Inflammation and oxidative stress may be involved in atherogenesis. This thesis describes clinical studies of prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α), an inflammatory mediator, and the isoprostane 8-iso-PGF2α, a reliable indicator of oxidative stress, and cytokine-related inflammatory mediators and indicators in healthy subjects and in a population-based cohort of Swedish men. PGF2α and 8-iso-PGF2α formation in healthy subjects varied considerably between days with a mean intra-individual coefficient of variation of 41 % and 42 %, respectively. A morning urine sample reflected the basal level of 8-iso-PGF2α formation as accurately as a 24-hour urine collection, and represents a more practical alternative to the 24-hour urine collection in clinical studies. PGF2α formation (as measured by urinary 15-keto-dihydro-PGF2α) was increased in patients with type 2 diabetes and in smokers independent of other cardiovascular risk factors. These results indicated an on-going cyclooxygenase (COX)-mediated inflammatory reaction related to these conditions. Further, an increased formation of isoprostanes (as measured by urinary 8-iso-PGF2α) was found in patients with type 2 diabetes and in smokers, indicating a high level of oxidative stress in these men. The smokers had also increased levels of the cytokine interleukin-6, indicating an on-going cytokine-related inflammatory reaction. The inflammatory indicators C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A were related to overweight but not independently associated to type 2 diabetes. High levels of serum selenium in middle-aged men predicted reduced formation of PGF2α and 8-iso-PGF2α 27 years later. In summary, low-grade, chronic COX-mediated and possibly cytokine-related inflammation, and oxidative stress, seem to be joint features of type 2 diabetes and smoking, two major risk factors of atherosclerosis, in elderly men. Inflammation and oxidative stress may represent a possible common pathogenetic link between established risk factors for atherosclerosis and atherogenesis.

Sleep is a basic need as important as physical fitness and good nutrition. Without enough sleep, we will create a sleep debt and experience sleepiness. Sleepiness can be defined as the inability to stay awake, a condition that has become a health problem in our 24-hour-7-day-a-week society. Estimates suggest that up to one-third of the population suffers from excessive sleepiness. Among other interactions, sleepiness affects our performance, increasing the risk of being involved in accidents. A considerable portion of work related accidents and injuries are related to sleepiness resulting in large costs for the individuals and society. Professional drivers are one example of workers who are at risk of sleepiness related accidents. Up to 40% of heavy truck accidents could be related to sleepiness. A better knowledge about reliable indicators and predictors of sleepiness is important in preventing sleepiness related accidents. This thesis investigates both objective and subjective indicators of sleepiness, how these relate to each other, and how their pattern changes over time. The indicators investigated were electroencephalography, heart rate variability, simple reaction time, head movement, and subjective ratings of sleepiness (Study I-IV). In Study V, a questionnaire study was conducted with professional drivers in northern Sweden. This study mainly deals with predictors of sleepiness. When subjects were sleep deprived both objective and subjective ratings indicated a rapid increase in sleepiness during the first hour of the test followed by a levelling off. This change in pattern was evident for all the indicators except heart rate and heart rate variability. On the other hand, HRV was correlated with the increase of EEG parameters during the post-test sleep period. The changes in pattern of the indicators included in the thesis are analysed in the perspective of temporal patterns and relationships. Of the tested indicators, a subjective rating of sleepiness with CR-10 was considered to be the most reliable indicator of sleepiness. Of the investigated predictors of sleepiness, prior sleep habits were found to be strongly associated to sleepiness and the sleepiness related symptoms while driving. The influences of driving conditions and individual characteristics on sleepiness while driving were lower. A multidisciplinary approach when investigating and implementing indicators and predictors of sleepiness is important. In addition to their actual relations to the development of sleepiness, factors such as technical and practical limitations, work, and individual and situational needs must be taken into account.

