Data Core

The Data Core specializes in managing and sharing data from FHS, enhancing its utility for AD-related research

Data Core Leadership:

The Framingham Heart Study (FHS), initiated by the NHLBI in 1948, has collected longitudinal data on demographics, health, and multi-omics, shedding light on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke. Since 1976, it has tracked dementia, aiding understanding of Alzheimer’s (AD) and vascular dementia. In 2020, supported by NIH, the FHS launched the Brain Aging Program (FHS-BAP), led by Dr. Lindsay Farrer and Dr. Rhoda Au. FHS-BAP’s focus on AD dementia surveillance and related projects aims to explore modifiable risk factors in mid-life that contribute to AD.

The FHS-BAP Data Core plays a pivotal role in strengthening data infrastructure for brain aging and cognitive decline research, ensuring data integrity and accessibility through FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability). We manage decades of longitudinal data, enabling collaborative studies on the associations between lifelong modifiable risk factors and cognitive decline, thus enhancing our understanding of AD.

We specialize in managing and sharing data from FHS, enhancing its utility for AD-related research. You can utilize our curated data in your ongoing AD research projects or explore collaboration opportunities. Through our collaboration with FHS-BAP cores, contract staff, and external teams, we facilitate the collection, auditing, and sharing of curated datasets for analysis. Our mission is to leverage FHS data for AD research, ensuring quality, facilitating sharing, and supporting projects to enhance AD-related research both within our program and with external collaborators.

FHS data ranges from simple demographic and self-reporting data points to more complex multi-omic and digital data. In addition to structured data(phenotypic, genetic, multi-omic, digital), FHS has also gathered unstructured data (voice, image digital pen), especially in recent years. Our strategy for managing and sharing FHS data for AD research covers a wide range of information, including legacy data like demographics and risk factors, lab biomarkers, NP assessments, and Brain MRI/PET data. We also regularly incorporate new clinical data and digital markers.