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.”
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
Lindström S, Brody JA, Turman C, Germain M, Bartz TM, Smith EN, Chen MH, Puurunen M, Chasman D, Hassler J, Pankratz N, Basu S, Guan W, Gyorgy B, Ibrahim M, Empana JP, Olaso R, Jackson R, Braekkan SK, McKnight B, Deleuze JF, O'Donnell CJ, Jouven X, Frazer KA, Psaty BM, Wiggins KL, Taylor K, Reiner AP, Heckbert SR, Kooperberg C, Ridker P, Hansen JB, Tang W, Johnson AD, Morange PE, Trégouët DA, Kraft P, Smith NL, Kabrhel C; INVENT Consortium. A large-scale exome array analysis of venous thromboembolism. Genet Epidemiol. 2019 Jun;43(4):449-457. doi: 10.1002/gepi.22187. Epub 2019 Jan 19. PubMed
Timmers PR, Mounier N, Lall K, Fischer K, Ning Z, Feng X, Bretherick AD, Clark DW; eQTLGen Consortium, Agbessi M, Ahsan H, Alves I, Andiappan A, Awadalla P, Battle A, Bonder MJ, Boomsma D, Christiansen M, Claringbould A, Deelen P, van Dongen J, Esko T, Favé M, Franke L, Frayling T, Gharib SA, Gibson G, Hemani G, Jansen R, Kalnapenkis A, Kasela S, Kettunen J, Kim Y, Kirsten H, Kovacs P, Krohn K, Kronberg-Guzman J, Kukushkina V, Kutalik Z, Kähönen M, Lee B, Lehtimäki T, Loeffler M, Marigorta U, Metspalu A, van Meurs J, Milani L, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nauck M, Nivard M, Penninx B, Perola M, Pervjakova N, Pierce B, Powell J, Prokisch H, Psaty BM, Raitakari O, Ring S, Ripatti S, Rotzschke O, Ruëger S, Saha A, Scholz M, Schramm K, Seppälä I, Stumvoll M, Sullivan P, Teumer A, Thiery J, Tong L, Tönjes A, Verlouw J, Visscher PM, Võsa U, Völker U, Yaghootkar H, Yang J, Zeng B, Zhang F, Agbessi M, Ahsan H, Alves I, Andiappan A, Awadalla P, Battle A, Bonder MJ, Boomsma D, Christiansen M, Claringbould A, Deelen P, van Dongen J, Esko T, Favé M, Franke L, Frayling T, Gharib SA, Gibson G, Hemani G, Jansen R, Kalnapenkis A, Kasela S, Kettunen J, Kim Y, Kirsten H, Kovacs P, Krohn K, Kronberg-Guzman J, Kukushkina V, Kutalik Z, Kähönen M, Lee B, Lehtimäki T, Loeffler M, Marigorta U, Metspalu A, van Meurs J, Milani L, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nauck M, Nivard M, Penninx B, Perola M, Pervjakova N, Pierce B, Powell J, Prokisch H, Psaty BM, Raitakari O, Ring S, Ripatti S, Rotzschke O, Ruëger S, Saha A, Scholz M, Schramm K, Seppälä I, Stumvoll M, Sullivan P, Teumer A, Thiery J, Tong L, Tönjes A, Verlouw J, Visscher PM, Võsa U, Völker U, Yaghootkar H, Yang J, Zeng B, Zhang F, Shen X, Esko T, Kutalik Z, Wilson JF, Joshi PK. Genomics of 1 million parent lifespans implicates novel pathways and common diseases and distinguishes survival chances. Elife. 2019;8. pii: 39856. doi: 10.7554/eLife.39856. PubMed
