Cardiovascular Health

“One in four deaths in the United States is attributed to heart disease. Our researchers study how behavior, environment, and genetics affect heart health and how screening and treatment can reduce risk.”

Laura B. Harrington, PhD, MPH
Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Assistant Investigator

Research overview

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):

  • In 2016 Dr. Green, a senior investigator, launched the BP-CHECK study, which aims to find the easiest, most accurate way to diagnose high blood pressure. With a $2.8 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the study compares blood pressure readings taken in clinic, at home, and at validated blood pressure kiosks to the 24-hour blood pressure test that is currently considered the gold standard for diagnosing hypertension.
     
  • Dr. Dublin, a senior investigator, explores many different facets of cardiovascular disease in her work, including risk factors for atrial fibrillation, the effect of medications on cardiovascular disease, and the relationship between cardiovascular disease and other conditions, such as dementia. Managing cardiovascular risk factors in pregnancy — such as high blood pressure and diabetes — is a particular interest.
     
  • Dr. Harrington, an assistant investigator, is a cardiovascular epidemiologist whose research aims to improve understanding of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors, particularly among older women. Currently, she is leading a study exploring the relationship between physical activity, sedentary behavior, and the risk of venous thromboembolism (blood clots that form predominantly in the veins of the legs or lungs). In addition to this work, Dr. Harrington conducts research in the areas of recurrent cardiovascular event risk, cardiovascular health in relation to cognitive decline and dementia risk in later life, and pharmacologic exposures in relation to cardiovascular event risk, with a particular focus on risk factors for venous thromboembolism.
     
  • Senior Investigator Michael L. Parchman, MD, MPH, focuses on implementing evidence-based cardiovascular disease care into primary care settings. He led the 4-year Healthy Hearts Northwest trial, an EvidenceNOW initiative that helped smaller primary care practices in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho adopt evidence-based approaches to improving cardiovascular care outcomes. The trial continues to produce findings of importance.
     
  • The work of Ellen O'Meara, PhD, a senior research associate, centers on the epidemiology of common and important health conditions in the United States, including cardiovascular disease. Her collaborative research has included studies exploring the risk factors and outcomes of heart disease and stroke. Recent work includes research on quality improvement aimed at controlling hypertension at small primary care practices.

Recent publications on Cardiovascular Health

Bis JC, Sitlani C, Irvin R, Avery CL, Smith AV, Sun F, Evans DS, Musani SK, Li X, Trompet S, Krijthe BP, Harris TB, Quibrera PM, Brody JA, Demissie S, Davis BR, Wiggins KL, Tranah GJ, Lange LA, Sotoodehnia N, Stott DJ, Franco OH, Launer LJ, Sturmer T, Taylor KD, Cupples LA, Eckfeldt JH, Smith NL, Liu Y, Wilson JG, Heckbert SR, Buckley BM, Ikram MA, Boerwinkle E, Chen YD, de Craen AJ, Uitterlinden AG, Rotter JI, Ford I, Hofman A, Sattar N, Slagboom PE, Westendorp RG, Gudnason V, Vasan RS, Lumley T, Cummings SR, Taylor HA Jr, Post W, Jukema JW, Stricker BH, Whitsel EA, Psaty BM, Arnett D. Drug-gene interactions of antihypertensive medications and risk of incident cardiovascular disease: a pharmacogenomics study from the charge consortium.  PLoS One. 2015 Oct 30;10(10):e0140496. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140496. eCollection 2015.  PubMed

Olson NC, Doyle MF, de Boer IH, Huber SA, Jenny NS, Kronmal RA, Psaty BM, Tracy RP. Associations of circulating lymphocyte subpopulations with type 2 diabetes: cross-sectional results from the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA). PLoS One. 2015 Oct 12;10(10):e0139962. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139962. PubMed

Hofer E, Cavalieri M, Bis JC, DeCarli C, Fornage M, Sigurdsson S, Srikanth V, Trompet S, Verhaaren BF, Wolf C, Yang Q, Adams HH, Amouyel P, Beiser A, Buckley BM, Callisaya M, Chauhan G, de Craen AJ, Dufouil C, van Duijn CM, Ford I, Freudenberger P, Gottesman RF, Gudnason V, Heiss G, Hofman A, Lumley T, Martinez O, Mazoyer B, Moran C, Niessen WJ, Phan T, Psaty BM, Satizabal CL, Sattar N, Schilling S, Shibata DK, Slagboom PE, Smith A, Stott DJ, Taylor KD, Thomson R, Töglhofer AM, Tzourio C, van Buchem M, Wang J, Westendorp RG, Windham BG, Vernooij MW, Zijdenbos A, Beare R, Debette S, Ikram MA, Jukema JW, Launer LJ, Longstreth WT Jr, Mosley TH, Seshadri S, Schmidt H, Schmidt R. White matter lesion progression: genome-wide search for genetic influences. Stroke. 2015 Nov;46(11):3048-57. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.009252. Epub 2015 Oct 8. PubMed

