Heart Disease Prevention Research

Since its inception, the Linda Joy Pollin Women's Heart Center Database has been used for research, with the goal of advancing women’s cardiovascular health. Key research projects include:

• Women’s Heart Health Registry - a longitudinal, nationwide community based program, which aims to identify cardiovascular risk factors in women through community based interventions and provide personalized risk assessment and counseling in an effort to improve Healthy People 2010 objectives. Study participants were enrolled at the Sister to Sister nationwide events in 2009 and received follow-up surveys for one-year following enrollment. The Pollin Women's Heart Center played a key role in the Registry, providing $500,000 to Sister to Sister to support electronic data capture of screening data to allow for robust longitudinal tracking of participants Staff from the Pollin Women's Heart Center also attended more than 10 Sister to Sister heart disease screenings across the country to enroll participants in the Registry.
• The WATCH Study - a longitudinal, community-based screening intervention to improve cardiovascular risk factors in women. The WATCH study was an extension of the parent, national grassroots, nonprofit organization, the Sister to Sister Everyone Has a Heart Foundation. The purpose of the WATCH study was to characterize the prevalence and awareness of cardiovascular risk factors among women attending Sister to Sister health fairs, pair high-risk women with a patient navigator, and track risk factors and achievement of cardiovascular risk factor reduction goals over the ensuing year in high-risk, underserved women in Boston, Massachusetts, and Baltimore, Maryland. The Pollin Women's Heart Center worked closely with Sister to Sister to conduct the WATCH study, sharing research expertise and providing $239,000 to fund data collection and analysis.
• Building Wellness One Heart at a Time- evaluation of the PureWellness online wellness program in improving women’s cardiovascular health. All members of “Building Wellness One Heart at a Time” were invited to join this six-month research study, during which time members had access to internet-based workshops and individualized health coaching to address cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Participants received two free blood draws at baseline and six-months, with advanced lipid testing to analyze cardiovascular biomarkers before and after the web-based intervention.

These studies, along with in-depth analysis of the Linda Joy Pollin Women's Heart Center Database, have contributed to a wealth of research shared with the medical community. Since 2008, the Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Center has published fourteen articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Community Health, Journal of Ethnicity and Disease, Health Journal, Journal of Women’s Health, Journal of Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, Journal of Cardiac Failure, Journal of Cardiorenal Medicine, Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports, and the American Journal of Medicine.

The Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Center research team has also conducted nineteen presentations at national medical conferences since 2008, including the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Sessions, the World Congress of Cardiology, the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association Annual Conference, the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation Annual Scientific Meeting and the Annual International Interdisciplinary Conference on Hypertension and Related Risk Factors in Ethnic Populations. Importantly, information from this registry has been transferred to our partner, Sister to Sister, and has allowed for the development of their robust online program Smart for the Heart.

Publications and Presentations

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Jarvie JL and Foody JM. Predictors for Early Discontinuation of Dual-Antiplatelet Therapy: Room for Improvement. Editorial. Circulation 2010.

Jarvie JL and Foody JM. Recognizing and Improving Health Care Disparities in the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Women. Curr Cardiol Rep 2010.

Jarvie JL, Wang Y, Johnson CE, Foody JM. Contemporary Female Smokers are Younger and of Lower Socioeconomic Status. Health, Vol 3 No 6, June 2011.

Rodriguez F, Christopher L, Johnson C, Wang Y, Foody M. Love Your Heart: A Pilot Community-Based Intervention to Improve the Cardiovascular Health of African American Women. Ethnicity and Disease. Vol 22, October 2012.

Naderi S, Sauris A, Rodriguez, F, Foody JM. Community based interventions in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports 2012.

Naderi S, Foody JM. Ezetimibe and Simvastatin for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Pre-Dialysis Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: A Review. Int J Nephrol Renovasc Dis 2012.

Naderi S, Johnson C, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Pollin I, Foody J. Characteristics of Women Lost to Follow-Up in Cardiovascular Community Health Interventions: Findings from the Sister to Sister Campaign. Journal of Community Health. January 2013.

Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Naderi S, Johnson CE, Foody JM. Community-level cardiovascular risk factors impact geographic variation in cardiovascular disease hospitalizations for women. Journal of Community Health. 2013.

Rodriguez F, Naderi S, Wang Y, Johnson CE, Foody JM. High prevalence of metabolic syndrome in young Hispanic women: findings from the National Sister to Sister Campaign. Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders 2013.

Rodriguez F, Foody JM. Is cardiovascular disease in young women overlooked? Women’s Health. 2013.

Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Johnson C, Foody JM. National patterns of heart failure hospitalizations and mortality by gender and age. Journal of Cardiac Failure 2013.

Naderi S, Wang Y, Miller AL, Rodriguez F, Chung MK, Radford MJ, Foody JM. The impact of age on the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation hospitalizations. American Journal of Medicine. 2014.

Naderi S, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Foody JM. Racial disparities in hospitalizations, procedural treatments, and mortality of patients hospitalized with atrial fibrillation. Ethnicity & Disease 2014. In press.

Ferdinand KC, Rodriguez F, Nasser SA, Caballero AE, Puckrein GA, Zangenesh F, Mansour M, Foody JM, Pemu PE, Ofili EO. Cardiorenal metabolic syndrome and cardiometabolic risks in minority populations. Cardiorenal Medicine 2014. In press.

Medical Publications

Rodriguez F, Foody JM. Cardiovascular disease in women. In Nabel EG, ed. ACP Medicine. Philadelphia (PA): Decker Publishing, 2012: 1-13.

Rodriguez F, Foody JM. Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. In Stergiopoulos K, Brown DL, eds. Evidence-Based Cardiology Consult. New York City (NY): Spring Science and Business Media, Inc., 2014.

