Objective physical activity and physical performance in middle-aged and older adults.

Background: Older adults may have difficulty meeting the Physical Activity (PA) Guidelines. A favorable balance between PA and sedentary time (SED) is an important determinant of physical performance in older adults. Our objective was to explore associations of PA/SED with physical performance across mid-older age in adults without overt mobility disability.

Right Ventricular Volumes and Systolic Function by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and the Impact of Sex, Age, and Obesity in a Longitudinally Followed Cohort Free of Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Disease: The Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Cardiac magnetic resonance is uniquely well suited for noninvasive imaging of the right ventricle. We sought to define normal cardiac magnetic resonance reference values and to identify the main determinants of right ventricular (RV) volumes and systolic function using a modern imaging sequence in a community-dwelling, longitudinally followed cohort free of clinical cardiovascular and pulmonary disease.

Methods And Results: The Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort has been followed since 1971.

Physical activity measured by accelerometry and its associations with cardiac structure and vascular function in young and middle-aged adults.

Background: Physical activity is associated with several health benefits, including lower cardiovascular disease risk. The independent influence of physical activity on cardiac and vascular function in the community, however, has been sparsely investigated.

Measures And Results: We related objective measures of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA, assessed by accelerometry) to cardiac and vascular indices in 2376 participants of the Framingham Heart Study third generation cohort (54% women, mean age 47 years).

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with accelerometry is associated with visceral adipose tissue in adults.

Background: We examined the relation between objectively measured physical activity with accelerometry and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in a community-based sample.

Methods And Results: We evaluated 1249 participants of the Framingham Third Generation and Omni II cohorts (mean age 51.7 years, 47% women) who underwent assessment of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with accelerometry over 5 to 7 days, and multi-detector computed tomography for measurement of SAT and VAT volume; fat attenuation was estimated by SAT and VAT hounsfield units (HU).

Impact of age, sex, and indexation method on MR left ventricular reference values in the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort.

Purpose: To determine normative values for left ventricular (LV) volumes, mass, concentricity, and ejection fraction (EF) and investigate associations between sex, age, and body size with LV parameters in community-dwelling adults.

Materials And Methods: In all, 1794 Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort members underwent LV short-axis oriented, contiguous multislice cine steady-state free precession MR of the left ventricle; from these a healthy referent group (n = 852, 61 ± 9 years, 40% men) free of clinical cardiac disease and hypertension (SBP < 140, DBP < 90 mmHg, never used antihypertensive medication ≥30 years prior to scanning) was identified. Referent participants were stratified by sex and age group (≤55, 56-65, >65 years); LV parameters were indexed to measures of body size.

Correlation of trabeculae and papillary muscles with clinical and cardiac characteristics and impact on CMR measures of LV anatomy and function.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to assess the relationship of left ventricular (LV) trabeculae and papillary muscles (TPM) with clinical characteristics in a community-based, free-living adult cohort and to determine the effect of TPM on quantitative measures of LV volume, mass, and ejection fraction (EF).

Background: Hypertrabeculation has been associated with adverse cardiovascular events, but the distribution and clinical correlates of the volume and mass of the TPM in a normal left ventricle have not been well characterized.

Methods: Short-axis cine cardiac magnetic resonance images, obtained using a steady-state free precession sequence from 1,494 members of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort, were analyzed with software that automatically segments TPM.

Sustained and shorter bouts of physical activity are related to cardiovascular health.

Purpose: Whereas greater physical activity (PA) is known to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), the relative importance of performing PA in sustained bouts of activity versus shorter bouts of activity on CVD risk is not known. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), measured in bouts ≥10 and <10 min, and CVD risk factors in a well-characterized community-based sample of white adults.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 2109 participants in the Third Generation Cohort of the Framingham Heart Study (mean age = 47 yr, 55% women) who underwent objective assessment of PA by accelerometry over 5-7 d.

Usefulness of the left ventricular myocardial contraction fraction in healthy men and women to predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

We sought to determine whether depressed myocardial contraction fraction (MCF; ratio of left ventricular [LV] stroke volume to myocardial volume) predicts cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in initially healthy adults. A subset (n = 318, 60 ± 9 years old, 158 men) of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort free of clinical CVD underwent volumetric cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in 1998 through 1999. LV ejection fraction (EF), mass, and MCF were determined.

Relations of insulin resistance and glycemic abnormalities to cardiovascular magnetic resonance measures of cardiac structure and function: the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Data regarding the relationships of diabetes, insulin resistance, and subclinical hyperinsulinemia/hyperglycemia with cardiac structure and function are conflicting. We sought to apply volumetric cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in a free-living cohort to potentially clarify these associations.

Methods And Results: A total of 1603 Framingham Heart Study Offspring participants (age, 64+/-9 years; 55% women) underwent CMR to determine left ventricular mass (LVM), LVM to end-diastolic volume ratio (LVM/LVEDV), relative wall thickness (RWT), ejection fraction, cardiac output, and left atrial size.

Differential impact of age, sex, and hypertension on aortic atherosclerosis: the Framingham Heart Study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of age, sex, and hypertension (HTN) on aortic atherosclerotic burden using cardiovascular MRI (CMR) in a free-living longitudinally followed cohort.

Methods And Results: 1763 participants (829 M and 934 F; 38 to 88 years of age) of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort underwent CMR of the thoracoabdominal aorta using an ECG-gated 2D T2-weighted black-blood sequence. Of these, 1726 subjects (96%) with interpretable CMR were characterized by sex, age-quartile, and presence or absence of HTN and clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Long-term alcohol consumption and the risk of atrial fibrillation in the Framingham Study.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major risk factor for stroke. Although acute alcohol intake has been associated with AF, it is not known whether long-term alcohol consumption in moderation is associated with an increased risk of AF. We used a risk set method to assess the relation of long-term alcohol consumption to the risk of AF among participants in the Framingham Study.