Gottesman R, Mosley TH, Shahar E, Woo D, Yaffe K, Liu Y, Sale MM, Dichgans M, Malik R, Longstreth WT Jr, Mitchell BD, Psaty BM, Kooperberg C, Reiner A, Worrall BB, Fornage M. Leukocyte telomere length and risks of incident coronary heart disease and mortality in a racially diverse population of postmenopausal women.  Stroke. 2015 Aug;46(8):2063-8. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.009044. Epub 2015 Jun 18.  PubMed

Winkler TW, Justice AE, Graff M, Barata L, Feitosa MF, Chu S, Czajkowski J, Esko T, Fall T, Kilpeläinen TO, Lu Y, Mägi R, Mihailov E, Pers TH, Rüeger S, Teumer A, Ehret GB, Ferreira T, Heard-Costa NL, Karjalainen J, Lagou V, Mahajan A, Neinast MD, Prokopenko I, Simino J, Teslovich TM, Jansen R, Westra HJ, White CC, Absher D, Ahluwalia TS, Ahmad S, Albrecht E, Alves AC, Bragg-Gresham JL, de Craen AJ, Bis JC, Bonnefond A, Boucher G, Cadby G, Cheng YC, Chiang CW, Delgado G, Demirkan A, Dueker N, Eklund N, Eiriksdottir G, Eriksson J, Feenstra B, Fischer K, Frau F, Galesloot TE, Geller F, Goel A, Gorski M, Grammer TB, Gustafsson S, Haitjema S, Hottenga JJ, Huffman JE, Jackson AU, Jacobs KB, Johansson Å, Kaakinen M, Kleber ME, Lahti J, Mateo Leach I, Lehne B, Liu Y, Lo KS, Lorentzon M, Luan J, Madden PA, Mangino M, McKnight B, Medina-Gomez C, Monda KL, Montasser ME, Müller G, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nolte IM, Panoutsopoulou K, Pascoe L, Paternoster L, Rayner NW, Renström F, Rizzi F, Rose LM, Ryan KA, Salo P, Sanna S, Scharnagl H, Shi J, Smith AV, Southam L, Stancáková A, Steinthorsdottir V, Strawbridge RJ, Sung YJ, Tachmazidou I, Tanaka T, Thorleifsson G, Trompet S, Pervjakova N, Tyrer JP, Vandenput L, van der Laan SW, van der Velde N, van Setten J, van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV, Verweij N, Vlachopoulou E, Waite LL, Wang SR, Wang Z, Wild SH, Willenborg C, Wilson JF, Wong A, Yang J, Yengo L, Yerges-Armstrong LM, Yu L, Zhang W, Zhao JH, Andersson EA, Bakker SJ, Baldassarre D, Banasik K, Barcella M, Barlassina C, Bellis C, Benaglio P, Blangero J, Blüher M, Bonnet F, Bonnycastle LL, Boyd HA, Bruinenberg M, Buchman AS, Campbell H, Chen YD, Chines PS, Claudi-Boehm S, Cole J, Collins FS, de Geus EJ, de Groot LC, Dimitriou M, Duan J, Enroth S, Eury E, Farmaki AE, Forouhi NG, Friedrich N, Gejman PV, Gigante B, Glorioso N, Go AS, Gottesman O, Gräßler J, Grallert H, Grarup N, Gu YM, Broer L, Ham AC, Hansen T, Harris TB, Hartman CA, Hassinen M, Hastie N, Hattersley AT, Heath AC, Henders AK, Hernandez D, Hillege H, Holmen O, Hovingh KG, Hui J, Husemoen LL, Hutri-Kähönen N, Hysi PG, Illig T, De Jager PL, Jalilzadeh S, Jørgensen T, Jukema JW, Juonala M, Kanoni S, Karaleftheri M, Khaw KT, Kinnunen L, Kittner SJ, Koenig W, Kolcic I, Kovacs P, Krarup NT, Kratzer W, Krüger J, Kuh D, Kumari M, Kyriakou T, Langenberg C, Lannfelt L, Lanzani C, Lotay V, Launer LJ, Leander K, Lindström J, Linneberg A, Liu YP, Lobbens S, Luben R, Lyssenko V, Männistö S, Magnusson PK, McArdle WL, Menni C, Merger S, Milani L, Montgomery GW, Morris AP, Narisu N, Nelis M, Ong KK, Palotie A, Pérusse L, Pichler I, Pilia MG, Pouta A, Rheinberger M, Ribel-Madsen R, Richards M, Rice KM, Rice TK, Rivolta C, Salomaa V, Sanders AR, Sarzynski MA, Scholtens S, Scott RA, Scott WR, Sebert S, Sengupta S, Sennblad B, Seufferlein T, Silveira A, Slagboom PE, Smit JH, Sparsø TH, Stirrups K, Stolk RP, Stringham HM, Swertz MA, Swift AJ, Syvänen AC, Tan