Background: A boy child born in a Gothenburg suburb has a life expectancy that is nine years shorter than that of another child just 23 km away, and among girls the difference is five years. There is no necessary biological reason to this observed difference. In fact, like life length, most diseases follow a social gradient, even in a country like Sweden where many believe there is no class inequity. This social inequity in health tells us that some of us are not achieving our potential in health or in life length compared to our more fortunate fellow citizens. Aim: This thesis attempts to explore the patterns of health inequities and the pathways by which health inequities develop from a life course and gender perspective. In particular focuses on the importance of material, behavioural, health related and psychosocial circumstances from adolescence to adulthood in explaining social inequity in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), obesity, smoking, and social mobility. Method: All four papers of this thesis were based on quantitative analyses of data from a 14-year follow-up study. The baseline survey was conducted in 1981 in Luleå, Sweden. The survey included all 16-year-old pupils born in 1965. A total of 1081 pupils (575 boys and 506 girls) were surveyed. They were followed up at ages 18, 21 and 30 years with comprehensive self-administered questionnaires. The response rate was 96.5% throughout the 14-year follow-up. In addition to the questionnaires data, school records, and interviews with nurse and teachers’ were used. Results: There were no class or gender differences in MSDs and in obesity during adolescence, but significantly more girls than boys were smokers. Class and gender differences had emerged when they reached adulthood with more women reporting to have MSDs but more men being overweight and obese. Women continued to be smokers at a higher rate than men through to adulthood. When an intersection between class and gender was considered, a more complex picture emerged. For example, not all women had higher prevalence of MSDs or smoked more than men, rather men with high socioeconomic position (SEP) had lower prevalences of MSDs and smoking than women with high SEP; and these high SEP women had lower prevalences than men with low SEP. The worst-off group was women with low SEP. The obesity pattern was quite the contrary, where women with high SEP had a lower prevalence of obesity than women with low SEP; and these low SEP women had a lower prevalence than men with high SEP. The worst-off group was men with low SEP. Regarding social mobility, health status (other than height in women) and ethnic background were not associated with mobility either for men or women. The results indicated that unequal distribution of material, psychosocial, health and health related behavioural factors during adolescence, young adulthood and adulthood accounted for the observed social gradients and social mobility. However, several factors from adolescence appeared to be more important for women while recent factors were more important for men. Important adolescent factors for social inequity and downward mobility were: unfavourable material circumstances defined as low SEP of parent, unemployed family member, and had no own room during upbringing; unfavourable psychosocial circumstances defined as parental divorce, poor contact with parents, being less liked in school, and low school control; and poor health related behaviour defined as smoking and physical inactivity. Among these factors, being less liked in school showed consistent association with all outcome measures of this thesis. Being less liked by the teachers and students was found to be more common among adolescents whose parents had low SEP. Men and women who were less liked in school during their adolescence were more likely as adults to be smokers, obese (only women), and downwardly mobile. The dominant adult life factor that contributed to class inequity in MSDs for men and women was physical heavy working conditions, which attributed to an estimated 46.9% (women) and 49.5% (men) of the increased risk in MSDs of the lower SEP group. High alcohol consumption among men with low SEP was an additional factor that contributed to class inequities in health and social mobility. Conclusion: Social patterning of health in this cohort was gendered and age specific depending on the outcome measures. Unfavourable school environment in early years had long lasting negative influence on later health, health behavior and SEP. The thesis supports the notion of accumulation of risk that social inequities in health occurs due to accumulation of multiple adverse circumstances among the lower SEP group throughout their life course. Schools should be used as a setting for interventions aimed at reducing socioeconomic inequities in health. The detailed policy implications for reduction of social inequities in health among men and women are discussed.

