the Young Finns Study, we have demonstrated that exposure to adverse lipids, elevated blood pressure and obesity in childhood is related to atherosclerosis development in adulthood (JAMA 2003). Subsequent work stemmed from this initial observation has led to numerous original publications that have shown in detail how exposure to a large range of aetiogenic factors early in life contribute to the development of cardio-metabolic outcomes in adulthood. For example, by pooling international i3C Consortium data, we have demonstrated that overweight or obese children who became non-obese by adulthood had similar risks of many cardio-metabolic adult outcomes as individuals who were never obese (NEJM 2011). Thus, the results of our studies have clearly demonstrated that individual’s exposure to various stressors in early life is contributing to his/her adult phenotype and disease risk. The results have had significant impact on preventive practices. As a concrete demonstration of the international recognition and impact of my team’s work, many of our studies are widely cited in all updated paediatric guidelines on cardiovascular prevention both in Europe and in US.

Publications

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The challenges of GxE research: A rejoinder (2017)

Social Science and Medicine
Pehkonen J, Viinikainen J, Böckerman P, Lehtimäki T, Pitkänen N, Raitakari O
(Kirjoitus tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (B1))

Fasting Glucose and the Risk of Depressive Symptoms: Instrumental-Variable Regression in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2017)

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
Karolina Wesołowska, Marko Elovainio, Taina Hintsa, Markus Jokela, Laura Pulkki-Råback, Niina Pitkänen, Jari Lipsanen, Janne Tukiainen, Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen, Terho Lehtimäki, Markus Juonala, Olli Raitakari, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Plasma Concentrations of Afamin Are Associated With Prevalent and Incident Type 2 Diabetes: A Pooled Analysis in More Than 20,000 Individuals (2017)

Diabetes Care
Kollerits B, Lamina C, Huth C, Marques-Vidal P, Kiechl S, Seppala I, Cooper J, Hunt SC, Meisinger C, Herder C, Kedenko L, Willeit J, Thorand B, Dahnhardt D, Stockl D, Willeit K, Roden M, Rathmann W, Paulweber B, Peters A, Kahonen M, Lehtimaki T, Raitakari OT, Humphries SE, Vollenweider P, Dieplinger H, Kronenberg F, Kronenberg F
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Metabolic profiling of alcohol consumption in 9778 young adults (2016)

International Journal of Epidemiology
Würtz P, Cook S, Wang Q, Tiainen M, Tynkkynen T, Kangas AJ, Soininen P, Laitinen J, Viikari J, Kähönen M, Lehtimäki T, Perola M, Blankenberg S, Zeller T, Männistö S, Salomaa V, Järvelin MR, Raitakari OT, Ala-Korpela M, Leon DA
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Metabolomic Profiling of Statin Use and Genetic Inhibition of HMG-CoA Reductase (2016)

Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Wurtz P, Wang Q, Soininen P, Kangas AJ, Fatemifar G, Tynkkynen T, Tiainen M, Perola M, Tillin T, Hughes AD, Mantyselka P, Kahonen M, Lehtimaki T, Sattar N, Hingorani AD, Casas JP, Salomaa V, Kivimaki M, Jarvelin MR, Smith GD, Vanhala M, Lawlor DA, Raitakari OT, Chaturvedi N, Kettunen J, Ala-Korpela M
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19·2 million participants (2016)

