Fwd: Framingham Celebrates 50 Years

[Judy Doherty]

I thought this might be of interest to you.

Judy Doherty

>

>The following is a feature piece written for an internal NIH newsletter.

However we feel it

>will be of interest to many of you.  This writer having been at the

ceremony found it to be

>most moving and memorable, and seeing some of the people behind the data

made one

>realize just how special---and unique---Framingham is.

>

>NHLBI'S  FRAMINGHAM  HEART  STUDY  CELEBRATES  50  YEARS

>

>        The autumn afternoon was stiflingly hot and the

non-air-conditioned, stately

>Memorial Building in Framingham, MA, was packed.  But the thousands

gathered there

>didn't mind.  They'd come to celebrate an extraordinary anniversary--the

50th year of the

>Framingham Heart Study (FHS), the longest running epidemiological study in

U.S. medicine.

>        The attendees--who included U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David

Satcher, National Heart,

>Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Director Dr. Claude Lenfant, past FHS

directors and the

>current director, Congressmen, State Representatives, TV journalist Dr.

Timothy Johnson,

>and more than 1,500 FHS staff and participants--had a lot to celebrate.

Since its start in

>1948, the FHS has saved and improved countless lives in the United States

and worldwide.

>        The town of Framingham is 18 miles west of Boston.  The study,

part of the NHLBI,

>began with 5,209 healthy Framingham residents, aged 30-60--about 20

percent of the

>town's population--and grew to include 5,124 of their children (and their

spouses) in an

>Offspring Study.  More recently, 500 members of Framingham's minority

residents were

>recruited to form the Omni Study.

>        FHS's many achievements include discoveries about the relations

between risk

>factors and cardiovascular disease (CVD).  The FHS helped make Americans

aware of the

>health dangers of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical

inactivity, and smoking.

>The study also has published findings on such topics as psychosocial

factors and heart

>disease, diabetes, obesity, and dementia.

>        As U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) told the crowd,

"The thousand

>scientific papers produced by Framingham have become the holy book" of

medicine.  The

>findings have "moved America toward prevention," he added, "giving the

message that

>people can control their own destiny."

>        NHLBI Director Dr. Lenfant thanked the participants for their

"dedication and

>enormous contributions to the study and to medical knowledge.  The study

could not have

>succeeded without the commitment of the people of Framingham."

>        Lenfant's thanks were echoed throughout the afternoon.  Dr. Aram

Chobanian, Dean

>of Boston University's School of Medicine, who has used Framingham data in

his research,

>said, "Thank you for all you have done for cardiology, medicine, and all

the people in the


>United States."

>        Surgeon General Satcher, who gave the afternoon's keynote address,

also thanked

>the Framingham participants for their "commitment, dedication, and

perseverance."

>Satcher said he'd asked himself what makes FHS so special and came up with

six key

>factors:  The study is scientifically rigorous, longitudinal, community-

and family-based,

>and has always involved men and women, and most of all has mutual trust

between

>participants and staff.  "The issue of trust and its development is a real

challenge," he

>said.  "And that's true whether about a study or any kind of medical care

in the United

>States."

>        He said Framingham changed how people look at health and disease.

"Before, a lot

>of people, especially when it came to cardiovascular diseases, thought it

was a matter of

>luck or fortune.  Framingham shows that it's not just that but how people

behave,"

>including the dangers posed by risk factors.

>        He added that "Framingham shows us that just as we use the public

health

>approach in infectious diseases, we also can intervene with chronic

diseases."

>        He stressed that prevention through public education has to become

a way of life in

>America.  "Too few physicians are putting prevention into practice," he

said and called for

>a worldwide effort to promote healthy lifestyles.

>        Current FHS Director Dr. Daniel Levy called his staff the "unsung

heroes" of the

>Framingham story.  "You and the ordinary citizens of Framingham have

advanced our

>understanding of coronary heart disease."

>        Levy also pledged that the Framingham story had only begun.

"Today and in future

>years, Framingham will continue to have a great impact on many lives.  We

and you are not

>done yet."

>        He said studies under way cover such topics as early

identification of CVD in those

>still free of symptoms, investigations of the genetic causes of CVD,

arthritis, and

>osteoporosis, and more research on racial and ethnic differences in risk

factor

>development.

>        The afternoon also brought a message of congratulations from

President Clinton.

>But mostly, the afternoon was a demonstration of the bond that exists

between FHS's

>participants and staff, who took time before and after the formal

presentations to warmly

>thank each other.

>        Participant spokesperson Jay Lander, a member of the Offspring

Study, described

>how many felt about being part of FHS.  "We go through life, most of us,"

he said, "knowing

>only the effect we have on the people around us...Only a small percentage

of people get to

>make a permanent contribution to humanity."

>        He added, "But this study has given each of us in Framingham some

small role in

>producing a lasting achievement," and "as long as the planet is inhabited,

the contribution

>of Framingham to the quality of that life will be remembered."

> 

Judy Doherty
Executive Editor/Publisher
Communicating Food for Health Newsletter
Food & Health Communications, Inc.
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