Publications by authors named "Joanne Murabito"
Background: The Framingham Heart Study (FHS), founded in 1948 to examine the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, is among the most comprehensively characterized multi-generational studies in the world. Many collected phenotypes have substantial genetic contributors; yet most genetic determinants remain to be identified. Using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a 100K genome-wide scan, we examine the associations of common polymorphisms with phenotypic variation in this community-based cohort and provide a full-disclosure, web-based resource of results for future replication studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Parental premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). We related validated parental premature CVD with the subclinical measures of coronary artery (CAC) and abdominal aortic (AAC) calcification in the community.
Methods And Results: We studied 2 generations of Framingham Heart Study subjects who underwent multidetector computed tomography measurements of CAC and AAC and who had 2 parents in the study.
Background: Excess adiposity is associated with greater systemic inflammation. Whether visceral adiposity is more proinflammatory than subcutaneous abdominal adiposity is unclear.
Methods And Results: We examined the relations of abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT), assessed by multidetector computerized tomography, to circulating inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in 1250 Framingham Heart Study participants (52% women; age 60+/-9 years).
Background: The burden and prognostic importance of subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) in obesity has not been investigated systematically.
Methods And Results: We examined prevalence of subclinical disease in 1938 Framingham Study participants (mean age, 57 years; 59% women) by use of 5 tests (electrocardiography, echocardiography, carotid ultrasound, ankle-brachial pressure, and urinary albumin excretion) and stratified by body mass index (BMI) (normal, < 25; overweight, 25 to < 30.0; obese, > or = 30 kg/m2) and waist circumference (WC) (increased, > or = 88 cm for women or > or = 102 cm for men).
Background: Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) compartments may confer increased metabolic risk. The incremental utility of measuring both visceral and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (SAT) in association with metabolic risk factors and underlying heritability has not been well described in a population-based setting.
Methods And Results: Participants (n=3001) were drawn from the Framingham Heart Study (48% women; mean age, 50 years), were free of clinical cardiovascular disease, and underwent multidetector computed tomography assessment of SAT and VAT volumes between 2002 and 2005.
For nearly 60 years, the Framingham Heart Study has examined the natural history, risk factors, and prognosis of cardiovascular, lung, and other diseases. Recruitment of the Original Cohort began in 1948. Twenty-three years later, 3,548 children of the Original Cohort, along with 1,576 of their spouses, enrolled in the Offspring Cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData are limited regarding prevalence and prognostic significance of subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS). We investigated prevalence of subclinical CVD in 1,945 Framingham Offspring Study participants (mean age 58 years; 59% women) using electrocardiography, echocardiography, carotid ultrasound, ankle-brachial blood pressure, and urinary albumin excretion. We prospectively evaluated the incidence of CVD associated with MetS and diabetes according to presence versus absence of subclinical disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Prior research has suggested that delay or avoidance of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease risk factors plays an important role in longevity.
Methods: We studied 1697 Framingham Heart Study (FHS) offspring members 30 years or older, whose parents (1) participated in the original FHS cohort and (2) achieved age 85 years or died before January 1, 2005. Offspring participants (mean +/- SD age, 40 +/- 7 years; 51% women) were grouped according to whether neither (n = 705), one (n = 804), or both parents (n = 188) survived to 85 years or older.
Background: Data suggest Raynaud's phenomenon shares risk factors with cardiovascular disease. Studies of smoking, alcohol consumption, and Raynaud's have produced conflicting results and were limited by small sample size and failure to adjust for confounders. Our objective was to determine whether smoking and alcohol are independently associated with Raynaud's in a large, community-based cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ankle-brachial blood pressure index (ABI) is a widely utilized measure for detecting peripheral arterial disease. Genetic contributions to variation in ABI are largely unknown. The authors sought to estimate ABI heritability in a community-based sample.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Data suggest that endogenous sex hormones (testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate [DHEA-S], and estradiol) influence cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and vascular function. Yet, prospective studies relating sex hormones to CVD incidence in men have yielded inconsistent results.
Objective: To examine the association of circulating sex hormone levels and CVD risk in men.
Context: While parental cardiovascular disease (CVD) doubles the risk for CVD in offspring, the extent of increased risk associated with sibling CVD is unclear.
Objective: To determine, using validated events, whether sibling CVD predicts outcome in middle-aged adults independent of other risk factors.
