Roberto Riva
Doktorand
Interests
My Ph.D. project is focused on stress, health and the role of stress-related musculoskeletal pain in fibromyalgia syndrome patients and in women with shoulder and neck pain. The main interest is centred on the investigation of stress biomarkers (i.e. stress hormones, such as cortisol and catecholamines, heart rate), psychological characteristics, sleep parameters and the role of physical activity in reducing symptoms in fibromyalgia patients.
The project has important implications by opening a new window for the study of physiological and psychological processes in stress and sleep. Moreover, it potentially provides new insight in the aetiology of fibromyalgia and other prevalent chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions (i.e., regional chronic shoulders and neck pain). It is assumed that such insight is important for the prevention and/or treatment of these conditions.
Supervisors and collaborations
Associate Professor Petra Lindfors is my main supervisor and Professor Ulf Lundberg my co-supervisor.
This project involves international collaborations with Professor Rolf Westgaard and Associate Professor Paul Jarle Mork at the Human Movement Science Programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway.
Collaborations also with Professor SvendErik Mathiassen and Associate Professor Eugene Lyskov at the Centre for Musculoskeletal Research (CBF), University of Gävle (Sweden) have been established.
My supervisors Ulf Lundberg and Petra Lindfors have introduced me to a parallel project called ScanCort that involves many researchers from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The aim of the project is to identify and summarize studies in literature on salivary cortisol related to psychosocial factors at work, such as job demands, effort, reward and job control.
Publications
Riva, R., Mork, P.J., Westgaard, R.H., Rø, M., & Lundberg, U. (2010). Fibromyalgia Syndrome is Associated with Hypocortisolism. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 17(3), 223-233.
Karlsson, B., Lindfors, P., Riva, R., Mellner, C., Theorell, T., & Lundberg, U. (2011). Psychosocial work stressors and salivary cortisol. In M. Kristenson, P. Garvin, & U. Lundberg, (Eds.), The role of saliva cortisol measurement in health and disease (pp. 43-66). Bentham Science Publishers.
Riva, R., Mork, P.J., Westgaard, R.H., & Lundberg, U. (2012). Comparison of the cortisol awakening response in women with shoulder and neck pain and women with fibromyalgia. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 299-306. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.06.014
Riva, R., Mork, P.J., Westgaard, R.H., Okkenhaug Johansen, T., & Lundberg, U. Catecholamines and heart rate in female fibromyalgia patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 72, 51-57. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2011.09.010
Presentations at conferences
Riva, R., Lundberg, U., Mork, P.J., & Westergaard, R. Salivary cortisol, personality and comorbidity in women with fibromyalgia. Poster presentation at the Stressforskningskongress in Umeå, Sweden, 25-26 May 2009.
Riva, R. Salivary cortisol, personality and comorbidity in women with fibromyalgia. Oral presentation at the Stressforskningskongress in Umeå, Sweden, 25-26 May 2009.
Riva, R., Lundberg, U., Mork, P.J., & Westergaard, R. Salivary cortisol, personality and comorbidity in women with fibromyalgia. Poster presentation at the 20th World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine in Turin, Italy, 23-26 September 2009.
Riva, R., Mork, P.J., Westergaard, R.H., & Lundberg, U. Dysregulation of stress systems in women with fibromyalgia. Poster presentation at the 11th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine in Washington, DC, USA, 4-7 August 2010.
Riva, R. Do women with shoulder and neck pain present a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis with increased risk of developing fibromyalgia? Oral presentation at the 15th International “Stress and Behavior” Neuroscience Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, 16-20 May 2011.
Riva, R., Mork, P.J., Westergaard, R.H., & Lundberg, U. Comparison of the cortisol awakening response in women with shoulder and neck pain and with fibromyalgia syndrome. Poster presentation at the 21st World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine in Seoul, Korea, 25-28 August 2011.
Personal information
I was born in Udine (Italy) and I took my BSc in Social Psychology and my MSc in Neuropsychology at the University of Trieste (Italy).
