During a lively lunch chat about the popularity of wearable fitness trackers, the curious question came up: with all this data we are generating, what if we were able to do it 50-70 years ago - where would medicine and healthcare be now?

Hearing the question Dodi immediately remembered The Framingham Heart Study. Its objective was to identify the common factors or characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) by following its development over a long period of time in a large group of participants who had not yet developed overt symptoms of CVD or suffered a heart attack or stroke. The research is still ongoing after 70 years and has now added Alzheimer's and diabetes to their list.

Tune in to listen to Dr. Vasan Ramachandran, Principal Investigator and Director Framingham Heart Study; Professor, Boston University School of Medicine and Tom Gracia, a participant in the study for more than 40 years.

Transcript

Keywords: Framingham heart study, Framingham, Ramachandran, participant, heart attacks, human genome project, healthier, heart, dying, behaviour, heart disease, smoking.