Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Americans. Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) scientists are working to understand how to reduce our risk of heart attacks, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases throughout life.
Addressing risk factors, improving diagnosis, and exploring how medications, genes, and everyday life affect our cardiovascular health at different ages and stages are central to this work — as is translating research findings into practical, personalized care.
“We’ve found that helping patients and health care teams work together on personalized care plans is the best path to lifelong heart health,” says Beverly Green, MD, MPH, whose recent work has focused on improving the diagnosis of high blood pressure.
Additional focus areas for KPWHRI scientists include exploring the impact of cardiovascular diseases on other health conditions — and vice versa. Recently, this has led researchers Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD, and Laura B. Harrington, PhD, MPH, to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health.
Below are other research highlights from KPWHRI’s cardiovascular health scientists (please visit their bios to learn more):
Wei WQ, Li X, Feng Q, Kubo M, Kullo IJ, Peissig PL, Karlson EW, Jarvik GP, Lee MTM, Shang N, Larson EA, Edwards T, Shaffer C, Mosley JD, Maeda S, Horikoshi M, Ritchie M, Williams MS, Larson EB, Crosslin DR, Bland ST, Pacheco JA, Rasmussen-Torvik LJ, Cronkite D, Hripcsak G, Cox NJ, Wilke RA, Stein CM, Rotter JI, Momozawa Y, Roden DM, Krauss RM, Denny JC. LPA variants are associated with residual cardiovascular risk in patients receiving statins. Circulation. 2018 Oct 23;138(17):1839-1849. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.031356. PubMed
Emdin CA, Khera AV, Chaffin M, Klarin D, Natarajan P, Aragam K, Haas M, Bick A, Zekavat SM, Nomura A, Ardissino D, Wilson JG, Schunkert H, McPherson R, Watkins H, Elosua R, Bown MJ, Samani NJ, Baber U, Erdmann J, Gupta N, Danesh J, Chasman D, Ridker P, Denny J, Bastarache L, Lichtman JH, D'Onofrio G, Mattera J, Spertus JA, Sheu WH, Taylor KD, Psaty BM, Rich SS, Post W, Rotter JI, Chen YI, Krumholz H, Saleheen D, Gabriel S, Kathiresan S. Analysis of predicted loss-of-function variants in UK Biobank identifies variants protective for disease. Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):1613. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03911-8. PubMed
Wong JYY, Margolis HG, Machiela M, Zhou W, Odden MC, Psaty BM, Robbins J, Jones RR, Rotter JI, Chanock SJ, Rothman N, Lan Q, Lee JS. Outdoor air pollution and mosaic loss of chromosome Y in older men from the Cardiovascular Health Study. Environ Int. 2018 Apr 23;116:239-247. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.04.030. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Wood AM, Kaptoge S, Butterworth AS, Willeit P, Warnakula S, Bolton T, Paige E, Paul DS, Sweeting M, Burgess S, Bell S, Astle W, Stevens D, Koulman A, Selmer RM, Verschuren WMM, Sato S, Njølstad I, Woodward M, Salomaa V, Nordestgaard BG, Yeap BB, Fletcher A, Melander O, Kuller LH, Balkau B, Marmot M, Koenig W, Casiglia E, Cooper C, Arndt V, Franco OH, Wennberg P, Gallacher J, de la Cámara AG, Völzke H, Dahm CC, Dale CE, Bergmann MM, Crespo CJ, van der Schouw YT, Kaaks R, Simons LA, Lagiou P, Schoufour JD, Boer JMA, Key TJ, Rodriguez B, Moreno-Iribas C, Davidson KW, Taylor JO, Sacerdote C, Wallace RB, Quiros JR, Tumino R, Blazer DG 2nd, Linneberg A, Daimon M, Panico S, Howard B, Skeie G, Strandberg T, Weiderpass E, Nietert PJ, Psaty BM, Kromhout D, Salamanca-Fernandez E, Kiechl S, Krumholz HM, Grioni S, Palli D, Huerta JM, Price J, Sundström J, Arriola L, Arima H, Travis RC, Panagiotakos DB, Karakatsani A, Trichopoulou A, Kühn T, Grobbee DE, Barrett-Connor E, van Schoor N, Boeing H, Overvad K, Kauhanen J, Wareham N, Langenberg C, Forouhi N, Wennberg M, Després JP, Cushman M, Cooper JA, Rodriguez CJ, Sakurai M, Shaw JE, Knuiman M, Voortman T, Meisinger C, Tjønneland A, Brenner H, Palmieri L, Dallongeville J, Brunner EJ, Assmann G, Trevisan M, Gillum RF, Ford I, Sattar N, Lazo M, Thompson SG, Ferrari P, Leon DA, Smith GD, Peto R, Jackson R, Banks E, Di Angelantonio E, Danesh J, Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration/EPIC-CVD/UK Biobank Alcohol Study Group. Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual-participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies. Lancet. 2018 Apr 14;391(10129):1513-1523. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30134-X. PubMed