The general aims of this dissertation are to analyse how family situation, and especially lone parenting, influence health and life chances in Sweden and the extent to which possible relations are influenced by socioeconomic circumstances and health selection. In two population-based cohort studies we analysed overall and cause-specific mortality (1991-95), and also severe morbidity (1991-94) from different causes among lone mothers in comparison with mothers with partners. Information on the mothers was obtained from the Swedish Population and Housing censuses of 1985 and 1990. The outcomes considered were death or utilisation of (overnight) hospital care, with data taken from population-based national health registers. In the analyses we adjusted for socioeconomic and demographic circumstances, such as socioeconomic status, country of birth, receipt of social-welfare benefit, and housing situation. To take health-selection effects into account, we adjusted for previous inpatient history (1987-90). Our findings suggest that lone motherhood entails health disadvantages with regard to mortality, severe morbidity and injury. Socioeconomic circumstances were found to play a major role in accounting for increased risks, but the risks are partly independent of both socioeconomic conditions and health selection into lone motherhood. In two further studies we analysed mortality (1991-98), severe morbidity and injury (1991-99), and also educational achievement (in 1998 at ages 24-25 of offspring), of children who had lived in lone-parent families in comparison with children in two-parent families. We mainly used data from the Swedish censuses and national health-data registers. Living in a lone parent family was found to be associated with increased risks of a variety of unfavourable outcomes: psychiatric disease, suicide/suicide attempt, injury, addiction, and low educational attainment. Relatively poor educational performance and also health disadvantages are explicable to a large extent by socioeconomic conditions, especially a lack of economic resources (as measured here by receipt of social-welfare benefit and having rented accommodation). Educational achievement among children varies with cause of lone parenthood, with the best prospects found among the children of widows/widowers. In a fifth study we analysed mortality from different causes (1991-2000) among lone fathers (fathers with and without custody of their children) and childless men (with and without partners) in comparison with cohabiting fathers with children in the household. For this purpose we linked information from the Swedish censuses of 1985 and 1990 to Sweden’s Multi-Generation Register (which contains information about all known biological relations between children and parents). Lone non-custodial fathers and lone childless men suffer from the most pronounced elevated risks, especially of death from injury or addiction, but also from all-cause mortality and death from ischaemic heart disease. Being a lone custodial father also seems to entail an increased mortality risk, although generally to a much lesser degree, and not for all outcomes studied. The elevated risks for all subgroups fell when variables assumed to control health selection and socioeconomic circumstances were introduced into the initial regression model employed. However, even following adjustments, significantly increased risks, albeit greatly attenuated, remained in all the subgroups investigated. Key Words: Single parent, single mother, single father, children, risk factor, socio-economic status, mortality, morbidity, injury, psychiatric disease, education, epidemiology, longitudinal

Type 2 diabetes is usually caused by a combination of pancreatic β-cell failure and insulin resistance in target tissues like liver, muscle and fat. Insulin resistance is characterised by an impaired effect of insulin to reduce hepatic glucose production and to promote glucose uptake in peripheral tissues. The focus of this study was to further elucidate cellular mechanisms for insulin resistance that may be of relevance for type 2 diabetes in humans. We used rat and human adipocytes as an established model of insulin’s target cells. Glucocorticoids, e.g. cortisol, can induce insulin resistance in vivo. In the present study, pretreatment of rat adipocytes in vitro for 24 h with the cortisol analogue dexamethasone produced a downregulation of glucose uptake capacity as well as a marked depletion of cellular insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) and protein kinase B (PKB), two proteins suggested to play a critical role in the intracellular signal transduction pathway of insulin. The amount of phosphorylated PKB in response to acute insulin treatment was decreased in parallel to total PKB content. The basal rate of lipolysis was enhanced, but insulin’s antilipolytic effect was not consistently altered following dexamethasone pretreatment. Alterations in blood glucose as well as insulin levels may be of great importance for cellular as well as whole-body insulin resistance. High glucose (≥15 mM) for 24 h induced a decrease in glucose uptake capacity in rat adipocytes and IRS-1 content was reduced whereas IRS-2 was increased. Long-term pretreatment with a high insulin concentration downregulated insulin binding capacity and when combined with high glucose, it produced a pronounced reduction of cellular IRS-1 and 2 content together with insensitivity to insulin’s effect to activate PKB and a decrease in glucose uptake capacity. A common denominator for a decrease in glucose uptake capacity in our rat adipocyte studies seems to be a decrease in IRS-1 content. Adipocytes from type 2 diabetes patients are insulin-resistant, but in our work the insulin resistance could be reversed by incubation of the cells at a physiological glucose level for 24 h. Insulin resistance in fresh adipocytes from type 2 diabetes patients was associated with in vivo insulin resistance and glycemic level and with adipocyte cell size and waist-hip ratio (WHR). As a potential mechanism for postprandial dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetes, we examined the nutritional regulation of subcutaneous adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity. It was upregulated by ~40-50 % after a standardised lipid-enriched meal and this was very similar in type 2 diabetes patients and control subjects, suggesting that the postprandial hypertriglyceridemia found in type 2 diabetes is not explained by an altered nutritional regulation of LPL in subcutaneous fat. In conclusion, the present work provides evidence for novel interactions between glucocorticoids and insulin in the regulation of glucose metabolism that may potentially contribute to the development of insulin resistance. High levels of glucose and insulin produce perturbations in the insulin signalling pathway that may be of relevance for human type 2 diabetes. Cellular insulin resistance may be secondary to the diabetic state in vivo, e.g. via glucotoxicity. This is supported by our finding that insulin resistance in adipocytes from type 2 diabetes patients can be reversed after incubation at a physiological glucose level. Key words: adipocyte, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, insulin signalling, glucose uptake, insulin, glucose, dexamethasone, insulin receptor substrate, protein kinase B, GLUT4, lipoprotein lipase.

