Experts from around the country and the globe will descend upon Tulane University Medical Center School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans in late August to share information and to consider a collaboration with the Bogalusa Heart Study, founded and led by Dr. Gerald Berenson.

Some of the group are expected to visit Bogalusa today.

Titled “International Cardiovascular Epidemiology Studies from Birth to Middle Age,” the meeting will include investigators from the world’s leading and long-term population studies of youth that are directed towards understanding the early origin and natural history of adult heart disease — atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease, hypertension and adult onset Type II diabetes mellitus. Importantly, ongoing research related to the worldwide epidemic of obesity will also be considered, said Berenson.

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Investigators representing the Bogalusa Heart Study, Finnish Youth Study, Australian (Childhood Determinants of Adult Health) Study, Muscatine (Iowa) Study and, possibly, Princeton (Ohio) Study, plus four multi-center programs of Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) will discuss the findings and implications of their programs and consider collaboration on future studies and potential funding.

Geneticists from Scripps Clinic (California) will also attend and take part in the deliberations, and representatives from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Aging have been invited, said Berenson.

The groups’ population studies include observations on Caucasian and Black youths followed over 35 years from childhood into middle age. Collaborations among the research groups would help them understand the origin, determinants and natural history of adult cardiovascular diseases and help set the stage for preventive cardiology. Long-term risk factor data and related morbidity and mortality accumulated on some 20,000 individuals will be considered. A mini symposium on Thursday morning, Aug. 27, will be open to faculty, students and trainees, and credit will be available, said Berenson.

The meeting will take place August 27-28, and on Aug. 26 Berenson will bring a group to visit Bogalusa, he said. 

The Bogalusa Heart Study, started in 1972, is touted as the longest running and most detailed study of a biracial population of children in the world. The primary focus is on understanding the early natural history of coronary artery disease and essential hypertension, and more than 160 sub-studies have been conducted over the years.

The Heart Study has prompted more than 800 publications, including four textbooks, that describe observations on more than 16,000 Bogalusa children and adults.