Key quote in this otherwise good article: "Early risk-factor data on cardiovascular disease came from the likes of the Framingham Heart Study, which Grimm describes as "very famous; but as a study it was tiny by today's comparisons, and it included essentially no blacks and very few women."
My posted comment:
The Framington Heart study was essentially all "white" in the beginning but the majority of the original participants were women, contrary to what is written. This is very relevant to the "second hand smoke" debate because back in 1948 most men smoked and few women did. Also, most women didn't work out side the home so we have an good, long term study of the effects of second hand smoke that is ignored by things like the Surgeon Generals report on second hand smoke. Framingham asked about these things.
Here is a breakdown of the "charter" 1948 participants.
Age 29-39 40-49 50-62 Totals
Men 835 779 722 2,336
Women 1,042 962 869 2,873
Totals 1,877 1,741 1,591 5,209
http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/participants/original.html
Here is a breakdown of the "charter" 1948 participants.
Age 29-39 40-49 50-62 Totals
Men 835 779 722 2,336
Women 1,042 962 869 2,873
Totals 1,877 1,741 1,591 5,209
http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/participants/original.html
Redrant: My calculator says that the Framingham original 1948 participants were 55% women. Often I have gone into a bar or party that is more than half women and concluded there were few women there but hey! I was usually looking for a date! As for the original group being almost all "white" this may not be PC but if you are Italian are you you going to reject the Mediterranean Diet Heart study because almost all participants are Italian? Because it is not "PC"? Of course not!
The Framington Heart study turned 60 in 2008 and has followed three generations. The youngest original cohorts would be in their 90's by now so most have passed on. Almost all participants agreed to autopsies after their death. The key was getting a good look at the heart but if you crack open the chest it's easy to also get a look at the lungs.
Also, children in smoking and non-smoking homes could be studied since many participate. As I mentioned most women did not work outside the home back then and the questions asked about smoke exposure in the home and outside the home. Framingham could not find any specific relation to domestic secondhand smoke and illness. Framingham, also found that occasional male smokers, what we call "chippers" smoking less than ten cigarettes a week had a lower heart disease rate than non-smoking males! My guess is that that the non-smoking males tended to have more sedentary "desk" jobs which often had a lot more stress.
Physical activity and stress are two factors that are hard to quantify. I have seen several shows on primates where CAT scans and autopsies showed that the "submissive males" in the group tended to have a severe hardening of the arteries due to stress. As one researcher noted, these primates couldn't sneak out for to double cheesburgers, booze and cigarettes but the effect was dramatic with these variables controlled.
I downloaded the 650 page Surgeon Generals report on second hand smoke. I tried searches with assorted variation of "Framingham" but the Framingham study did not rate a mention. To paraphrase the man who claimed to have helped create the Internet, Al Gore, the Framingham study seems to contain "Inconvenient Truths". Greg Lang
