The Framingham Heart Study – Global Impact, Ongoing Influence: A Special Issue of Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.

This issue of Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases provides a perspective on the legacy of the Framingham Heart Study, an investigation that began in 1948. The original purpose of the study was to recruit a population sample without vascular disease from a community and to follow them for cardiovascular events over time. Within a decade of its inception, the Framingham investigators reported that age, male sex, blood cholesterol level, blood pressure level, presence of diabetes mellitus, and cigarette smoking were associated with greater risk for cardiovascular events. The research team subsequently expanded on these findings and described factors such as left ventricular hypertrophy, lipoprotein groups, inflammatory biomarkers, and genetic variants that were related to the development of vascular disease events. The interview in this issue that was conducted with Framingham investigator William Kannel provides a chronicle of these findings.

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Each issue of Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases comprehensively covers a single topic in the understanding and treatment of disorders of the heart and circulation. Some issues include special articles, definitive reviews that capture the state of the art in the management of particular clinical problems in cardiology.