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):
Black MH, Zhou H, Sacks DA, Dublin S, Lawrence JM, Harrison TN, Reynolds K. Prehypertension prior to or during early pregnancy is associated with increased risk for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and gestational diabetes. J Hypertens. 2015 Sep;33(9):1860-7. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0000000000000646.
Hotaling JM, Walsh TJ, Macleod LC, Heckbert S, Pocobelli G, Wessells H, White E. Erectile dysfunction is not independently associated with cardiovascular death: data from the vitamins and lifestyle (VITAL) study. J Sex Med. 2012 Aug;9(8):2104-10. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02826.x. Epub 2012 Jul 3. PubMed
Adib-Samii P, Rost N, Traylor M, Devan W, Biffi A, Lanfranconi S, Fitzpatrick K, Bevan S, Kanakis A, Valant V, Gschwendtner A, Malik R, Richie A, Gamble D, Segal H, Parati EA, Ciusani E, Holliday EG, Maguire J, Wardlaw J, Worrall B, Bis J, Wiggins KL, Longstreth W, Kittner SJ, Cheng YC, Mosley T, Falcone GJ, Furie KL, Leiva-Salinas C, Lau BC, Khan MS; Australian Stroke Genetics Collaborative; Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium-2 (WTCCC2); METASTROKE, Sharma P, Fornage M, Mitchell BD, Psaty BM, Sudlow C, Levi C, Boncoraglio GB, Rothwell PM, Meschia J, Dichgans M, Rosand J, Markus HS; on behalf of the International Stroke Genetics Consortium. 17q25 locus is associated with white matter hyperintensity volume in ischemic stroke, but not with lacunar stroke status. Stroke. 2013 Jun;44(6):1609-15. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.679936. Epub 2013 May 14. PubMed
Agha G, Mendelson MM, Ward-Caviness CK, Joehanes R, Huan T, Gondalia R, Salfati E, Brody JA, Fiorito G, Bressler J, Chen BH, Ligthart S, Guarrera S, Colicino E, Just AC, Wahl S, Gieger C, Vandiver AR, Tanaka T, Hernandez DG, Pilling LC, Singleton AB, Sacerdote C, Krogh V, Panico S, Tumino R, Li Y, Zhang G, Stewart JD, Floyd JS, Wiggins KL, Rotter JI, Multhaup M, Bakulski K, Horvath S, Tsao PS, Absher DM, Vokonas P, Hirschhorn J, Fallin MD, Liu C, Bandinelli S, Boerwinkle E, Dehghan A, Schwartz JD, Psaty BM, Feinberg AP, Hou L, Ferrucci L, Sotoodehnia N, Matullo G, Peters A, Fornage M, Assimes TL, Whitsel EA, Levy D, Baccarelli AA. Blood leukocyte DNA methylation predicts risk of future myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease. Circulation. 2019 Aug 20;140(8):645-657. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.039357. Epub 2019 Aug 19. PubMed
Ahmedani BK, Solberg LI, Copeland LA, Fang-Hollingsworth Y, Stewart C, Hu J, Nerenz DR, Williams LK, Cassidy-Bushrow AE, Waxmonsky J, Lu CY, Waitzfelder BE, Owen-Smith AA, Coleman KJ, Lynch FL, Ahmed AT, Beck A, Rossom RC, Simon GE. Psychiatric comorbidity and 30-day readmissions after hospitalization for heart failure, AMI, and pneumonia. Psychiatr Serv. 2015;66(2):134-40. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201300518. Epub 2014.Nov 1. 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