Lancet
Di Cesare M, Bentham J, Stevens GA, Zhou B, Danaei G, Lu Y, Bixby H, Cowan MJ, Riley LM, Hajifathalian K, Fortunato L, Taddei C, Bennett JE, Ikeda N, Khang YH, Kyobutungi C, Laxmaiah A, Li Y, Lin HH, Miranda JJ, Mostafa A, Turley ML, Paciorek CJ, Gunter M, Ezzati M, Abdeen ZA, Abdul Hamid Z, Abu-Rmeileh NM, Acosta-Cazares B, Adams R, Aekplakorn W, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Ahmadvand A, Ahrens W, Ali MM, Alkerwi A, Alvarez-Pedrerol M, Aly E, Amouyel P, Amuzu A, Andersen LB, Anderssen SA, Andrade DS, Anjana RM, Aounallah-Skhiri H, Ariansen I, Aris T, Arlappa N, Arveiler D, Assah FK, Avdicová M, Azizi F, Beheshti S, Babu BV, Balakrishna N, Bandosz P, Banegas JR, Barbagallo CM, Barceló A, Barkat A, Barros MV, Bata I, Batieha AM, Batista RL, Baur LA, Beaglehole R, Ben Romdhane H, Benet M, Bernabe-Ortiz A, Bernotiene G, Bettiol H, Bhagyalaxmi A, Bharadwaj S, Bhargava SK, Bhatti Z, Bhutta ZA, Bi H, Bi Y, Bjerregaard P, Bjertness E, Bjertness MB, Björkelund C, Blake M, Blokstra A, Bo S, Bobak M, Boddy LM, Boehm BO, Boeing H, Boissonnet CP, Bongard V, Bovet P, Braeckman L, Bragt MC, Brajkovich I, Branca F, Breckenkamp J, Brenner H, Brewster LM, Brian GR, Bruno G, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Bugge A, Burns C, Cabrera de León A, Cacciottolo J, Cama T, Cameron C, Camolas J, Can G, Cândido AP, Capuano V, Cardoso VC, Carvalho MJ, Casanueva F, Casas JP, Caserta CA, Castetbon K, Chamukuttan S, Chan AW, Chan Q, Chaturvedi HK, Chaturvedi N, Chen CJ, Chen F, Chen H, Chen S, Chen Z, Cheng CY, Chetrit A, Chiolero A, Chiou ST, Chirita-Emandi A, Cho Y, Christensen K, Chudek J, Cifkova R, Claessens F, Clays E, Concin H, Cooper C, Cooper R, Coppinger TC, Costanzo S, Cottel D, Cowell C, Craig CL, Crujeiras AB, D'Arrigo G, d'Orsi E, Dallongeville J, Damasceno A, Damsgaard CT, Danaei G, Dankner R, Dauchet L, De Backer G, De Bacquer D, de Gaetano G, De Henauw S, De Smedt D, Deepa M, Deev AD, Dehghan A, Delisle H, Delpeuch F, Dhana K, Di Castelnuovo AF, Dias-da-Costa JS, Diaz A, Djalalinia S, Do HT, Dobson AJ, Donfrancesco C, Döring A, Doua K, Drygas W, Egbagbe EE, Eggertsen R, Ekelund U, El Ati J, Elliott P, Engle-Stone R, Erasmus RT, Erem C, Eriksen L, Escobedo-de la Peña J, Evans A, Faeh D, Fall CH, Farzadfar F, Felix-Redondo FJ, Ferguson TS, Fernández-Bergés D, Ferrante D, Ferrari M, Ferreccio C, Ferrieres J, Finn JD, Fischer K, Flores EM, Föger B, Foo LH, Forslund AS, Fortmann SP, Fouad HM, Francis DK, Franco Mdo C, Franco OH, Frontera G, Fuchs FD, Fuchs SC, Fujita Y, Furusawa T, Gaciong Z, Gafencu M, Gareta D, Garnett SP, Gaspoz JM, Gasull M, Gates L, Geleijnse JM, Ghasemian A, Giampaoli S, Gianfagna F, Giovannelli J, Giwercman A, Goldsmith RA, Gonzalez Gross M, González Rivas JP, Gorbea MB, Gottrand F, Graff -Iversen S, Grafnetter D, Grajda A, Grammatikopoulou MG, Gregor RD, Grodzicki T, Grøntved A, Gruden G, Grujic V, Gu D, Guan OP, Gudnason V, Guerrero R, Guessous I, Guimaraes AL, Gulliford MC, Gunnlaugsdottir J, Gunter M, Guo XH, Guo Y, Gupta PC, Gureje O, Gurzkowska B, Gutierrez L, Gutzwiller F, Halkjær J, Hardy R, Hari Kumar R, Hayes AJ, He