Common risk factors for heart disease well-described: for instance, the relationship between diabetes and heart disease is established. In recent decades, increasing data support the general role of inflammation in driving heart and artery disease – including but not limited to heart attack and heart failure. However, less knowledge exists on specific ways in which inflammation drives these heart and artery diseases in some people but not others and why. The purpose of this study is to investigate ways in which genetic and environmental/clinical factors associate with heart and artery diseases, as well as the potential role of inflammation in driving this. We expect that this research will highlight specific population-level and clinical features that make some people particularly vulnerable to inflammation and related heart and artery disease, with the goal of informing better disease prevention and treatment.
