Strong and Weak Points
Over 1000 medical papers have been published related to the Framingham Heart Study. It is generally accepted that the work is outstanding in its scope and duration, and overall is considered very useful. The initial population was 5,209 healthy men and women aged 30 to 62, not the whole of the town population, as is sometimes assumed.
It was rightly assumed from the start of the Framingham Heart Study that cardiac health can be influenced by lifestyle and environmental factors, and by inheritance. The Framingham Heart Study is the origin of the term risk factor. Before the Framingham Heart Study, doctors had little sense of prevention. In the 1950s, it was believed that clogging of arteries and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis) was a normal part of aging and occurred universally as people became older. High blood pressure (hypertension) and elevated serum cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia) were also seen as normal consequences of aging in the 1950s, and no treatment was initiated. These and further risk factors, e.g., homocysteine, were gradually discovered over the years.
The Framingham Heart Study, along with other important large studies, e.g., the Seven Countries Study, Nurses' Health Study, Women's Health Initiative, also showed the importance of healthy diet, not being overweight or obese, and regular exercise in maintaining good health, and that there are differences in cardiovascular risk between men and women. It also confirmed that cigarette smoking is a highly significant factor in the development of heart disease, leading to angina pectoris, myocardial infarction (MI), and coronary death, along with other important studies about smoking, e.g., the British Doctors Study.
Recently the Framingham studies have become regarded as overestimating risk, particularly in the lower risk groups, e.g., for UK populations.
One question in evidence-based medicine is how closely the people in a study resemble the patient with which the healthcare professional is dealing. There has been discussion of the study in this regard.
Researchers recently used contact information given by subjects over the last 30 years to map the social network of friends and family in the study.
Read more about this topic: Framingham Heart Study
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