J, Hendriks ME, Hernandez Cadena L, Heshmat R, Hihtaniemi IT, Ho SY, Ho SC, Hobbs M, Hofman A, Hormiga CM, Horta BL, Houti L, Htay TT, Htet AS, Htike MM, Hu Y, Hussieni AS, Huu CN, Huybrechts I, Hwalla N, Iacoviello L, Iannone AG, Ibrahim MM, Ikeda N, Ikram MA, Irazola VE, Islam M, Iwasaki M, Jackson RT, Jacobs JM, Jafar T, Jamil KM, Jamrozik K, Jasienska G, Jiang CQ, Joffres M, Johansson M, Jonas JB, Jørgensen T, Joshi P, Juolevi A, Jurak G, Jureša V, Kaaks R, Kafatos A, Kalter-Leibovici O, Kapantais E, Kasaeian A, Katz J, Kaur P, Kavousi M, Keil U, Keinan Boker L, Kelishadi R, Kemper H, Kengne AP, Kersting M, Key T, Khader YS, Khalili D, Khang YH, Khaw KT, Khouw IM, Kiechl S, Killewo J, Kim J, Kiyohara Y, Klimont J, Kolle E, Kolsteren P, Korrovits P, Koskinen S, Kouda K, Koziel S, Kratzer W, Krokstad S, Kromhout D, Kruger HS, Kula K, Kulaga Z, Kumar RK, Kusuma YS, Kuulasmaa K, Kyobutungi C, Laamiri FZ, Laatikainen T, Lachat C, Laid Y, Lam TH, Landrove O, Lanska V, Lappas G, Laugsand LE, Laxmaiah A, Le Nguyen Bao K, Le TD, Leclercq C, Lee J, Lee J, Lehtimäki T, Lekhraj R, León-Muñoz LM, Li Y, Lim WY, Lima-Costa MF, Lin HH, Lin X, Linneberg A, Lissner L, Litwin M, Liu J, Lorbeer R, Lotufo PA, Lozano JE, Luksiene D, Lundqvist A, Lunet N, Lytsy P, Ma G, Machi S, Maggi S, Magliano DJ, Makdisse M, Malekzadeh R, Malhotra R, Mallikharjuna Rao K, Manios Y, Mann J, Manzato E, Margozzini P, Markey O, Marques-Vidal P, Marrugat J, Martin-Prevel Y, Martorell R, Masoodi SR, Matsha TE, Mazur A, Mbanya JC, McFarlane SR, McGarvey ST, McKee M, McLachlan S, McLean RM, McNulty BA, Md Yusof S, Mediene-Benchekor S, Meirhaeghe A, Meisinger C, Mendes LL, Menezes AM, Mensink GB, Meshram II, Metspalu A, Mi J, Michaelsen KF, Mikkel K, Miller JC, Miquel JF, Miranda JJ, Mišigoj-Duraković M, Mohamed MK, Mohammad K, Mohammadifard N, Mohan V, Mohd Yusoff MF, Molbo D, Møller NC, Molnár D, Mondo CK, Monterrubio EA, Monyeki KD, Moreira LB, Morejon A, Moreno LA, Morgan K, Mortensen EL, Moschonis G, Mossakowska M, Mostafa A, Mota J, Motlagh ME, Motta J, Mu TT, Muiesan ML, Müller-Nurasyid M, Murphy N, Mursu J, Murtagh EM, Musa KI, Musil V, Nagel G, Nakamura H, Námešná J, Nang EE, Nangia VB, Nankap M, Narake S, Navarrete-Muñoz EM, Nenko I, Neovius M, Nervi F, Neuhauser HK, Nguyen ND, Nguyen QN, Nieto-Martínez RE, Ning G, Ninomiya T, Nishtar S, Noale M, Norat T, Noto D, Nsour MA, O'Reilly D, Ochoa-Avilés AM, Oh K, Olayan IH, Olinto MT, Oltarzewski M, Omar M, Onat A, Ordunez P, Ortiz AP, Osler M, Osmond C, Ostojic SM, Otero JA, Overvad K, Paccaud FM, Padez C, Pajak A, Palli D, Palloni A, Palmieri L, Panda-Jonas S, Panza F, Parnell WR, Parsaeian M, Pednekar MS, Peeters PH, Peixoto SV, Pereira AC, Pérez CM, Peters A, Peykari N, Pham ST, Pigeot I, Pikhart H, Pilav A, Pilotto L, Pistelli F, Pitakaka F, Piwonska A, Piwonski J, Plans-Rubió P, Poh BK, Porta M, Portegies ML, Poulimeneas D, Pradeepa R, Prashant M, Price JF, Puiu M, Punab M, Qasrawi RF, Qorbani M, Quoc Bao T, Radic I, Radisauskas R, Rahman M, Raitakari O, Raj M, Ramachandra Rao S, Ramachandran A, Ramke J, Ramos R, Rampal S, Rasmussen F, Redon J, Reganit