1948 | Start of the Framingham Heart Study |
1956 | Findings on progression of rheumatic heart disease |
1959 | Factors found that increase the likelihood of heart disease |
| Some heart attacks discovered to be "silent" (causing no pain) |
1960 | Cigarette smoking found to increase the risk of heart disease |
1961 | Cholesterol level, blood pressure, and electrocardiogram abnormalities found to
increase the risk of heart disease |
1965 | First Framingham Heart Study report on stroke |
1967 | Physical activity found to reduce the risk of heart disease and obesity to
increase the risk of heart disease |
1970 | High blood pressure found to increase the risk of stroke |
1971 | Framingham Offspring Study begins |
| Progression of congestive heart failure described |
1974 | Overview of diabetes and its complications |
1976 | Menopause found to increase the risk of heart disease |
1977 | Effects of triglycerides and LDL and HDL cholesterol described |
1978 | Psychosocial factors found to affect heart disease |
| Atrial fibrillation (condition in which the heart beats irregularly) found to increase
the risk of stroke |
1981 | Filter cigarettes found to give no protection against coronary heart disease |
| Major report issued on relationship of diet and heart disease |
1983 | Reports on mitral valve prolapse (which causes a backward leak of blood
between heart chambers) |
1986 | First report on dementia |
1987 | High blood cholesterol levels found to correlate directly with risk of death in
young men |
| Fibrinogen (allows blood to clot more easily) found to increase the risk of heart
disease |
| Estrogen replacement therapy found to reduce risk of hip fractures in
post-menopausal women |
1988 | High levels of HDL cholesterol found to reduce risk of death |
| Type "A" behavior associated with heart disease |
| Isolated systolic hypertension found to increase risk of heart disease |
| Cigarette smoking found to increase risk of stroke |
1990 | Homocysteine (an amino acid) found as possible risk factor for heart disease |
1991 | Heart disease risk prediction models produced |
1993 | Mild isolated systolic hypertension shown to increase risk of heart disease |
| Major report predicts survival after diagnosis of heart failure |
1994 | Enlarged left ventricle (one of two lower chambers of the heart) shown to
increase the risk of stroke |
| Lipoprotein (a) found as possible risk factor for heart disease |
| Risk factors for atrial fibrillation described |
| Apolipoprotein E found as possible risk factor for heart disease |
1995 | First Framingham report on diastolic heart failure |
| Start of the OMNI Study of Minorities |
1996 | Progression from hypertension to heart failure described |
1997 | Report on the cumulative effects of smoking and high cholesterol on the risk for
atherosclerosis |
| Investigation of the impact of an enlarged left ventricle and risk for heart failure
in asymptomatic individuals |