Evaluation of TREC by the Research Council of Norway

Evaluation of the Thrombosis Research group (TREC) by international experts commissioned by the Research Council of Norway (EvalMedHelse)

EvalMedHelse, or the Evaluation of Medical and Health Research in Norway, is a nationwide initiative designed to assess the quality, relevance, and societal impact of medical and health research conducted across Norwegian institutions during the years 2012-2022. Commissioned by the Research Council of Norway (RCN), international experts evaluated research institutions, departments and research groups with regards to organization, scientific and public dissemination, and contributions to their specific research fields. The evaluation was based on self-reports and available public information about the institutions, departments and research groups.

Recently, TREC, a translational research group focusing on the etiology of venous thromboembolism, received the evaluation report from EvalMedHelse 2023-2024. Overall, the research group got a high score, with marks of 4 or 5 on all items (5 is highest). The report highlighted that TREC is a successful and focused translational research group, that TREC during 25 years of research has gained a high international reputation, operating at a very high standard and achieved the position of international opinion leader with a large network of national and international collaborators.

TREC was evaluated as a very well-organized research group with strong leadership. The report further stated that “The research quality in relation to both contribution and leadership in research and outputs are excellent in the specific field of VTE”. “TREC has contributed to the reputation of the institution by substantial international visibility due to publications in high-ranked international peer-reviewed journals as well as many invited and selected oral presentations at important international conferences in the field (e.g., ISTH)”. With regards to societal impact, “TREC has contributed to increase academic competence of medical doctors at hospitals in Norway” and “taken a great focus on dissemination of project results and on increasing the public awareness and knowledge of VTE in the society”.

As a comment to the evaluation report, professor Hansen, the research group leader of TREC, states that “TREC is satisfied by the findings in the evaluation report, and we are encouraged to continue working to improve the organization as well as the scientific and societal relevance and impact of TREC. As the evaluation has been resource-demanding, and a huge effort for everyone involved, it will be exciting to see how the recommendations in the evaluation report will be implemented in the strategies and organization at the institutional- and department levels with goal to improve the framework for research in general and top research in particular”.

You can read the full report here: EvalMedHelse Report TREC

Body height and risk of blood clots in men versus women

Is body height a risk factor for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in both men and women, and do men have a higher risk of VTE because they are taller? 

Previous studies, including the Tromsø study, have shown a link between body height and risk of VTE in men, but studies in women have shown inconsistent results. Limited study size, and consequently few tall women included in these studies, could potentially explain this inconsistency. We therefore aimed to investigate the risk of VTE according to body height in men and women separately, in a large population-based study. Since men are on average taller than women, we also investigated whether differences in body height could explain differences in VTE risk between men and women in different age groups.

We used a merged cohort of 114,567 individuals from the Tromsø study and the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). The participants were followed up over a median of 22 years, and all VTE events during this period were recorded. We found that 10cm increase in body height on average increased the risk of VTE with 34% in men and 23% in women. The risk of VTE was higher in men than in women in the age group 50-74 years, but this difference disappeared after adjustment for differences in body height. In the young (19-49 years) and elderly (≥75 years) there was no difference in VTE risk in men versus women, but the risk was higher in women after adjusting for body height. Our findings indicate that body height mediates the risk of VTE to a larger extent in men than in women in all age groups.

The paper was published in Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis in May 2025. You can find the article here:

Arnesen et al. Body height and risk of venous thromboembolism in men vs women. JTH 2025.

Improved survival in cancer patients with venous thrombosis

The formation of venous blood clots in the deep veins of the body or in the blood vessels of the lungs, also known as venous thromboembolism (VTE), is a common and potentially fatal condition in cancer. Our recent research data show improved survival in cancer patients with VTE.

You can also read an interview on NRK (in Norwegian) with the first author here

Treatment of cancer and VTE has improved in recent decades, but to what extent these improvements have been accompanied by improved survival for cancer patients with VTE remains unclear. Nikolai H. Eide, an MD/PhD student at the Thrombosis Research Group (TREC), and his colleagues at UiT and UNN sought to answer this question by investigating the changes in mortality over the last three decades for cancer patients with VTE.

The researchers analyzed data from two large Norwegian population-based studies, the Tromsø Study and the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). A total of 111,119 participants were followed from 1994 to 2019 to explore changes in mortality rates among cancer patients with VTE.

We found that the proportion of patients who died within 1 year after the diagnosis of cancer-related VTE decreased from 62% to 45% in the period 1994 to 2019. The improved survival over time was particularly seen for cancer patients without metastasis, that is, without spread of the cancer cells in the body at the time of cancer diagnosis.

While the study did not pinpoint the exact reasons for the improved survival of cancer-related VTE, several factors might have contributed, especially those related to the major advances in cancer treatment that have been achieved in recent decades. The findings from Eide and colleagues give hope for the future of cancer patients, their families and doctors, and form the basis for further research dedicated to improve the survival in cancer patients with VTE.

Reference: Eide NH, Langholm C, Rinde FB, Van Es N, Hveem K, Brækkan SK, Hansen JB, Morelli VM. Mortality risk after cancer-related venous thromboembolism has decreased over the last three decades: the HUNT and Tromsø studies. Haematologica 2025. Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39945012/

John Bjarne Hansen  –  Professor

Sigrid Kufaas Brækkan  –  Professor

Omri Snir  –  Associate Professor

Thor Ueland  –  Professor II

Vania Maris Morelli  –  Researcher

Nadezhda Latysheva  –  Research technician

Kristian Dalsbø Hindberg  –  Researcher

Eduarda Mazagao Guerreiro  –  Researcher

Samantha Swamy  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Maryam Hosseini  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Christopher Antoun  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Lisa Jakobsen  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Celina Janene Cathro  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Ellen-Sofie Wulff Eilertsen  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Christabel Esi Damoah  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Oda Gabrielle R. Leknessund  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Vårin Eiriksdatter Wikan  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Asbjørn Lund Onsaker  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Nikolai Hagensen Eide  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Camilla Langholm  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Anna Yang Arntzen  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Mathias Haugmo Storvand  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Solveig Marie Valderhaug  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Inga Røstvold  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)