Baldvin Jonsson
Professor Emeritus/Emerita
About me
Adjunct Professor of Neonatology at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health from May 1, 2020. Primary position: Senior physician at Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital.
Research description
Baldvin Jónsson is a neonatal physician who is engaged in research focusing on improving the care for premature babies. Since the 1990s, he has been studying bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) – a form of chronic lung disease resulting from damage to the lungs that often afflicts premature babies who have received respiratory assistance. In Sweden, 300-400 children are born extremely preterm each year, of whom about 40 percent suffer from BPD. Jónsson has been involved in systematically assessing the basic mechanisms of the disease: how overpressure and level of oxygen content causes an inflammation in the immature lung that interferes with its development.
He has also evaluated how harmful various existing technologies for respiratory assistance are, plus in recent years been involved in developing a new, less intrusive, technology, referred to as rPAP. An international randomised study evaluating rPAP has just been concluded and the results are expected to be released within a few months. Jónsson is now preparing for longterm follow-ups of older children – and possibly young adults – who have had BPD.
Text: From Cell to Society, 2020