PF, Ribeiro R, Riboli E, Rigo F, Rinke de Wit TF, Ritti-Dias RM, Rivera JA, Robinson SM, Robitaille C, Rodríguez-Artalejo F, Rodriguez-Perez Mdel C, Rodríguez-Villamizar LA, Rojas-Martinez R, Rojroongwasinkul N, Romaguera D, Ronkainen K, Rosengren A, Rouse I, Rubinstein A, Rühli FJ, Rui O, Ruiz-Betancourt BS, Russo Horimoto AR, Rutkowski M, Sabanayagam C, Sachdev HS, Saidi O, Salanave B, Salazar Martinez E, Salomaa V, Salonen JT, Salvetti M, Sánchez-Abanto J, Sandjaja, Sans S, Santos DA, Santos O, dos Santos RN, Santos R, Sardinha LB, Sarrafzadegan N, Saum KU, Savva SC, Scazufca M, Schaffrath Rosario A, Schargrodsky H, Schienkiewitz A, Schmidt IM, Schneider IJ, Schultsz C, Schutte AE, Sein AA, Senbanjo IO, Sepanlou SG, Shalnova SA, Shaw JE, Shibuya K, Shin Y, Shiri R, Siantar R, Sibai AM, Silva AM, Silva DA, Simon M, Simons J, Simons LA, Sjostrom M, Slowikowska-Hilczer J, Slusarczyk P, Smeeth L, Smith MC, Snijder MB, So HK, Sobngwi E, Söderberg S, Soekatri MY, Solfrizzi V, Sonestedt E, Sørensen TI, Sorić M, Sossa Jérome C, Soumare A, Staessen JA, Starc G, Stathopoulou MG, Staub K, Stavreski B, Steene-Johannessen J, Stehle P, Stein AD, Stergiou GS, Stessman J, Stieber J, Stöckl D, Stocks T, Stokwiszewski J, Stratton G, Strufaldi MW, Sun CA, Sundström J, Sung YT, Sunyer J, Suriyawongpaisal P, Swinburn B, Sy RG, Szponar L, Tai ES, Tammesoo ML, Tamosiunas A, Tang L, Tang X, Tanser F, Tao Y, Tarawneh M, Tarp J, Tarqui-Mamani CB, Taylor A, Tchibindat F, Thijs L, Thuesen BH, Tjonneland A, Tolonen HK, Tolstrup JS, Topbas M, Topór-Madry R, Torrent M, Traissac P, Trichopoulou A, Trichopoulos D, Trinh OT, Trivedi A, Tshepo L, Tulloch-Reid MK, Tuomainen TP, Tuomilehto J, Turley ML, Tynelius P, Tzotzas T, Tzourio C, Ueda P, Ukoli FA, Ulmer H, Unal B, Valdivia G, Vale S, Valvi D, van der Schouw YT, Van Herck K, Van Minh H, van Valkengoed IG, Vanderschueren D, Vanuzzo D, Vatten L, Vega T, Velasquez-Melendez G, Veronesi G, Verschuren WM, Viegi G, Viet L, Viikari-Juntura E, Vineis P, Vioque J, Virtanen JK, Visvikis-Siest S, Viswanathan B, Vollenweider P, Voutilainen S, Vrijheid M, Wade AN, Wagner A, Walton J, Wan N, Wan M, Wang MD, Wang Q, Wang YX, Wannamethee SG, Wareham N, Weerasekera D, Whincup PH, Widhalm K, Widyahening I, Wiecek A, Wilks RJ, Willeit J, Wojtyniak B, Wong JE, Wong TY, Woo J, Woodward M, Wu FC, Wu J, Wu SL, Xu H, Xu L, Yamborisut U, Yan W, Yang X, Yardim N, Ye X, Yiallouros PK, Yoshihara A, You QS, Younger-Coleman NO, Yusoff AF, Zainuddin A, Zambon S, Zdrojewski T, Zeng Y, Zhao D, Zhao W, Zheng Y, Zhou M, Zhu D, Zimmermann E, Zuñiga Cisneros J
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Life-course risk factor levels and coronary artery calcification. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (2016)

International Journal of Cardiology
Olli Hartiala, Sami Kajander, Juhani Knuuti, Heikki Ukkonen, Antti Saraste, Irina Rinta-Kiikka, Sakari Kainulainen, Mika Kähönen , Nina Hutri-Kähönen, Tomi Laitinen, Terho Lehtimäki, Jorma S.A. Viikari , Jaakko Hartiala, Markus Juonala, Olli T. Raitakari, Costan G. Magnussen
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))