Amal Khanolkar has, together with Lisa Byberg and Ilona Koupil, published a study entitled "Parental influences on cardiovascular risk factors in Swedish children aged 5-14 years". This study has recently received some attention in the Swedish media.

On Tuesday 20 December, the half-time seminar of PhD Student Amal Khanolkhar, entitled "Social Inequalities in Health - Exploring Biological, Life-course and Intergenerational mechanisms" will take place.

As a part of the exchange programme between CHESS and IMS (Department of Social Medicine, University of Rio de Janeiro State), the conference "Social determinants of health" was held on December 7-9 in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. This was the third conference since 2008. The exchange programme is sponsored by STINT Institutional Grants Programme.

The Swedish Research Coucil (VR) is arranging a full-day seminar focussing on the theme "Welfare and health". Among the speakers is Viveca Östberg, associate professor at CHESS.

On December 6, Anton Lager successfully defended his doctoral thesis "The role of education and cognitive skills in understanding mortality inequalities" at Karolinska Institutet.

In 2007, CHESS was appointed one of ten FAS centres. On the basis of the mid-term evaluation of CHESS, the board of FAS has decided to provide CHESS with financial support at the same level up until 2016.

Britt af Klinteberg, professor at CHESS, was recently appointed a new member of the executive committee of the International Society for Research on Impulsivity (ISRI). ISRI is a nonprofit scientific society founded to promote research collaboration on impulsivity and impulse control disorders by scientists around the world.

On December 6, Anton Lager is defending his thesis: "The role of education and cognitive skills in understanding mortality inequalities". Anton is a doctoral student at the Department of Public Health Sciences, at Karolinska Institutet, and working at CHESS.

Mikael Rostila has been awarded a grant (5 015 000 SEK) from the Swedish Research Council (VR) for the project: "Work life and health among people with foreign background - the effects of segregation, status incongruence and adverse work environment". The project extends over a five-year period.

Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, invites applications for a doctoral student position at Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS). The position involves research in the project ”Work life and health among people with foreign background – the effects of segregation, status incongruence and adverse work environment” supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR).

Mikael Rostila has been awarded a grant (5 015 000 SEK) from the Swedish Research Council (VR) for the project: "Work life and health among people with foreign background - the effects of segregation, status incongruence and adverse work environment". The project extends over a five-year period.

A study examining the association between maternal obesity during pregnancy and early-life asthma has now been published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In the study, a clear dose-response relationship between the degree of maternal overweight status during pregnancy and increased risk of asthma in the child was found.

Anders Hjern is one of the authors of a study about age assessment of young asylum seekers, recently published in Acta Paediatrica. In order toimprove care for young asylum seekers with undetermined age, the authors suggest better legal procedures for the determination of age and a more flexible approach to chronological age.

CHESS was founded in the summer of 2000 jointly by Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet, and the first scientists joined the new research centre in January 2001. We have now completed 10 years and our activity during this period has been summarised in the report "CHESS 10 years".

Mikael Rostila is one of the authors of a study entitled "Mortality in parents following the death of a child: A nationwide follow-up study from Sweden", which is now forthcoming in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The findings corroborate and extend earlier findings suggesting elevated mortality risks among parents also following the death of an adult child.

In Socialmedicinsk Tidskrift's special issue about social differences in health, Denny Vågerö har published an article focussing on educational differences in mortality/life expectancy in Sweden.

Johan Fritzell is one of the authors of a forthcoming article in Health and Place. The title is: "Is non-employment associated with the health disadvantage among lone mothers in Britain, Italy and Sweden? Family policy and synergy effects."

Britt af Klinteberg and Ylva Almquist are two of the authors of a forthcoming study about how adverse childhood experiences (e.g. parental criminality, alcohol abuse and mental problems) may influence later risks of criminal behaviour and premature death. The study will be published in BMC Public Health.

Britt af Klinteberg has co-authored a book chapter about the role of the dopemine D4 receptor (DRD4) for conduct disorder among adolescents. The results indicate that genetic variation in DRD4 is linked to criminality and conduct disorder.

Olle Lundberg has co-authored a study entitled: "More variation in lifespan in lower educated groups: evidence from 10 European countries" which is now forthcoming in International Journal of Epidemiology.

Anders Hjern is one of the authors of an article entitled: "School performance in primary school and psychosocial problems in young adulthood among care leavers from long term foster care". The main results show that youth who left long term foster care had increased risks for psychosocial problems in young adulthood. These overrisks were partly explained by school performance.

As a result of the collaboration between CHESS and Peking University, a study on disparities in obesity in Chinese children and adolescents has now been published.

Anders Hjern has co-authored a study entitled: "Being born in Sweden increases the risk for type 1 diabetes - a study of migration of children to Sweden as a natural experiment", which has now been e-published ahead of print in Acta Paediatrica.

Anders Hjern is one of the authors of a recently published study entitled: "Maternal and paternal psychopathology increases risk of offspring ADHD equally".

A study by Ylva Almquist is now forthcoming in Social Networks. The results suggest that students who attend less equal school classes in terms of social status have worse health in childhood and adulthood alike.

