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):
Crane HM, Heckbert SR, Drozd DR, Budoff MJ, Delaney JA, Rodriguez C, Paramsothy P, Lober WB, Burkholder G, Willig JH, Mugavero MJ, Mathews WC, Crane PK, Moore RD, Napravnik S, Eron JJ, Hunt P, Geng E, Hsue P, Barnes GS, McReynolds J, Peter I, Grunfeld C, Saag MS, Kitahata MM; for the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems Cohort Investigators. The authors reply. Am J Epidemiol. 2014 Aug 15;180(4):450. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwu167. Epub 2014 Jul 2. PubMed
Miedema MD, Maziarz M, Biggs ML, Zieman SJ, Kizer JR, Ix JH, Mozaffarian D, Tracy RP, Psaty BM, Siscovick DS, Mukamal KJ, Djousse L. Plasma-free fatty acids, fatty acid-binding protein 4, and mortality in older adults (from the Cardiovascular Health Study). Am J Cardiol. 2014 Sep 15;114(6):843-8. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2014.06.012. Epub 2014 Jul 1. PubMed
Arking DE, Pulit SL, Crotti L, van der Harst P, Munroe PB, Koopmann TT, Sotoodehnia N, Rossin EJ, Morley M, Wang X, Johnson AD, Lundby A, Gudbjartsson DF, Noseworthy PA, Eijgelsheim M, Bradford Y, Tarasov KV, Dörr M, Müller-Nurasyid M, Lahtinen AM, Nolte IM, Smith AV, Bis JC, Isaacs A, Newhouse SJ, Evans DS, Post WS, Waggott D, Lyytikäinen LP, Hicks AA, Eisele L, Ellinghaus D, Hayward C, Navarro P, Ulivi S, Tanaka T, Tester DJ, Chatel S, Gustafsson S, Kumari M, Morris RW, Naluai AT, Padmanabhan S, Kluttig A, Strohmer B, Panayiotou AG, Torres M, Knoflach M, Hubacek JA, Slowikowski K, Raychaudhuri S, Kumar RD, Harris TB, Launer LJ, Shuldiner AR, Alonso A, Bader JS, Ehret G, Huang H, Kao WH, Strait JB, Macfarlane PW, Brown M, Caulfield MJ, Samani NJ, Kronenberg F, Willeit J; CARe Consortium; COGENT Consortium, Smith JG, Greiser KH, Meyer Zu Schwabedissen H, Werdan K, Carella M, Zelante L, Heckbert SR, Psaty BM, Rotter JI, Kolcic I, Polašek O, Wright AF, Griffin M, Daly MJ; DCCT/EDIC, Arnar DO, Hólm H, Thorsteinsdottir U; eMERGE Consortium, Denny JC, Roden DM, Zuvich RL, Emilsson V, Plump AS, Larson MG, O'Donnell CJ, Yin X, Bobbo M, D'Adamo AP, Iorio A, Sinagra G, Carracedo A, Cummings SR, Nalls MA, Jula A, Kontula KK, Marjamaa A, Oikarinen L, Perola M, Porthan K, Erbel R, Hoffmann P, Jöckel KH, Kälsch H, Nöthen MM; HRGEN Consortium, den Hoed M, Loos RJ, Thelle DS, Gieger C, Meitinger T, Perz S, Peters A, Prucha H, Sinner MF, Waldenberger M, de Boer RA, Franke L, van der Vleuten PA, Beckmann BM, Martens E, Bardai A, Hofman N, Wilde AA, Behr ER, Dalageorgou C, Giudicessi JR, Medeiros-Domingo A, Barc J, Kyndt F, Probst V, Ghidoni A, Insolia R, Hamilton RM, Scherer SW, Brandimarto J, Margulies K, Moravec CE, Greco M FD, Fuchsberger C, O'Connell JR, Lee WK, Watt GC, Campbell H, Wild SH, El Mokhtari NE, Frey N, Asselbergs FW, Leach IM, Navis G, van den Berg MP, van Veldhuisen DJ, Kellis M, Krijthe BP, Franco OH, Hofman A, Kors JA, Uitterlinden AG, Witteman JC, Kedenko L, Lamina C, Oostra BA, Abecasis GR, Lakatta EG, Mulas A, Orrú M, Schlessinger D, Uda M, Markus MR, Völker U, Snieder H, Spector TD, Arnlöv J, Lind L, Sundström J, Syvänen AC, Kivimaki