14 DAY TRIAL // In a newly-published study, researchers announce the completion of the longest-term scientific research on the effects of lipoproteins on coronary heart diseases, and other related afflictions. The investigation, which spans more than 29 years, is three times longer than any other ever made.
Back in 1966, a team of experts published the results of a study conducted on more than 1,900 people, between 1954 and 1956. The goal of the research was to determine how lipoproteins influenced heart health in the general population.
Using a stack of punch cards from the original study, as well as inexhaustible amounts of patience, experts decided to track down the original study participants so as to do a follow-up study on them.
The current group managed to track nearly 1,900 of the original test subjects. Details of the new follow-up study appear in a recent issue of the esteemed scientific journal Atherosclerosis.
According to the group, the link between different sizes of high-density lipoprotein particles and heart disease was analyzed in-depth, and this particular study provided the missing link for such studies.
“Often we think only of designing new studies with the latest technologies, but there are treasures buried in our past,” explains scientist Paul Williams.
He holds an appointment as a researcher at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and was also the author of the new study. The original research was carried out on employees of the national laboratory.
Conclusions derived from the follow-up research demonstrated that elevated concentrations of larger high-density lipoprotein particles in the blood stream increases a patient's risk of developing a heart condition. These particles are in fact fatty molecules responsible for carrying cholesterol around.
“Often, all we had to go on was an address on a street that no longer existed. Women had changed their names, employees had left or retired and moved, and many had died,” Williams says.
“However, by telephoning neighbors and coworkers, we were able to track down all but a few,” he adds. The expert, a staff scientist at the Berkeley Lab Life Sciences Division, goes on to say that the efforts of finding the original test subjects were worthwhile in the end.
It took a total of nine years for all the 1,900 people that participated in the 1966 study to be contacted. But, using funds from the American Heart Association and the US National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Aging, a Berkeley Lab team managed to do it.
In addition to confirming a leading scientific theory with a long-term study, the new investigation also underlines the importance of looking to the past in providing evidence for new concepts.