Mahajan A, Wessel J, Willems SM, Zhao W, Robertson NR, Chu AY, Gan W, Kitajima H, Taliun D, Rayner NW, Guo X, Lu Y, Li M, Jensen RA, Hu Y, Huo S, Lohman KK, Zhang W, Cook JP, Prins BP, Flannick J, Grarup N, Trubetskoy VV, Kravic J, Kim YJ, Rybin DV, Yaghootkar H, Müller-Nurasyid M, Meidtner K, Li-Gao R, Varga TV, Marten J, Li J, Smith AV, An P, Ligthart S, Gustafsson S, Malerba G, Demirkan A, Tajes JF, Steinthorsdottir V, Wuttke M, Lecoeur C, Preuss M, Bielak LF, Graff M, Highland HM, Justice AE, Liu DJ, Marouli E, Peloso GM, Warren HR; ExomeBP Consortium; MAGIC Consortium; GIANT Consortium, Afaq S, Afzal S, Ahlqvist E, Almgren P, Amin N, Bang LB, Bertoni AG, Bombieri C, Bork-Jensen J, Brandslund I, Brody JA, Burtt NP, Canouil M, Chen YI, Cho YS, Christensen C, Eastwood SV, Eckardt KU, Fischer K, Gambaro G, Giedraitis V, Grove ML, de Haan HG, Hackinger S, Hai Y, Han S, Tybjærg-Hansen A, Hivert MF, Isomaa B, Jäger S, Jørgensen ME, Jørgensen T, Käräjämäki A, Kim BJ, Kim SS, Koistinen HA, Kovacs P, Kriebel J, Kronenberg F, Läll K, Lange LA, Lee JJ, Lehne B, Li H, Lin KH, Linneberg A, Liu CT, Liu J, Loh M, Mägi R, Mamakou V, McKean-Cowdin R, Nadkarni G, Neville M, Nielsen SF, Ntalla I, Peyser PA, Rathmann W, Rice K, Rich SS, Rode L, Rolandsson O, Schönherr S, Selvin E, Small KS, Stancáková A, Surendran P, Taylor KD, Teslovich TM, Thorand B, Thorleifsson G, Tin A, Tönjes A, Varbo A, Witte DR, Wood AR, Yajnik P, Yao J, Yengo L, Young R, Amouyel P, Boeing H, Boerwinkle E, Bottinger EP, Chowdhury R, Collins FS, Dedoussis G, Dehghan A, Deloukas P, Ferrario MM, Ferrières J, Florez JC, Frossard P, Gudnason V, Harris TB, Heckbert SR, Howson JMM, Ingelsson M, Kathiresan S, Kee F, Kuusisto J, Langenberg C, Launer LJ, Lindgren CM, Männistö S, Meitinger T, Melander O, Mohlke KL, Moitry M, Morris AD, Murray AD, de Mutsert R, Orho-Melander M, Owen KR, Perola M, Peters A, Province MA, Rasheed A, Ridker PM, Rivadineira F, Rosendaal FR, Rosengren AH, Salomaa V, Sheu WH, Sladek R, Smith BH, Strauch K, Uitterlinden AG, Varma R, Willer CJ, Blüher M, Butterworth AS, Chambers JC, Chasman DI, Danesh J, van Duijn C, Dupuis J, Franco OH, Franks PW, Froguel P, Grallert H, Groop L, Han BG, Hansen T, Hattersley AT, Hayward C, Ingelsson E, Kardia SLR, Karpe F, Kooner JS, Köttgen A, Kuulasmaa K, Laakso M, Lin X, Lind L, Liu Y, Loos RJF, Marchini J, Metspalu A, Mook-Kanamori D, Nordestgaard BG, Palmer CNA, Pankow JS, Pedersen O, Psaty BM, Rauramaa R, Sattar N, Schulze MB, Soranzo N, Spector TD, Stefansson K, Stumvoll M, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tuomi T, Tuomilehto J, Wareham NJ, Wilson JG, Zeggini E, Scott RA, Barroso I, Frayling TM, Goodarzi MO, Meigs JB, Boehnke M, Saleheen D, Morris AP, Rotter JI, McCarthy MI. Refining the accuracy of validated target identification through coding variant fine-mapping in type 2 diabetes. Nat Genet. 2018;50(4):559-571. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0084-1. Epub 2018 Apr 9. PubMed
Sascha Dublin, MD, PhDSenior Investigator |
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Laura Harrington, PhD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
Ellen O'Meara, PhDPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |
Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPHPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |
Meagan C. Brown, PhD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
James Floyd, MD, MS
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
University of Washington
Susan Heckbert, MD, PhD
University of Washington (UW) Department of Epidemiology; UW Cardiovascular Health Research Unit
Nicholas L. Smith, PhD, MPH
UW Professor, Epidemiology, Cardiovascular Health Research Unit
Director, Seattle Epidemiology and Information Resource Center, VA Puget Sound Health Care System