Heart to Heart

The aim of the research project Heart to Heart is to give new insights into health differences between Norway and Russia. The main focus is to expand our knowledge of cardiovascular disease etiolology and to develop and implement preventive strategies.

Russia has one of the world's highest rates of cardiovascular disease mortality, in working age more than seven times higher than in neighbouring Norway. The high rate of premature mortality puts a substantial burden on Russian health care, economy, and families.

The Heart to Heart project was set up to aquire new knowledge about the large health differences by comparisons between the seventh Tromsø Study survey  (2015-2016) in Tromsø, Norway, and the Know Your Heart study (2015-2018) in Arkangelsk and Novosibirsk, Russia (part of the International Project on Cardiovascular Disease in Russia (IPCDR) led from the UK). The core objective of Heart to Heart is to quantify the likely contribution of different cardiovascular abnormalities and associated risk factors in explaining the huge difference in cardiovascular mortality between Norway and Russia. This project is unique in collecting in depth contemporary biomedical data that are designed to be comparable.

More information about Heart to Heart (PDF)

The international collaboration between the Tromsø Study in Norway and the Know Your Heart study (Узнай своё сердце) in Russia. Photo: Stina Grønbech and Ekaterina Kargopolova

News

Heart to Heart researcher workshop: online 2022

The international researcher workshop for the Heart to Heart collaboration attaracted over 50 reseachers from institutions in Russia, Norway, UK and Germany, aming to identify priority areas and key scientific areas for the upcoming joint data collections in the second Know Your Heart study and the seventh survey of the Tromsø Study

13.02.2022

Heart to Heart researcher workshop: online 2022 - welcome!

Setting target areas and priorities for new collaborative studies of population health in Norway and Russia

13.02.2022

Heart to Heart symposium II: Arkhangelsk 2020

The symposium was held at Northern State Medical University (Arkhangelsk, Russia). The key motivation behind this was still the striking fact that the mortality from cardiovascular disease among the working-age population in Russia in 2012-2016 was eight times higher than in Norway.

13.02.2022

Heart to Heart symposium II: Arkhangelsk 2020 - Welcome!

The second Heart to Heart symposium will take place in February 13-14th 2020 in Arkhangelsk, Russia. Welcome!

13.02.2022

Heart to Heart symposium I: Tromsø 2018 - Sammenligner hjertehelse i Norge og Russland

Prosjektet «Heart to Heart» gransker årsakene til de voldsomme forskjellene mellom Norge og Russland på hjertesykdom. Svarene som nå begynner å tikke inn er av stor internasjonal interesse.

13.02.2022

Russland har verdens høyeste forekomst av hjerteinfarkt: Russland er som Norge var for 50 år siden

Et massivt forskerteam samarbeider nå for å studere folkehelsa i Russland. Forekomsten av hjertesykdom blant unge menn er alarmerende.

13.02.2022