A Timeline of Milestones from
The Framingham Heart Study
Since inception in 1948 the Framingham Heart Study has produced many major discoveries that have helped scientists understand the development and progression of heart disease and its risk factors--and helped Americans protect the health of their hearts.
Some of the important milestones include:
1948
Start of the Framingham Heart Study
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1956
Findings on progression of rheumatic heart disease reported
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1959
Factors found that increase the likelihood of heart disease
Some heart attacks discovered to be "silent" (causing no pain)
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1960
Cigarette smoking found to increase the risk of heart disease
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1961
Cholesterol level, blood pressure, and electrocardiogram
abnormalities found to increase the risk of heart disease
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1965
First Framingham Heart Study report on stroke
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1967
Physical activity found to reduce the risk of heart disease and obesity to increase the risk of heart disease
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1970
High blood pressure found to increase the risk of stroke
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1971
Framingham Offspring Study initiated to assess familial and genetic factors as determinants of coronary heart disease. .
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1974
Overview of diabetes, its complications and association to development of cardiovascular disease described
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1976
Menopause found to increase the risk of heart disease
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1977
Effects of triglycerides and LDL and HDL cholesterol described
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1978
Psychosocial factors found to affect heart disease
Atrial fibrillation (condition in which the heart beats irregularly) found to increase the risk of stroke
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1981
Filter cigarettes found to give no protection against coronary heart disease
Major report issued on relationship of diet and heart disease
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1983
Reports on mitral valve prolapse (which causes a backward leak of blood between heart chambers)
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1986
First report on dementia published
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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
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1988
High levels of HDL cholesterol found to reduce risk of death
Association of type "A" behavior with heart disease reported
Isolated systolic hypertension found to increase risk of heart disease
Cigarette smoking found to increase risk of stroke
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1990
Homocysteine (an amino acid) found to be possible risk factor for heart disease
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1993
Mild isolated systolic hypertension shown to increase risk of heart disease
Major report predicts survival after diagnosis of heart failure
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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 to be possible risk factor for heart disease
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1995
First Framingham report on diastolic heart failure published
OMNI Study of Minorities starts
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1996
Progression from hypertension to heart failure described
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1997
Cumulative effects of smoking and high cholesterol on the risk for atherosclerosis reported
Impact of an enlarged left ventricle and risk for heart failure in asymptomatic individuals investigated
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1998
New risk prediction formulas to calculate a patient's risk for developing coronary disease over the next 10 years published
Work identifying a gene (angiotensin converting enzyme deletion/insertion polymorphism) associated with hypertension in Framingham men published
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2002
Framingham Heart Study based report published in New England Journal of Medicine strongly linking excess body / obesity with an increased risk of heart failure. Study shows BMI (Body Weight / Mass) index to be an independent risk factor.
Third Generation Study enrolls 3,900 grandchildren of the Framingham Heart Study's original enrollees. Key goals are to identify new risk factors for heart, lung, and blood diseases, identify genes that contribute to good health and to the development of heart, lung, and blood disease, and to develop new imaging tests that can detect very early stages of coronary atherosclerosis in otherwise healthy adults. .
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2003
Offspring based study published relating likelihood of heart attack three times greater in individuals with common genetic variation in an estrogen receptor.
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2004
Research team demonstrates that having a parent with a cardiovascular disease history doubles personal risk of the disease.
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2005
Offspring Study based report indicates an increase of up to 45 percent for risk of heart attack, stroke or arterial disease may occur in middle-aged people with a sibling who suffered a similar cardiovascular event.
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