Framingham Heart Study Information
Under the auspices of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute or NHLBI, the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) began in 1948 in Framingham, Massachusetts with the intention of categorizing then unknown factors contributing to cardiovascular disease. The original study enrolled 5,209 men and women between the ages of 30 and 62 who participated in life long series of physical examinations, lifestyle interviews and laboratory tests. In 1972, 5,124 second generation and in 2002, 4,095 third generation decedents of the original participants were enrolled, making the study one of the longest run, participant rich clinical trials in history. Though now common knowledge, the study is responsible for implicating high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes, and physical inactivity as leading risk factors in CVD.
See the Framingham Heart Study website for an overview of the study.
In October 2007, the NHLBI and Boston University announced the SNP Health Association Research project to organize and distribute Framingham Heart Study genomic data via the database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP) created and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
dbGaP archives and distributes a number of data sets for studies related to the interaction between genotypes and phenotypes. Two access levels, opened and controlled, are authorized by dbGaP to study specific data sets. Under the open-access policies, users may browse study specific statistics, available phenotypes, and limited genotype-to-phenotype analysis directly at the dbGaP website. Users granted controlled-access may download a copy of the data set for a given study that includes; de-identified phenotypes and genotypes for individual study subjects, pedigrees, and pre-computed univariate associations between genotype and phenotype.
See the dbGaP website for more information related to the FHS data set including; descriptions of the main study and all sub-studies, available phenotype data, summary statistics and metadata.
HSPH Access to the Framingham Heart Study Data
With support from the PQG and the Dean’s Office, the HSPH was granted approval for an omnibus application to house a copy of controlled access version of the FHS data set at the HSPH. The FHS data set is available for all approved internal investigators to access and analyze. Christoph Lange is the primary investigator on the application.
The FHS dataset is located in a secure environment on the high-speed computing cluster where approved investigators can access and run analysis against the data. The data set and internal access to the data set is maintained by the HSPH Bioinformatics Core. As the Framingham Heart Study is still on-going, the core regularly downloads, unpacks and cleans new versions of the dataset as they become available. The Core also provides assistance with study specific phenotype searches and linkage to corresponding genotype data and assistance with analysis.
Signatory status is required for use of the School’s controlled access version. In order to obtain signatory status, a requesting individual must be an employee of the HSPH, must have completed HIPAA training, must have approval from the HSPH IRB and must have approval from the NCBI. Generally, submissions for signatory status are bi-annual and take up to 6 weeks for approval, post-submission.
For more information about becoming a signatory, contact Artemis Egloff Moore.
If you are currently a signatory and would like more specific information related to accessing our copy of the dataset please see our signatory only FHS wiki, or contact Alyssa Porter.