Landmark heart study expands to genetics

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FRAMINGHAM, Mass, Nov 30 (AP): Doctors didn't know cigarettes were bad and thought high blood pressure could sometimes be good when homemaker Helen Vaughn was lured by a 1948 newspaper ad to join one of history's most important medical studies.
At the time, Vaughn's main attraction to the Framingham Heart Study was its free medical exams. Sixty years later, Vaughn is nearing 91 and the landmark study has moved well past exposing the health risks of cigarettes and high blood pressure to ambitious new work to discover the genetic factors behind health and disease.
On Thursday, researchers marked the study's 60th anniversary year by highlighting new research and thanking Vaughn and the study's three generations of participants. It's a legacy that early volunteers never anticipated.
The federal government launched the study in 1948 amid an epidemic of heart disease. The idea was to compile reams of health data on a group of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and hope that over time links would emerge between their lifestyles and heart health.
Framingham, a town of about 67,000 about 20 miles west of Boston, was chosen for its mix of ethnic groups and blue- and white-collar workers, as well as the availability of volunteers. Its population at the time the study began was about 29,000.
About 5,200 people signed up for detailed physical exams every two years that included all manner of poking and prodding, including tests for mental dexterity. Now conducted in collaboration with Boston University, the study counts more than 14,000 participants in its three generations, and officials are already talking about recruiting a fourth generation.