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Case Study Analysis: Summary Template
Background
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) created a teaching dataset that
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includes real but anonymized data collected as part of the Framingham Heart Study. The Framingham
Heart Study is one of the most influential and longest running epidemiological studies of risk factors
for cardiovascular disease ever run. The study started in 1948 and continues today to collect extensive
data from original participants, their children, and their children’s children. Much of what we know
about cardiovascular disease was discovered by investigators involved in the Framingham Heart Study.
In fact, studies to date using data collected in the Framingham Heart study have resulted in over 3000
publications in high impact, peer-reviewed medical journals.
The Framingham Heart Study has been widely discussed in the media. WGBH in Boston
produced a video documentary for PBS entitled “The Hidden Epidemic: Heart Disease in America”
that details the history of heart disease in this country and highlights the Framingham Heart Study. In
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2007, CBS News did a story on the study, its participants, and its impact. Additionally, research results
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from the Framingham Heart Study are communicated widely, most recently highlighting the discovery
of a gene that may promote obesity and new data showing declining rates of dementia. Interested
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readers can visit the Framingham Heart Study website for a detailed history of this incredible study and
its many contributions to preventive medicine.6
Datasets for Analysis
NHLBI created a longitudinal teaching dataset includes clinical, laboratory, and outcome data
on = 4434 participants. Each participant has between one and three observations—which represent n
1 http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/
2 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/heart/
3 http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/landmark-heart-study/
4 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-a-fat-gene-may-influence-your-weight/
5 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dementia-alzheimers-risk-signs-of-hope-study/
6 https://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/about-fhs/history.php/
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examinations held approximately 6 years apart. There are a total of 11,627 observations in the full
dataset. A detailed description of the Framingham Heart Study dataset and other public use datasets
available from NHLBI are available on the NHLBI Biologic Specimen and Data Repository
Information Coordinating Center (BioLINCC) website.7
Two datasets are available for analysis here—one is the complete dataset with = 11,627 n
observations (or person-exams), and the second includes only data collected at the first examination for
each participant ( = 4434). The two datasets are available as comma separated values (.csv) files for n
analysis in Excel, R, or other statistical computing packages. FHS-All.csv contains = 11,627 n
