Palliative medicine is a young field of research, and there are few well-made clinical studies. Linda Björkhem-Bergman hopes to answer such questions as how vitamin D affects the patients' immune system and symptoms. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI's installation ceremony booklet 2025
What are you researching?
"I do research in palliative care and care at the end of life, specifically how to alleviate symptoms such as pain, fatigue and respiratory distress in patients. My main focus in recent years has been how vitamin D affects the immune system and if it can reduce symptoms and infections while improving the patients' quality of life."
Why is this important?
"End-of-life care must be given the same high priority as that for acute, life-threatening diseases - but there are shortcomings here. Palliative medicine is a young field of research and there are few well-made clinical studies, so many guidelines are based on studies performed on other patient groups. One of the aims of my research is to contribute to more evidence-based knowledge in palliative medicine."
What are your findings to date?
"In our Palliative D study, a large randomised and placebo-controlled study, we found that patients who were treated with vitamin D required less pain relief and experienced less fatigue than those who received a placebo. The participants found it meaningful to help with our research and did not consider the risk of receiving the placebo a problem. The study opens the way for more placebo-controlled studies in palliative care."
What's your next step?
"The next step is a new study on vitamin D, in which we will focus on its effect on fatigue. We will also study when and how to discontinue treatment with statins and blood-pressure medication in patients with advanced cancer. It is common that blood pressure and cholesterol levels decrease towards the end of life, and at that stage these drugs might do more harm than good. In addition, we want to learn more about how cortisone treatment affects patients with advanced cancer."
About Linda Björkhem-Bergman
Professor of Palliative Medicine at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Science and Society
Linda Björkhem-Bergman was born in 1975 in Nacka in Stockholm. She graduated with a medical degree at Karolinska Institutet in 2001, becoming specialist in clinical pharmacology in 2012 and in palliative medicine in 2021. She earned her PhD in 2004 with a thesis in experimental pathology. She has been a consultant in palliative care since 2013, and since 2020 she has worked at Stockholm Sjukhem. She leads a research group at Karolinska Institutet and is scientific director of the Palliative Knowledge Centre in Stockholm. Linda Björkhem-Bergman was appointed Professor at Karolinska Institutet on 1 October 2024.
