Document Type

Poster Presentation

Publication Date

4-18-2025

Year of Award

2025

Date Assignment Submitted

2025

Abstract

The Framingham Heart Study is one of the most comprehensive studies of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. This project evaluates the feasibility of investigating key cardiovascular risk factors using a sample of the data from the Framingham Study, assessing relationships between blood pressure, smoking, gender, and myocardial infarction risk. After familiarizing ourselves with the dataset, we developed research questions to challenge and analyzed sample data (n=11,626) from the Framingham Study. Relationships between systolic (SYSBP) and diastolic (DIABP) blood pressure, smoking, gender-based hypertension predisposition, and myocardial infarction risk were evaluated using correlation and chi-square analyses. A significant correlation was found between SYSBP and CVD (r = 0.2285, p < 0.001), and DIABP and CVD (r = 0.1589, p < 0.001), confirming that higher systolic blood pressure is more strongly linked to CVD. Smokers showed a significantly higher prevalence of CVD (χ² = 5.998, p = 0.0143) compared to non-smokers. Women had a 57.3% prevalence of hypertension, compared to 42.7% in men (χ² = 3.921, p = 0.0477). Hypertension was strongly associated with myocardial infarction (χ² = 90.99, p < 0.001), with over 3,000 hypertensive patients experiencing an MI, compared to fewer than 1,000 non-hypertensive patients. The relationship of lipid profiles, a known risk biomarker for CVD, was not available to be assessed in the dataset. These findings reinforce known CVD risk factors while demonstrating that not all research questions could be fully addressed due to dataset limitations, such as missing lipid profile components.

Publisher

Lynn University

Conference/Symposium

Lynn University Student Research Symposium

Contest

Poster Presentation: Health and Social Sciences category

City/State

Boca Raton, FL

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Instructor

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Félix E. Rivera-Mariani

Comments

Authors' Contributions:

  • Mr. Desroches: contributed the original research idea, interpreted the results, and developed the study's conclusions and proposed directions for future research.
  • Dr. Rivera-Mariani: Advised on the research concept and design, guided variable selection, deployed data analysis workflow, provided input on results interpretation and future research framing, mentored student through project.

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