Framingham Heart Study Cohort

Objectives:

The objectives of the Framingham Study are to study the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors, trends in CVD incidence and its risk factors over time, and familial patterns of CVD and risk factors. Other important objectives include the estimation of incidence rates of disease and description of the natural history of cardiovascular disease, including the sequence of clinical signs and systems that precede the clinically recognizable syndrome and the consequences and course of clinically manifest disease.

Background:

The Framingham Study began in 1948 under the U.S. Public Health Service and was transferred under the direct operations of the new National Heart Institute, NIH, in 1949. Participants were sampled from Framingham, Massachusetts, including both men and women. This was the first prospective study of cardiovascular disease and identified the concept of risk factors and their joint effects. The study has continued to examine participants every two years and is currently supported by a contract to Boston University from the NHLBI, and from many grants for specialized studies.

Subjects:

At entry to the study in 1948-1952, the study recruited 5,209 men and women, ages 28-62 years, living in Framingham, MA. As of February 28, 1999, there are 993 surviving participants.

Design:

The Framingham Study is a longitudinal investigation of constitutional and environmental factors influencing the development of CVD in men and women. Examination of participants has taken place every two years and the cohort has been followed for morbidity and mortality over that time period.

The cardiovascular disease conditions under investigation include coronary heart disease (angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, coronary insufficiency and sudden and non-sudden death), stroke, hypertension, peripheral arterial disease and congestive heart failure.