Russell C, Rodriguez F, Foody JM. Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women. In Peter Lanzer, ed. PanVascular Medicine 2e. Springer, 2014. In Press.

Presentations

Athanasopoulos LV, Johnson CE, Jarvie JL, Aslam F, Wang Y, Pollin I, Foody JM. High Prevalence of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Women in Association with Insurance Status. J Am Coll Cardiol. March 2010.

Jarvie JL. Variance of Risk Factors Among Community Women—Sister to Sister: The Women’s Heart Health Foundation. Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation 30th Annual Scientific Meeting. Washington, D.C. May 2010.

Jarvie JL, Johnson CE, Wang Y, Aslam F, Athanasopoulos LV, Pollin I, Foody JM. Geographic Variance of Risk Factors Among Women—A National Campaign of Sister to Sister: The Women’s Heart Health Foundation. Journal of Women’s Health. January 2011.

Johnson CE, Foody JM, Wang Y, Jarvie JL, Rubin A, Pollin I. 2009 Sister to Sister Heart Health Fair Screening and One Year Follow-Up: Factors Associated with Enrollment into Study. Journal of Women’s Health, March 2011.

Johnson CE, Foody JM, Wang Y, Jarvie JL, Rubin A, Pollin I. 2009 Sister to Sister Heart Health Fairs: National Risk Data. Journal of Women’s Health, March 2011.

Jarvie JL, Wang Y, Johnson CE, Aslam F, Foody JM. Race and Ethnicity is Associated with Significant Differences in Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Women--Results from Sister to Sister: The Women's Heart Health Foundation. AHA EPI/NPAM, March 2011.

Johnson C, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Foody J. The Utility of a National Online Weight Reduction Intervention: Experience with “Beat the Holiday Bulge. American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, Orlando, FL. November 2011.

Rodriguez F, Johnson CE, Wang Y, Foody JM. Community-level Cardiovascular Risk Factors Impact Geographic Variation in Cardiovascular Disease Hospitalizations for Women. American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, Orlando, FL. November 2011.

Rodriguez F, Johnson CE, Wang Y, Foody JM. Persistent Gender Disparities in Acute Myocardial Infarction Hospitalizations and Mortality by Age. American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, Orlando, FL. November 2011.

Rodriguez F, Christopher L, Johnson C, Wang Y, Foody JM. Love Your Heart: A pilot community based intervention to improve the health of African American Women. World Congress of Cardiology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. April 2012.

Rodriguez F, Johnson C, Wang Y, Foody JM. Metabolic syndrome drives cardiovascular disease risk factors in young Hispanic women. ISHIB2012: 27th Annual International Interdisciplinary Conference on Hypertension and Related Risk Factors in Ethnic Populations. Miami, FL. July 2012.

Johnson C, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Foody JM, Impact of National Screening Intervention on AHA’s “Life’s Simple Seven” Cardiovascular Metrics American Heart Association Scientific Session, Los Angeles, CA. November 2012.

Rodriguez F, Johnson C, Wang Y, Foody JM. National Patterns of Heart Failure Hospitalizations and Mortality by Gender and Age American Heart Association Scientific Session, Los Angeles, CA. November 2012.

Rodriguez F, Johnson C, Wang Y, Foody JM. Young Age Single Largest Predictor of Variation in Acute Myocardial Infarction Hospitalizations Nationwide American Heart Association Scientific Session, Los Angeles, CA. November 2012.

Johnson C, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Foody JM Geographic Variation of AHA’s “Life’s Simple Seven” in Women. American Heart Association Scientific Session, Los Angeles, CA. November 2012.

Rodriguez F, Naderi S, Wang Y, Johnson C, Foody JM. African Americans hospitalized for atrial fibrillation experience higher in-hospital mortality. American College of Cardiology 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Los Angeles, CA. March 2013.

Sauris S, Rodriguez F, Timmons PC, Wang Y, Foody JM, Heart Healthy Living: A Community-Based Intervention to Achieve AHA 2020 Goals for African American Women Reaching the AHA 2020 Goals: Strategies for Success. American Heart Association Scientific Session, Dallas, TX. November 2013.

Foody JM, Khan I; Lewis, B, Attainment of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Goals in Patients at High Cardiovascular Risk: Results from a Managed Care Population Study. American Heart Association Scientific Session, Dallas, TX. November 2013.

Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Sauris A, Foody J, Young Hispanic Women Experience Higher In-Hospital Mortality Following an Acute Myocardial Infarction. American Heart Association Scientific Session, Dallas, TX. November 2013.

Sauris A, Timmons P, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Foody M. Heart Healthy Living: A Community-Based, Tailored Educational Program to Improve Cardiovascular Knowledge and Health of African American Women. Brigham and Women’s Hospital Research Day. 2013.

Sauris A, Timmons P, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Foody M. Heart Healthy Living: A Community-Based, Tailored Educational Program to Improve Cardiovascular Knowledge and Health of African American Women. American Heart Association Scientific Session, Dallas, TX. November 2013.

Naderi S, Wang Y, Foody J. Gender Differences in Atrial Fibrillation Hospitalizations. American Heart Association: Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2014 Scientific Session. March 2014.

Sauris A, Timmons P, Rodriguez F, Wang Y, Foody M. Heart Healthy Living: A Community-Based, Tailored Educational Program to Improve Cardiovascular Knowledge and Health of African American Women. Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association Annual Conference. March 2014.

Fatima Rodriguez, Temitope Olufade, Kim Heithoff, Howard S. Friedman, Prakash Navaratnam, JoAnne M. Foody. Frequency of High-Risk Patients Not Receiving High Potency Statin (From a Large U.S Managed Care Database). American Journal of Cardiology. October 29, 2014.