Cited by 472Cardiovascular Health and Risk FactorsHealthcare Systems and Public HealthHealth Promotion and Cardiovascular Prevention

Cohort Profile: The Framingham Heart Study (FHS): overview of milestones in cardiovascular epidemiology

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Tsao, Connie W, Vasan, Ramachandran S·2015·International Journal of Epidemiology

Abstract

The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) has conducted seminal research defining cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and fundamentally shaping public health guidelines for CVD prevention over the past five decades. The success of the Original Cohort, initiated in 1948, paved the way for further epidemiological research in preventive cardiology. Due to the keen observations suggesting the role of shared familial factors in the development of CVD, in 1971 the FHS began enroling the second generation cohort, comprising the children of the Original Cohort and the spouses of the children. In 2002, the third generation cohort, comprising the grandchildren of the Original Cohort, was initiated to additionally explore genetic contributions to CVD in greater depth. Additionally, because of the predominance of White individuals of European descent in the three generations of FHS participants noted above, the Heart Study enrolled the OMNI1 and OMNI2 cohorts in 1994 and 2003, respectively, aimed to reflect the current greater racial and ethnic diversity of the town of Framingham. All FHS cohorts have been examined approximately every 2-4 years since the initiation of the study. At these periodic Heart Study examinations, we obtain a medical history and perform a cardiovascular-focused physical examination, 12-lead electrocardiography, blood and urine samples testing and other cardiovascular imaging studies reflecting subclinical disease burden.The FHS has continually evolved along the cutting edge of cardiovascular science and epidemiological research since its inception. Participant studies now additionally include study of cardiovascular imaging, serum and urine biomarkers, genetics/genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and social networks. Numerous ancillary studies have been established, expanding the phenotypes to encompass multiple organ systems including the lungs, brain, bone and fat depots, among others. Whereas the FHS was originally conceived and designed to study the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, it has evolved over the years with staggering expanded breadth and depth that have far greater implications in the study of the epidemiology of a wide spectrum of human diseases. The FHS welcomes research collaborations using existing or new collection of data. Detailed information regarding the procedures for research application submission and review are available at [http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/researchers/index.php].

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  • The majority of FHS (100%), NLST (91%), PROMISE (77%), and ROMICAT-II (66%) participants were non-Hispanic whites.

    “The majority of FHS (100%)44, NLST (91%)18, PROMISE (77%)45, and ROMICAT-II (66%)46 participants were non-Hispanic whites.”

    From Deep convolutional neural networks to predict cardiovascular risk from computed tomography (2021) · cites this paper as [44]

    In “Description of the FHS” (Table 1; page not provided), the paper lists 100% European ancestry for the Original and Offspring cohorts, not for FHS participants as a whole. The same section describes the racially and ethnically diverse OMNI cohorts, while “Strengths and weaknesses” characterizes FHS participants as predominantly White, with an exception for OMNI. The paper therefore supports a White majority but not the claim that 100% of all FHS participants were non-Hispanic White. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. [2]2. Oppenheimer GM. Becoming the Framingham Study 19471950. AmJPublic Health 2005 ;95: 602-10.
  2. [10]10. Kagan AGT, Kannel WB, Dawber TR. Blood pressure and its relation to coronary heart disease in the Framingham study. Hypertension 1959; 7: 53-81.
  3. [20]20. long-term mortality. The Framingham Heart Study. JAMA 1983; 249: 2199-203.
  4. [69]69. Polak JF, Pencina MJ, Pencina KM et al . Carotid-wall intimamedia thickness and cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med 2011; 365: 213-21.
  5. [18]18. 4, and fatty-acid binding protein 4 in the Framingham Heart Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2012; 97: E1943-47.
  6. [109]109. Morrison AC, Voorman A, Johnson AD et al . Whole-genome sequence-based analysis of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Nat Genet 2013; 45: 899-901.

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Authors
Tsao, C. W., & Vasan, R. S.
Affiliations
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • Boston University (US)
Corresponding author
Tsao, Connie W
Venue
International Journal of Epidemiology
Published
2015-12
Volume
44
Issue
6
Pages
1800-1813
ISSN
  • 0300-5771 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-3685
OpenAlex
W2207219039
Cited by
457
References
119
Citations by year
2026: 49 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 68 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 63 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2
FWCI
7.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • International Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (n01hc25195-41-0-1, 5r01hl080124-05)
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG028321, AG-028321)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01-HL080124, HL-076784, 1K23 HL118259, N01‐HC25195, HHSN268201500001I, HL107385, HL 080124, HHSN268201500001C, HL077447, N01-HC-025195, R01HL118259, R01HL077447, R01HL107385, R01HL076784, HL070100, HL 060040, R01HL070100, HL071039, R01HL060040, R01HL071039)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (6R01NS17950, R01NS017950)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Healthcare Systems and Public Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health Promotion and Cardiovascular Prevention
Keywords
Framingham Heart Study, cardiovascular risk factors, cardiovascular disease prevention, family-based cohort, racial and ethnic diversity, cardiovascular biomarkers, cardiovascular imaging, subclinical cardiovascular disease, ancillary studies, preventive cardiology
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Asian, Black or African American, Cardiovascular Diseases, Child, Child, Preschool, Diet, Echocardiography, Electrocardiography, Ethnicity, Female, Hispanic or Latino, Humans, Hypercholesterolemia, Hypertension, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Massachusetts, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Tomography, X-Ray Computed, Cohort Studies, Biomarkers, Epidemiologic Studies, Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular, Age Distribution, Sex Distribution, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, White People, Overweight, Young Adult

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