Design, Setting, And Participants: The Framingham Offspring Study, an inception cohort of the Framingham Heart Study, a prospective population-based cohort study initiated in 1948 with the offspring cohort initiated in 1971.
Objective: To identify chromosomal regions linked to age at natural menopause.
Design: Two-generation families studied with a 10-centimorgan (cM) genome-wide scan.
Setting: The Framingham Study, a community-based epidemiologic study.
Objectives: To examine whether midlife cardiovascular risk factors predict survival and survival free of major comorbidities to the age of 85.
Design: Prospective community-based cohort study.
Setting: Framingham Heart Study, Massachusetts.
Objective: Although a substantial number of studies have shown that depressive symptoms predict worse cardiac outcome for patients with existing coronary disease, relatively few methodologically rigorous studies have examined the relation of depressive symptoms to coronary disease incidence in individuals initially free of heart disease in the community.
Methods: Using multivariable-adjusted sex-stratified Cox proportional hazards regression, we examined the association between depressive symptoms and incident coronary disease and all-cause mortality in 3634 Framingham Heart Study original and offspring cohort participants (mean age 52 years, 55% women) attending a routine study examination between 1983 and 1994.
Results: Over 6 years of follow-up, 83 participants had a hard coronary heart disease event (myocardial infarction or coronary death), and 133 died.
Background: Polymorphisms in estrogen receptor-alpha (ESR1) may be associated with variation in body mass index and waist circumference. However, most prior studies have been limited by sample size and power.
Methods: DNA from 1763 unrelated men and women (mean age, 56 yr) from the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort was genotyped for four ESR1 polymorphisms: T30C (rs2077647) in exon 1, PvuII (rs2234693), and XbaI (rs 9340799) in intron 1, and C1335G (rs 1801132) in exon 4.
Declines in coronary disease and stroke mortality have occurred, but it remains unclear whether intermittent claudication (IC) incidence and mortality rates have changed. The authors sought to examine long-term trends for IC in the community. Cases of IC among Framingham Study participants aged >or=40 years were classified according to date of onset from the 1950s to the 1990s.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We investigated the environmental and genetic sources of interindividual variability in serum aldosterone level in a large, community-based sample.
Methods: We examined the relation of serum aldosterone to vascular risk factors, urine sodium, and candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms in 2891 Framingham Offspring Study participants (53.2% women, mean age 59 years) using multivariable linear regression.
Objective: Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is a common disorder, yet its incidence and natural history are unknown. Our objective was to determine the incidence and natural history of RP not associated with a connective tissue disease in a large, community-based population.
Methods: Using serial examinations of the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort, we collected data regarding RP symptoms for 717 women and 641 men over a 7-year period.
Background: Weight gain adversely affects blood pressure, lipids, and glycemia. The genetic contribution to weight change is unknown.
Methods: Variance components linkage analysis using microsatellites was performed on 336 families from the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort, using a 10-cM genome-wide linkage analysis.
Heritability of age at natural menopause in the Framingham Heart Study.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab
June 2005
Background: Twin registries and family history studies provide evidence that genetic factors contribute to the onset of menopause, but heritability estimates in population-based samples are limited. We sought to estimate heritability of age at natural menopause in women participating in the multigenerational Framingham Heart Study, a community-based epidemiological study.
Methods: A total of 1500 original cohort and 932 offspring cohort women from 1296 extended families reported a natural menopause defined as the natural cessation of menses for 1 yr or more.
Context: Whether parental cardiovascular disease confers increased risk independent of other risk factors remains controversial. Prior studies relied on offspring report, without complete validation of parental events.
Objective: To determine whether parental cardiovascular disease predicts offspring events independent of traditional risk factors, using a prospective design for both parents and offspring, and uniform criteria to validate events.
Background: Family history is used to infer the risk for heart disease; however, little is known about the accuracy of family history reports.
Objective: To examine the accuracy of offspring reports of parental cardiovascular disease.
Design: Validation study.
Aldosterone is associated with myocardial fibrosis in experimental studies and with left ventricular remodeling in heart failure patients. We hypothesized that aldosterone influences ventricular remodeling in people without congestive heart failure in the community. We examined the relations between serum aldosterone and echocardiographic left ventricular measurements in 2820 Framingham Study subjects (mean age 57 years, 58% women, 88% white) free of myocardial infarction and overt heart failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To evaluate the effect of nine disabling medical conditions upon recovery from functional limitations by elders.
Design: Retrospective analysis of prospective longitudinal cohort.
Setting: Community.