The Framingham Study: The Epidemiology of Atherosclerotic Disease

Most physicians are familiar with the major "risk factors" for coronary heart disease established by the Framingham study and other epidemiologic studies over the past 30 years. Few physicians know of the early history of the Framingham study and its venture into the long-term investigation of the origins of coronary heart disease in the residents of Framingham, Mass. Dr Dawber, medical director of this Public Health Service-sponsored project from 1949 to 1965, has continued his association with the Framingham study up to the present, more than 30 years. He has produced an informative book whose purpose, he states, is to tell the "entire story of the Framingham Study—a narrative that without being too detailed would give the reader a reasonably complete knowledge of the overall project." Findings from the study on 5,127 men and women, free of coronary heart disease at the time of their first examination, are presented for