Ylva Almquist has been interviewed for the Swedish Radio's programme "Kropp & Själ". The interview is about status hierarchies in the school class and long-term consequences.

Mikael Rostila is one of the authors to a recently forthcoming article entitled: "Social support and leisure-time physical activity: longitudinal evidence from the Brazilian Pro-Saude cohort study". The findings of this study suggest that social support positively influenced type of leisure time physical and time spent on the activity.

Johan Fritzell is one of the authors to a recently published article entitled: "Reduction in Personnel and Long-Term Sickness Absence for Psychiatric Disorders Among Employees in Swedish County Councils: An Ecological Population-Based Study". The results of this study suggest that downsizing may be related to subsequent increases in psychiatric sickness absence.

Anders Hjern has, together with Thomas Wallby, published a study in Acta Paediatrica entitled "Child health care uptake among low income and immigrant families in a Swedish county".

Phoebe Danziger, Richard Silverwood and Ilona Koupil are the authors of an article entitled "Fetal growth, early life circumstances, and risk of suicide in late adulthood" that is forthcoming in the European Journal of Epidemiology.

Mikael Rostila has been interviewed by Nerikes Allehanda concerning his study "Time does not heal all wounds: Mortality following the death of a parent".

On Friday the 20th of May, Ylva Almquist is defending her doctoral thesis. The title of the thesis is "A class of origin. The school class as a social context and health disparities in a life-course perspective."

Anders Hjern is one of the authors of an article about preterm birth and inhaled corticosteroid use in 6- to 19-year-olds, recently published in Pedatrics.

Ilona Koupil is one of the authors of an article forthcoming in European Journal of Epidemiology. The title is: "Fetal growth, early life circumstances, and risk of suicide in late adulthood".

Denny Vågerö has published a study in The Journal of Social Policy Studies, titled: "The East-West Health Divide in Europe: Growing and Shifting Eastwards".

Researcher from CHESS are co-authors of an article forthcoming in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The title is: "Socioeconomic inequalities in circulatory and all-cause mortality after retirement: the impact of mid-life income and old-age pension. Evidence from the Uppsala Birth Cohort Study".

Mikael Rostila recently got a study published in the journal Social Theory and Health. The title is: "A resource-based theory of social capital for health research: Can it help us bridge the individual and collective facets of the concept?"

Anders Hjern is one of the authors of a study published ahead of print in Pediatrics. The title is: "Preterm birth and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in schoolchildren".

Denny Vågerö has a commentary forthcoming in International Journal of Epidemiology. The title is: "Commentary: intelligence in youth and all-cause mortality. Some problems in a recent meta-analysis."

Denny Vågerö is the co-author of an article titled "Increasing absolute mortality disparities by education in Finland, Norway and Sweden, 1971-2000", forthcoming in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Ilona Koupil is one of the authors of a forthcoming article in American Journal of Epidemiology. The title is: "Are intergenerational associations in size at birth mediated by socio-economic factors? Results from three generations of the Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study, Sweden, 1915-2002."

Anders Hjern has co-authored an article recently published in Clinical and Experimental Allergy. The title is "Migration and asthma medication in international adoptees and immigrant families in Sweden".

Mikael Rostila has, together with Jan Saarela, published a study on mortality risks among children after the death of a parent. A debate article based on this study has now been published in Läkartidningen.

A study by CHESS researchers Amal Khanolkar, Denny Vågerö and Ilona Koupil has been published online in European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation. The title is: "Social determinants of cardiac disease biomarkers: investigating a Swedish male cohort at ages 50 and 70".

The death of parents entails an increase in their children’s risk of dying. This is shown in a new study performed by Mikael Rostila, a researcher at the Center for Health Equity Studies (CHESS) in Sweden, and Jan Saarela, a researcher at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. Those especially affected are younger children, and primarily if they lose their mother.

A study by Ylva Almquist has been accepted for publication in European Journal of Public Health. The results showed that children with fewer friends in the school class had an increased risk of reporting poorer health in adulthood.

Mikael Rostila (CHESS) has an article forthcoming in Social Theory and Health, entitled "A resource-based theory of social capital for health research: Can it help us bridge the individual and collective facets of the concept?"

Mikael Rostila (CHESS) has together with Jan Saarela published a study in Journal of Marriage and Family. The title is "Time does not heal all wounds: Mortality following the death of a parent". The results indicated that mortality risks associated with the death of a parent are elevated in minor children, whereas adult offspring tend to have reduced mortality risks shortly after a parent's death.

Anders Hjern (CHESS) is one of the authors of the article: "Hospital admissions of young persons for illicit drug use or abuse: Does neighborhood of residence matter?", recently published in Health and Place.

On Friday the 28th of January, a 'final seminar' about Ylvas Almquists upcoming thesis is held at the Department of Sociology (B900), Stockholm University. The preliminary title of the thesis is "A class of origin: The school class as a social context and health disparities in a life-course perspective".

Anders Hjern is one of the authors of the article "Stillbirth among foreign-born women in Sweden", recently published ahead of print in European Journal of Public Health.