Young Survivor Unit (YoSU)

adult hand holding the hand of a prematurely born baby.
Our research aims to better understand the development of children who have been seriously ill early in life.  Photographer: herjua

The child's early years are critical for later development. Injuries to the child in connection with childbirth, birth long before the expected date or serious illness early in life affect the child's opportunities to develop. Our research aims to better understand the development of these children.

In the past, many of these children did not survive the first period. As healthcare has developed, more and more are surviving. These new and later young survivors are at great risk for brain damage, motor abnormalities and CP, autism, ADHD and learning disabilities.

A research group sits on a bench at Campus US in Linköping.Young Survivor Unit (YoSU). Photo credit John Karlsson Our research aims to better understand the development of children who have been seriously ill early in life. Furthermore, to develop and study interventions that, in the long term, increase the children's functioning in everyday life. We evaluate assessment instruments with the aim of improving diagnostics and enabling the right support interventions for the children and families we meet. We study interventions with a focus on strengthening children's cognitive, motor and social skills.

The aim

The aim of our research is generally to improve knowledge, diagnostics and interventions for children who have been seriously ill during the newborn period. Ultimately, our vision is to move from "wait and see" to early intervention.

News

Publications

Latest publications

2025

Brynhildur Tinna Birgisdottir, Tomas Andersson, Ingela Hulthen Varli, Sissel Saltvedt, Ke Lu, Farhad Abtahi, Ulrika Ådén, Malin Holzmann (2025) Changes in short-term variation of antenatal cardiotocography to identify intraamniotic infection: a historical cohort study The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, Vol. 38, Article 2434059 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

Lina Brostrom, Lexuri Fernandez de Gamarra-Oca, Hedvig Kvanta, Maria Ortqvist, Nelly Padilla, Ulrika Ådén (2024) Being born extremely preterm with low-grade intraventricular haemorrhage had no impact on brain volumes or neurodevelopment in later childhood Acta Paediatrica (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Christian Gadsboll, Lars J. Bjorklund, Mikael Norman, Thomas Abrahamsson, Magnus Domellof, Anders Elfvin, Aijaz Farooqi, Lena Hellstrom-Westas, Stellan Hakansson, Karin Kallen, Erik Normann, Fredrik Serenius, Karin Savman, Petra Um-Bergstrom, Ulrika Ådén, David Ley (2024) Centralisation of extremely preterm births and decreased early postnatal mortality in Sweden, 2004-2007 versus 2014-2016 Acta Paediatrica (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Erika Baraldi, Mara Westling Allodi, Kristina Lowing, Noni Wadstrom, Ann-Charlotte Smedler, Maria Ortqvist, Bjorn Westrup, Ulrika Ådén (2024) Parent-child interaction after home-visiting intervention for children born extremely preterm-A randomised clinical trial Acta Paediatrica (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Elena Di Martino, Anoop Ambikan, Daniel Ramskold, Takashi Umekawa, Sarantis Giatrellis, Davide Vacondio, Alejandro Lastra Romero, Marta Gomez Galan, Rickard Sandberg, Ulrika Ådén, Volker M. Lauschke, Ujjwal Neogi, Klas Blomgren, Julianna Kele (2024) Inflammatory, metabolic, and sex-dependent gene-regulatory dynamics of microglia and macrophages in neonatal hippocampus after hypoxia-ischemia iScience, Vol. 27, Article 109346 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Research group

Organisation