The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship of pre-diagnostic circulating levels of sex-steroids (androgens and estrogens), sex hormone binding globuline (SHBG), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), IGF binding proteins (BP) and C-peptide (as a marker of pancreatic insulin secretion) with risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. Additionally, the interrelationships of body mass index (BMI), sex-steroids, IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were examined. Two case-control studies were nested within 3 prospective cohort studies centered in New York (USA), Umeå (Sweden) and Milan (Italy). The ovarian study included 132 cancer cases. The endometrial study included 166 cancer cases in the IGF-I and C-peptide component and 124 postmenopausal cases in the sex-steroids component. For each case, two controls matching the case for cohort, age, menopausal status and date at recruitment were selected. In total 286 and 315 controls were included in the ovarian and endometrial cancer studies, respectively. Odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for cancer risk associated with increasing hormone concentrations were estimated by conditional logistic regression. The cross-sectional analysis was based on anthropometric and hormonal data from 620 controls selected for the two nested case-control studies. There was no association of prediagnostic androstenedione, testosterone, DHEAS, SHBG or estrone with ovarian cancer risk in the whole study population or in women who were pre- or postmenopausal at blood donation. In the premenopausal group, risk appeared to increase with increasing androstenedione (OR (95% CI) for the highest tertile: 2.35 (0.81-6.82), p=0.12). There was no association of IGF-I, IGFBP-1, 2, 3 or C-peptide concentrations with risk of ovarian cancer risk in the study group as a whole. In analyses restricted to subjects who had developed ovarian cancer at an early age (<55), circulating IGF-I was directly and strongly associated with risk (OR (95% CI): 4.74 (1.20-18.7), p<0.05 for the highest IGF-I tertile). In the endometrial study, previous observations were confimed that elevated circulating estrogens and androgens and decreased SHBG increase risk of developing endometrial malignancy after menopause. Multivariate ORs (95% CI) for endometrial cancer for quartiles with the highest hormone levels were: 4.13 (1.76-9.72), p<0.001 for estradiol; 3.67 (1.71-7.88), p=0.001 for estrone; 2.15 (1.05-4.40), p<0.04 for androstenedione; 1.74 (0.88-3.46), p=0.06 for testosterone; 2.90 (1.42-5.90), p<0.01 for DHEAS and 0.46 (0.20-1.05), p<0.01 for SHBG. Prediagnostic IGF-I, IGFBP-1, -2 and –3 were not related to risk of endometrial cancer in the whole study population. In postmenopausal women, levels of IGFBP-1 were inversely related to risk with an OR for the highest quartile of 0.36 (0.13-0.95), p<0.05. Endometrial cancer risk increased with increasing levels of C-peptide (p<0.01), up to an OR of 4.40 (1.65-11.7) for the highest quintile after adjustment for BMI and other confounders. The cross-sectional analyses showed that in both pre- and postmenopausal women SHBG decreased with increasing BMI. In the postmenopausal group, estrogens, testosterone and androstenedione increased with BMI, while the association with IGF-I was non-linear, the highest mean IGF-I concentration being observed in women with BMI between 24 and 25. In postmenopausal women, IGF-I was positively related to androgens, inversely correlated with SHBG, and was not correlated with estrogens. In conclusion, elevated pre-diagnostic sex-steroids, IGF-I or C-peptide increase risk of developing ovarian and endometrial cancer. BMI influences the circulating levels of these hormones, especially after menopause.