M, Kähönen M, Mononen N, Raitakari OT, Viikari JS, Adamkova V, Kiechl S, Brion M, Nicolaides AN, Paulweber B, Haerting J, Dominiczak AF, Nyberg F, Whincup PH, Hingorani AD, Schott JJ, Bezzina CR, Ingelsson E, Ferrucci L, Gasparini P, Wilson JF, Rudan I, Franke A, Mühleisen TW, Pramstaller PP, Lehtimäki TJ, Paterson AD, Parsa A, Liu Y, van Duijn CM, Siscovick DS, Gudnason V, Jamshidi Y, Salomaa V, Felix SB, Sanna S, Ritchie MD, Stricker BH, Stefansson K, Boyer LA, Cappola TP, Olsen JV, Lage K, Schwartz PJ, Kääb S, Chakravarti A, Ackerman MJ, Pfeufer A, de Bakker PI, Newton-Cheh C. Genetic association study of QT interval highlights role for calcium signaling pathways in myocardial repolarization. Nat Genet. 2014 Aug;46(8):826-36. doi: 10.1038/ng.3014. Epub 2014 Jun 22. PubMed
Peralta CA, Katz R, Newman AB, Psaty BM, Odden MC. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, incident cardiovascular events, and death in elderly persons: the role of functional limitation in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Hypertension. 2014 Sep;64(3):472-80. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.114.03831. Epub 2014 Jun 16. PubMed
Loth DW, Artigas MS, Gharib SA, Wain LV, Franceschini N, Koch B, Pottinger TD, Smith AV, Duan Q, Oldmeadow C, Lee MK, Strachan DP, James AL, Huffman JE, Vitart V, Ramasamy A, Wareham NJ, Kaprio J, Wang XQ, Trochet H, Kähönen M, Flexeder C, Albrecht E, Lopez LM, de Jong K, Thyagarajan B, Alves AC, Enroth S, Omenaas E, Joshi PK, Fall T, Viñuela A, Launer LJ, Loehr LR, Fornage M, Li G, Wilk JB, Tang W, Manichaikul A, Lahousse L, Harris TB, North KE, Rudnicka AR, Hui J, Gu X, Lumley T, Wright AF, Hastie ND, Campbell S, Kumar R, Pin I, Scott RA, Pietiläinen KH, Surakka I, Liu Y, Holliday EG, Schulz H, Heinrich J, Davies G, Vonk JM, Wojczynski M, Pouta A, Johansson A, Wild SH, Ingelsson E, Rivadeneira F, Völzke H, Hysi PG, Eiriksdottir G, Morrison AC, Rotter JI, Gao W, Postma DS, White WB, Rich SS, Hofman A, Aspelund T, Couper D, Smith LJ, Psaty BM, Lohman K, Burchard EG, Uitterlinden AG, Garcia M, Joubert BR, McArdle WL, Musk AB, Hansel N, Heckbert SR, Zgaga L, van Meurs JB, Navarro P, Rudan I, Oh YM, Redline S, Jarvis DL, Zhao JH, Rantanen T, O'Connor GT, Ripatti S, Scott RJ, Karrasch S, Grallert H, Gaddis NC, Starr JM, Wijmenga C, Minster RL, Lederer DJ, Pekkanen J, Gyllensten U, Campbell H, Morris AP, Gläser S, Hammond CJ, Burkart KM, Beilby J, Kritchevsky SB, Gudnason V, Hancock DB, Williams OD, Polasek O, Zemunik T, Kolcic I, Petrini MF, Wjst M, Kim WJ, Porteous DJ, Scotland G, Smith BH, Viljanen A, Heliövaara M, Attia JR, Sayers I, Hampel R, Gieger C, Deary IJ, Boezen HM, Newman A, Jarvelin MR, Wilson JF, Lind L, Stricker BH, Teumer A, Spector TD, Melén E, Peters MJ, Lange LA, Barr RG, Bracke KR, Verhamme FM, Sung J, Hiemstra PS, Cassano PA, Sood A, Hayward C, Dupuis J, Hall IP, Brusselle GG, Tobin MD, London SJ. Genome-wide association analysis identifies six new loci associated with forced vital capacity. Nat Genet. 2014 Jul;46(7):669-77. doi: 10.1038/ng.3011. Epub 2014 Jun 15. 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