HEART DISEASE: Unique Study to Focus on Teens
High school students in Framingham, MA, will participate in a new study that doctors hope will identify those at risk for developing heart disease and target them for potentially lifesaving interventions, the AP/Boston Globe reports. Students enrolled in the study, "believed to be the first of its kind in the nation," will undergo cholesterol and lipid screening to determine their susceptibility to heart disease. The AP/Globe reports that students' test results will be forwarded to their parents, and the parents of at-risk teenagers will be offered a free screening. The new project will be organized by the Metro West Medical Center and Dr. William Castelli, former director of the Framingham Heart Study, which is "considered the source of what doctors know about what causes -- and prevents -- heart attacks and strokes." Calling the project the "heir to the Heart Study," Thomas Hennessy, chief executive of the medical center, predicted that the new project will move a step beyond and focus on treatment. "As we learned from the Framingham Heart Study, coronary disease doesn't occur overnight, it happens over a long period of time and starts in children," said Catherine Emery, a clinical researcher at the medical center (3/22).
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