Pétur Benedikt Júlíusson, MD PhD

Head of Health Registry Research and Development Department, National Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Professor, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen Senior Consultant, Children and Youth Clinic, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway

  1. Norway

Biography

Professor Pétur B. Júlíusson divides his time between the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH, leader of the Department of Health Registry Research and Development), Haukeland University Hospital (HUH, senior consultant, paediatric endocrinology) and the University of Bergen (UiB, professor). His main research interest is on childhood growth, pubertal development and obesity. At the NIPH he is administrating and facilitating research and developmental activities attached to major national registries (Medical Birth Registry of Norway, Cause of Death Registry, Heart Registry and Abortion Registry), as well as being involved in projects on health and development of children (PI of the HealthProfile 0-20 project, in the scientific advisory boards of the Mother, Father and Child Study (MoBa) and The Child Growth Study/WHO-COSI). At the HUH, he has been responsible for the development of the Obesity Outpatient Clinic treating children and adolescents, since start in 2012, and is the PI of the FABO-study, and effectiveness study employing Family- based Behavioural Social Facilitation Treatment, treating children and adolescents with severe obesity. 

Further, he is a co-PI of the eBATTLE Obesity study, a national multi-center study on treatment of adolescents with severe obesity. He is the PI of the Bergen Growth Studies 1 and 2 (BGS1 and BGS2); BGS1 provided the national growth charts currently used in Norway; BGS2 being the first (and currently the only) pubertal reference study conducted in Norway, using ultrasound as a novel method for objective assessment of breast tissue and testicular development. He is the current leader of Health Registry Group, Alrek Health Cluster, Bergen. He has supervised 12 PhD candidates and has published 120 papers with peer review (November 2022).

Recent Publications

  1. Júlíusson PB, Roelants M, Nordal E...Bjerknes R. Growth references for 0-19 year-old Norwegian children: LMS values for length/height, weight, body mass index and head circumference. Ann Hum Biol 2013;40:220-7. Presentation of the pediatric growth references currently used in Norway.

  2. Júlíusson PB, Roelants M, Hoppenbrouwers K...Bjerknes R. Growth of Belgian and Norwegian children compared to the WHO growth standards: Prevalence below –2 and above +2 standard deviations and the effect of breastfeeding. Arch Dis Child 2011;96:916-21. Comparison of the growth references from Belgium and Norway with the WHO growth standard – a paper questioning the “universality” of the WHO growth standard.

  3. Júlíusson PB, Eide GE, Roelants M...Bjerknes R. Overweight and obesity in Norwegian children: prevalence and socio-demographic risk factors. Acta Paediatr 2010;99:900-5. Paper describing the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Norwegian children aged 2-19 years, until now the only prevalence data covering all age groups during childhood.

  4. Glavin K, Roelants M, Strand BH, Júlíusson PB, Lie KK, Helseth S, Hovengen R. Important periods of weight development in childhood: a population-based longitudinal study. BMC Public Health 2014;14:160. Description of early growth trends towards overweight measured at 8-years.

  5. Helgeland O, Vaudel M, Júlíusson PB...Njølstad P. Genome-wide association study reveals dynamic role of genetic variation in infant and early childhood growth. Nature Communications 2019;10:4448.

  6. Hanem LGE, Salvesen Ø, Júlíusson PB...Vanky E. Intrauterine metformin exposure and offspring cardiometabolic risk factors (PedMet study): a 5-10 year follow-up of the PregMet randomised controlled trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2019;3:166-74.

  7. Hanem LGE, Stridsklev S, Júlíusson PB...Vanky E. Metformin use in PCOS pregnancies increases the risk of offspring overweight at 4 years of age; follow-up of two RCTs. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2018 Feb 27. [Epub ahead of print].

  8. Bruserud IS, Roelants M, Oehme NHB...Júlíusson PB. References for Ultrasound Staging of Breast Maturation, Tanner Breast Staging, Pubic Hair, and Menarche in Norwegian Girls. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2020 May 1;105(5). Paper presenting the first Norwegian pubertal references for girls, and the very first such references in the literature using ultrasound as a novel method for staging breast development.

  9. Oehme NHB, Roelants M, Bruserud IS...Júlíusson PB. Reference data for testicular volume measured with ultrasound and pubic hair in Norwegian boys are comparable with Northern European populations. Acta Paediatr 2020 Jan 3. First Norwegian pubertal references for boys, using ultrasound for measuring testicular volume.

  10. Madsen A, Oehme NB, Roelants M...Júlíusson PB. Testicular ultrasound to stratify hormone references in a cross-sectional Norwegian study of male puberty. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2020;105(6):dgz094. Presentation of hormonal references for age, but also the first hormonal references that are stratified by ultrasound-measured testicular volume.

Research Expertise

  • Childhood growth and pubertal development.

  • Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.

  • Treatment of severe obesity in children and adolescents.