Short Project Description

The overall objective of the Health in young adults (HEYoung) Study was to identify risk factors, risk profiles, and risk trajectories for mental and musculoskeletal disorders in young adults. The study has been carried out in three Work Packages (WPs).

The aim of WP1 was to summarize existing literature on risk factors for mental and musculoskeletal pain in adolescents and young adults. Two systematic reviews are published: “Risk factors for episodes of back pain in emerging adults. A systematic review” and “Risk factors for non-specific neck pain in young adults: a systematic review”. The objective of WP2 was to identify risk factors and risk profiles for mental and musculoskeletal disorders using data on adolescents and young adults from existing Norwegian data. Henriette Jahre (PhD student 2018-2022) has been the first author of three papers using data from The HUNT study, Ungdata, and the Fit Futures study to investigate prevalence and risk factors for neck and musculoskeletal pain in adolescents and young adults. She defended her thesis “Prevalence and risk factors for neck and musculoskeletal pain in adolescents and young adults” in May 2022. Kaja Smedbråten (PhD student 2018-2025) has published three papers using data from the HUNT study, The Fit Future Study and the ShOT study investigating lifestyle behavior and comorbidities in relation to musculoskeletal pain in adolescents and young adults. She defended her thesis “Musculoskeletal pain in young people” in March 2025. WP3 consists of a cross-sectional study on health and lifestyle factors including adolescents in high schools in the greater Oslo area. Data from WP3 has mainly been used in master’s theses at the Master of Health Sciences, specializing in Musculoskeletal Health at OsloMet.