Stress has emerged as one of the most important factors to consider in psychiatric diagnoses and has become a common reason for long-term sick leave (LTSL). Roughly 50% of LTSL due to psychiatric diseases are thought to be associated with work-related stress. The demarcation towards major depression is disputed, and no international consensus exists for how to diagnose and rehabilitate these individuals. The Swedish National Board of Health has suggested the term “exhaustion syndrome” to integrate these individuals into stress-related disorders. Prominent features of this syndrome are fatigue, sleeping disorders, and cognitive dysfunction. The cognitive dysfunction may be due to an interaction between personality features, environmental factors, the biological effects of stress hormones, and dysfunction in key brain areas, notably the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. A consistent feature of chronic stress is activation of the cortisol, or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, axis, which may be linked to cognitive dysfunction. Increased glucocorticoid levels, mainly cortisol in humans, are known to impair memory performance. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether patients with exhaustion syndrome exhibit specific alterations in an extensive set of biological, psychological and immunological variables. Patients in Study 1 had significant cognitive impairment for specific tasks assumed to tap frontal lobe functioning. In Study 2 anxiety prone, worrying, pessimistic individuals with low executive drive and a persistent personality type were more likely to develop exhaustion syndrome. Decreased reactivity was found on the pituitary level after corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) in exhaustion syndrome patients. The cortisol/adrenocorticotropic hormone response to CRH was slightly higher in patients compared to controls, indicating increased sensitivity at the adrenal cortex level. No differences were found in hippocampal volume. In Study 3, functional imaging revealed a different pattern of brain activation in working memory tests in patients with exhaustion syndrome compared to healthy individuals and patients with depression. In summary, our data suggests an intimate link between personality and wellbeing, cognitive performance and neuroendocrine dysfunction, in exhaustion syndrome. We thus find similarities with major depression but also distinct differences between the exhaustion syndrome and major depression.

In the history of public health vaccines have proven to be among the most effective disease prevention tools. It is clear that in the fight against HIV that new and powerful preventive technology such as a vaccine is badly needed. Ethically, however the processes of developing a vaccine against HIV have been distinctly different from that of any previous pharmaceutical products. HIV vaccine trials can be ethically complex for a number of reasons. In 2004 the HIV I AIDS Vaccine Ethics Group undertook a research initiative that aimed to collect data from various South African stake holders of HIV vaccine trials to ascertain what they perceived as the ethical challenges related to HIV vaccine trials. A quantitative content analysis on the data from 31 semistructured interviews revealed that the ethical issue listed spontaneously by most of the respondents was that of informed consent. Further probing and discussion on informed consent identified a number of sub issues which the respondents thought would pose important challenges to HIV vaccine trials in the South African context. This study undertook to do a more in-depth qualitative analysis of the data to ascertain whether the challenges and concerns the stakeholders have are consistent with or different to those already identified in the literature and ethical guidelines on informed consent in medical research. What variables may be impacting on the position stakeholders take was also of interest. Results indicated that many concerns relating to the substantive and procedural elements of informed consent were consistent with those debated in the literature. These issues related to first person consent, the voluntariness of participants' consent, practicing cultural sensitivity, dealing with language issues, promoting and assessing understanding of material disclosed, issues around the vulnerability of .. participants, children and adolescents' capacity to consent and the role of the media. More specific to the South African context, stakeholders were concerned about the legal framework under which the trials take place, the general lack of education and training about HIV vaccine trials, a lack of communication and coordination between stakeholder groups, and the historical influences of apartheid on black South African participants' capacity to consent. The main variables that appeared to impact on the position stakeholders took related to the role the stakeholders play within the trials, the philosophical position underpinning their ethical viewpoints, stakeholders' understanding of vulnerability and capacity to consent, and how they view the universality or relativity of ethical issues. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Background: Incidence of death and hospitalizations have been observed to depend on short-term changes in weather and to increase with extreme temperatures. This thesis aims to strengthen the scientific knowledge on the relationship between temperature and daily deaths, but also the relationship between temperature and daily hospital admissions. Methods: We constructed time series regression models using daily counts of death and daily weather from the Stockholm area incorporating adjustment for potential confounding factors, season, and long-term time trends. From these models, we established the short-term relationship with daily temperatures and the associated relative risks on daily deaths allowing for a delay between exposure and subsequent deaths. Daily hospital admissions and daily temperatures were analyzed correspondingly using data from Skåne. Results: Hot and cold temperatures significantly impact on mortality rates as well as rates of hospitalization in Sweden. We found an immediate heat effect on daily deaths, while the impacts of cold temperatures were delayed up to a week after exposure. Cold-related deaths are generally cardiovascular in nature, while deaths resulting from warm temperatures are cardiovascular, respiratory as well as non-cardiorespiratory in nature. The impacts following a heat wave appear to increase proportionally with the length of the extreme hot conditions. The results suggest that the population aged 45 years and older is the main group at elevated risk of death when exposed to high and low temperatures. Moreover, the results suggest that there are several factors of susceptibility on an individual basis that correspond to larger relative risk with high and/or low temperatures. Daily hospitalisations increased in particular among individuals with respiratory illnesses during extreme persistent heat, whereas high temperatures in general have little impact. In contrast, hospitalizations increased for up to two weeks following exposure to cold temperatures. Conclusions: The health impacts related to temperature are a serious concern and the attributed impacts are likely to increase to some extent in the future due to an ageing population. Public health preventive strategies should be developed to prevent health consequences related to heat waves and cold temperatures. Future studies should aim at identifying susceptible individuals with elevated death risk at hot and cold ambient temperature conditions.

