Cardiovascular disease event classification in the Jackson Heart Study: methods and procedures

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular epidemiology
• Public health surveillance
• Clinical research methodology

Background:

• The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) is a significant cohort study focusing on cardiovascular disease (CVD) in African Americans.
• Accurate identification and classification of CVD events are crucial for understanding disease burden and risk factors within this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the systematic process for identifying, abstracting, and classifying cardiovascular disease (CVD) endpoints within the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) cohort.
• To ensure comprehensive surveillance of CVD events and their manifestations in a well-characterized African American population.

Main Methods:

• Annual telephone follow-up interviews to ascertain significant health events.
• Medical record abstraction (MRA) unit reviews death certificates and hospital records for CVD events.
• Adjudication by trained medical personnel for final classification of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and congestive heart failure (CHF) events.

Main Results:

• Established a robust system for event ascertainment and classification in the JHS cohort.
• Enabled detailed monitoring of hospitalized and fatal cardiovascular events.

Conclusions:

• The JHS employs rigorous surveillance for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and subclinical manifestations.
• Focus remains on major CVD causes: coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and congestive heart failure (CHF) in African Americans.