Description of Collaborative Activity: |
The Framingham Heart study is a long-term, multigenerational study is designed to identify genetic and environmental factors influencing the development of cardiovascular and other diseases. Examination and testing of 5,209 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, was initiated in 1948 and with approximately 700 members of the original cohort currently alive and under follow-up. An offspring cohort and a third generation cohort have been added. The project examines the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors, trends in CVD incidence and its risk factors over time, and family patterns of CVD and risk factors. Other objectives include the estimation of incidence rates of disease, a description of the natural history of CVD, including the sequence of clinical signs and systems that precede the clinically recognizable syndrome, and the consequences and course of clinically manifest disease. CMS data are being used to enhance Framingham CVD outcomes research by enabling researchers to study determinants related to medical care access, quality, cost, and outcomes. Conference calls are conducted among staff of the study, the CMS, and the NHLBI to discuss the data availability, confidentiality, quality, distribution, and to identify research opportunities. |