Background: In 2005, the Västerbotten County Council launched a child health promotion programme, “the Salut Programme”, in response to an alarming prevalence of overweight and obesity, and trends of increased dental caries, among young county citizens. The programme, initially developed in four pilot areas, is built on multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration and aims to support and strengthen health promotion activities in health care, social services and school settings. It targets children and adolescents (0-18 years of age) and their parents, and starts during pregnancy. This thesis focuses on interventions provided by antenatal care, child health care, dental services, and open pre-schools, directed to expectant parents and families with children aged 0-1 ½ years. Within the programme context, the aim was to explore socio-demographic patterns of overweight and obesity in expectant parents (Paper I), firsttime parents’ experiences of health promotion and lifestyle change during pregnancy and early parenthood (Paper II), professionals’ experiences of factors influencing programme implementation and sustainability (Paper III and IV), and early programme outcomes on professionals’ health promotion practices and collaboration following countywide dissemination and implementation (Paper IV).   Methods and results: A population based cross-sectional study among expectant parents showed overweight and obesity in 29% of women (pre-pregnancy) and in 53% of men (n=4,352♀, 3,949♂). The likelihood for obesity was higher in expectant parents with lower levels of education, among those unemployed or on sick leave, and those living in rural areas. In 62% of couples, at least one of the partners was overweight or obese; a positive partner correlation was also found for BMI (I). An interview study with 24 first-time parents (n=12♀, 12♂) revealed that they primarily undertook lifestyle changes to secure the health of the fetus in pregnancy, and to provide a healthy environment in childhood. Parents described themselves as highly receptive to information about how their lifestyle could influence fetal health, and they frequently discussed pregnancy risks related to tobacco and alcohol, as well as toxins and infectious agents in foods. However, parents did not seem inclined to make lifestyle changes primarily to promote their own health. The antenatal and child health care services were perceived as being mainly directed towards women, and parents described a lack of a holistic view of the family which included experiences of fathers being treated as less important (II). An interview study undertaken with professionals (n=23) in the Salut Programme pilot areas indicated programme sustainability at most sites, two years after implementation, although less adherence was described within child health care. Factors influencing programme sustainability, as described by professionals, were identified at multiple organisational levels (III). A before-and-after survey among professionals (n=144) measured outcomes of the county-wide implementation of the Salut Programme in 13 out of 15 county municipalities. Results showed significant improvements in professionals’ health promotion practices and collaboration across sectors. A number of important implementation facilitators and barriers, acting at different organizational levels, were also identified via a survey comprised of open-ended questions (IV).   Conclusion: The Salut Programme, developed with high involvement of professionals, and strongly integrated in existing organisational structures and practices, shows potential for improving health promotion practices and cross-sectoral collaboration. The findings can inform further development of the Salut Programme.as well as new health promotion initiatives, and inform policy practice and future research. These aspects include approaches in health promotion and prevention, father involvement during pregnancy and early parenthood, and factors influencing implementation and sustainability of cross-sectoral health