ST, Thorand B, Tönjes A, Tremblay A, Tsafantakis E, van der Most PJ, Völker U, Vohl MC, Vonk JM, Waldenberger M, Walker RW, Wennauer R, Widén E, Willemsen G, Wilsgaard T, Wright AF, Zillikens MC, van Dijk SC, van Schoor NM, Asselbergs FW, de Bakker PI, Beckmann JS, Beilby J, Bennett DA, Bergman RN, Bergmann S, Böger CA, Boehm BO, Boerwinkle E, Boomsma DI, Bornstein SR, Bottinger EP, Bouchard C, Chambers JC, Chanock SJ, Chasman DI, Cucca F, Cusi D, Dedoussis G, Erdmann J, Eriksson JG, Evans DA, de Faire U, Farrall M, Ferrucci L, Ford I, Franke L, Franks PW, Froguel P, Gansevoort RT, Gieger C, Grönberg H, Gudnason V, Gyllensten U, Hall P, Hamsten A, van der Harst P, Hayward C, Heliövaara M, Hengstenberg C, Hicks AA, Hingorani A, Hofman A, Hu F, Huikuri HV, Hveem K, James AL, Jordan JM, Jula A, Kähönen M, Kajantie E, Kathiresan S, Kiemeney LA, Kivimaki M, Knekt PB, Koistinen HA, Kooner JS, Koskinen S, Kuusisto J, Maerz W, Martin NG, Laakso M, Lakka TA, Lehtimäki T, Lettre G, Levinson DF, Lind L, Lokki ML, Mäntyselkä P, Melbye M, Metspalu A, Mitchell BD, Moll FL, Murray JC, Musk AW, Nieminen MS, Njølstad I, Ohlsson C, Oldehinkel AJ, Oostra BA, Palmer LJ, Pankow JS, Pasterkamp G, Pedersen NL, Pedersen O, Penninx BW, Perola M, Peters A, Polašek O, Pramstaller PP, Psaty BM, Qi L, Quertermous T, Raitakari OT, Rankinen T, Rauramaa R, Ridker PM, Rioux JD, Rivadeneira F, Rotter JI, Rudan I, den Ruijter HM, Saltevo J, Sattar N, Schunkert H, Schwarz PE, Shuldiner AR, Sinisalo J, Snieder H, Sørensen TI, Spector TD, Staessen JA, Stefania B, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stumvoll M, Tardif JC, Tremoli E, Tuomilehto J, Uitterlinden AG, Uusitupa M, Verbeek AL, Vermeulen SH, Viikari JS, Vitart V, Völzke H, Vollenweider P, Waeber G, Walker M, Wallaschofski H, Wareham NJ, Watkins H, Zeggini E; CHARGE Consortium; DIAGRAM Consortium; GLGC Consortium; Global-BPGen Consortium; ICBP Consortium; MAGIC Consortium, Chakravarti A, Clegg DJ, Cupples LA, Gordon-Larsen P, Jaquish CE, Rao DC, Abecasis GR, Assimes TL, Barroso I, Berndt SI, Boehnke M, Deloukas P, Fox CS, Groop LC, Hunter DJ, Ingelsson E, Kaplan RC, McCarthy MI, Mohlke KL, O'Connell JR, Schlessinger D, Strachan DP, Stefansson K, van Duijn CM, Hirschhorn JN, Lindgren CM, Heid IM, North KE, Borecki IB, Kutalik Z, Loos RJ. The influence of age and sex on genetic associations with adult body size and shape: a large-scale genome-wide interaction study. PLoS Genet. 2015 Oct 1;11(10):e1005378. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005378. eCollection 2015 Oct. PubMed

Researchers in Cardiovascular Health

Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD

Senior Investigator
206-287-2870
Sascha.Dublin@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator
206-287-2997
Bev.B.Green@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Laura Harrington, PhD, MPH

Assistant Investigator
206-287-2066
Laura.B.Harrington@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Ellen O'Meara, PhD

Principal Collaborative Scientist
206-287-2938
Ellen.S.O'Meara@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPH

Principal Collaborative Scientist
Nicole.M.Gatto@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Meagan C. Brown, PhD, MPH

Assistant Investigator
Meagan.C.Brown@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

 

Affiliate researchers

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