de Vries PS, Sabater-Lleal M, Huffman JE, Marten J, Song C, Pankratz N, Bartz TM, de Haan HG, Delgado GE, Eicher JD, Martinez-Perez A, Ward-Caviness CK, Brody JA, Chen MH, de Maat MPM, Frånberg M, Gill D, Kleber ME, Rivadeneira F, Soria JM, Tang W, Tofler GH, Uitterlinden AG, van Hylckama Vlieg A, Seshadri S, Boerwinkle E, Davies NM, Giese AK, Ikram MK, Kittner SJ, McKnight B, Psaty BM, Reiner AP, Sargurupremraj M, Taylor KD, Fornage M, Hamsten A, März W, Rosendaal FR, Souto JC, Dehghan A, Johnson AD, Morrison AC, O'Donnell CJ, Smith NL. A genome-wide association study identifies new loci for factor VII and implicates factor VII in ischemic stroke etiology. Blood. 2019 Feb 28;133(9):967-977. doi: 10.1182/blood-2018-05-849240. Epub 2019 Jan 14. PubMed
Giri A, Hellwege JN, Keaton JM, Park J, Qiu C, Warren HR, Torstenson ES, Kovesdy CP, Sun YV, Wilson OD, Robinson-Cohen C, Roumie CL, Chung CP, Birdwell KA, Damrauer SM, DuVall SL, Klarin D, Cho K, Wang Y, Evangelou E, Cabrera CP, Wain LV, Shrestha R, Mautz BS, Akwo EA, Sargurupremraj M, Debette S, Boehnke M, Scott LJ, Luan J, Zhao JH, Willems SM, Thériault S, Shah N, Oldmeadow C, Almgren P, Li-Gao R, Verweij N, Boutin TS, Mangino M, Ntalla I, Feofanova E, Surendran P, Cook JP, Karthikeyan S, Lahrouchi N, Liu C, Sepúlveda N, Richardson TG, Kraja A, Amouyel P, Farrall M, Poulter NR; Understanding Society Scientific Group; International Consortium for Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure-International Consortium of Exome Chip Studies, Laakso M, Zeggini E, Sever P, Scott RA, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, Conen D, Palmer CNA, Attia J, Chasman DI, Ridker PM, Melander O, Mook-Kanamori DO, Harst PV, Cucca F, Schlessinger D, Hayward C, Spector TD, Jarvelin MR, Hennig BJ, Timpson NJ, Wei WQ, Smith JC, Xu Y, Matheny ME, Siew EE, Lindgren C, Herzig KH, Dedoussis G, Denny JC, Psaty BM, Howson JMM, Munroe PB, Newton-Cheh C, Caulfield MJ, Elliott P, Gaziano JM, Concato J, Wilson PWF, Tsao PS, Velez Edwards DR, Susztak K; Million Veteran Program, O'Donnell CJ, Hung AM, Edwards TL. Trans-ethnic association study of blood pressure determinants in over 750,000 individuals. Nat Genet. 2019;51(1):51-62. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0303-9. Epub 2018 Dec 21. PubMed
Choi SH, Weng LC, Roselli C, Lin H, Haggerty CM, Shoemaker MB, Barnard J, Arking DE, Chasman DI, Albert CM, Chaffin M, Tucker NR, Smith JD, Gupta N, Gabriel S, Margolin L, Shea MA, Shaffer CM, Yoneda ZT, Boerwinkle E, Smith NL, Silverman EK, Redline S, Vasan RS, Burchard EG, Gogarten SM, Laurie C, Blackwell TW, Abecasis G, Carey DJ, Fornwalt BK, Smelser DT, Baras A, Dewey FE, Jaquish CE, Papanicolaou GJ, Sotoodehnia N, Van Wagoner DR, Psaty BM, Kathiresan S, Darbar D, Alonso A, Heckbert SR, Chung MK, Roden DM, Benjamin EJ, Murray MF, Lunetta KL, Lubitz SA, Ellinor PT; DiscovEHR study and the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium. Association between titin loss-of-function variants and early-onset atrial fibrillation. JAMA. 2018 Dec 11;320(22):2354-2364. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.18179. PubMed
Researchers in Cardiovascular Health
 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 |
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
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KPWHRI in the media
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