Pioneering heart study seeks third generation

Associated Press

BOSTON — The 53-year-old Framingham Heart Study, whose breakthrough findings have led millions of Americans to change the way they live, has begun recruiting its third generation of participants.

Letters were sent out this week to the grandchildren of the original participants, inviting them to continue in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents and take part in the longest epidemiological project in medicine.

"The future success of the study depends on your participation in this newest phase," the letter reads.

The Framingham study is funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and staffed largely by doctors from Boston University. It began in the Boston suburb of Framingham in 1948.

Among the study’s findings are a link between cigarette smoking and heart disease, the risk of high cholesterol, the dangers of obesity, the benefits of exercise and the dangers of high blood pressure.

Alisha Quitt, a 20-year-old University of Massachusetts student whose parents are study participants, said she will sign on.

"I know my parents are much healthier since they’ve done it," she said. "It keeps you healthy, and the more data we can get in the world, the better."

Three generations of every family’s medical history, combined with new medical technology, could mean enormous gains for the study, said its director, Dr. Daniel Levy.

Volunteers agree to extensive physical exams every three or four years. They also provide information about their eating and living habits.

In return, they get thousands of dollars in free tests and a chance to be part of research that has already produced most of what is currently known about the causes of heart attacks and strokes.