promotion programmes. / Bakgrund: År 2005 lanserade Västerbottens läns landsting en hälsofrämjande satsning “Salut” som svar på en oroande förekomst av övervikt och fetma samt trender till ökad förekomst av karies hos barn i länet. Satsningen, som initialt utvecklades i fyra pilotområden, bygger på tvärprofessionellt och verksamhetsövergripande samarbete och syftar till att stödja och stärka hälsofrämjande insatser inom landstinget och länets kommuner. Satsningen riktar sig till barn och unga (0-18 år) och deras föräldrar, med start under graviditeten. Denna avhandling fokuserar på insatser som erbjuds via mödrahälsovård, barnhälsovård, tandvård och öppen förskola riktade till blivande föräldrar och familjer med barn i åldern 0-1 ½ år. Med utgångspunkt från Salut-satsningen syftar avhandlingen till att undersöka socio-demografiska mönster av övervikt och fetma hos blivande föräldrar (I), förstagångsföräldrars upplevelser av hälsofrämjande insatser och förändrade levnadsvanor under graviditet och tidigt föräldraskap (II), personalens upplevelser av underlättande och hindrande faktorer för satsningens införande och uthållighet (III, IV), samt förändringar i arbetssätt och samarbete mellan verksamheterna efter den länstäckande spridningen av satsningen (IV).   Metod och resultat: En populationsbaserad tvärsnittsstudie bland blivande föräldrar visade på övervikt och fetma hos 29% av kvinnorna (vikt före graviditet) och hos 53% av männen (n=4352♀, 3949♂). Lägre utbildningsnivå, arbetslöshet och sjukskrivning samt att bo utanför städerna visade sig öka sannolikheten för fetma. Hos en övervägande del av paren (62%) fanns minst en partner med övervikt eller fetma och samband kunde även påvisas mellan kvinnans och mannens BMI (I). En intervjustudie med 24 förstagångsföräldrar (n=12♀, 12♂) visade att föräldrarna främst förändrade sina levnadsvanor för att säkra hälsan hos fostret under graviditeten och för att skapa en hälsosam miljö för barnet under uppväxten. Föräldrarna beskrev sig själva som mycket mottagliga för information om hur deras levnadsvanor kunde påverka fostrets hälsa och de diskuterade ofta graviditetsrisker i relation till tobak och alkohol samt gifter och smittoämnen i livsmedel. Föräldrarna var dock mindre angelägna att förändra sina levnadsvanor med tanke på sin egen hälsa. De upplevde att mödrahälsovårdens och barnhälsovårdens insatser i huvudsak riktades till kvinnor och beskrev en avsaknad av helhetssyn på familjen, vilket även avspeglades i upplevelser av att papporna behandlades som mindre viktiga (II). En intervjustudie med personal (n=23) inom pilotområdena, två år efter utveckling och införandet av Saluts insatser, indikerade god uthållighet av satsningen, även om en lägre följsamhet till insatserna beskrevs inom barnhälsovården. Faktorer som av personalen beskrevs påverka uthålligheten identifierades på flera organisatoriska nivåer (III). En före- och efterstudie bland personal (n=144) mätte effekter av den länstäckande spridningen av satsningen i 13 av länets 15 kommuner. Resultaten visade på flera signifikanta förbättringar av de hälsofrämjande arbetssätten och ett ökat samarbete mellan verksamheterna. En enkät med öppna frågor riktad till personalen belyste också faktorer på flera organisationsnivåer som ansågs underlätta respektive hindra införandeprocessen (IV).   Slutsats: Salut-satsningen, som är utvecklad i nära samarbete med verksamheternas personal och väl integrerad i redan existerande organisatoriska strukturer och arbetssätt, visar på potential att förbättra hälsofrämjande arbetssätt och samarbete mellan verksamheter. Aspekter som beskrivits och diskuterats kan vägleda satsningens fortsatta utveckling såväl som framtida nya initiativ. Resultaten och slutsatserna kan även användas i syfte att påverka policy, praxis och framtida forskning. Detta avser framförallt hälsofrämjande och sjukdomsförebyggande metoder, pappans roll under graviditet och tidigt föräldraskap samt kunskaper om faktorer som kan ha betydelse för genomförande och uthållighet av verksamhetsövergripande hälsofrämjande insatser.