Variables
The following variable pages are organized by research domain categories as they are in the curated datasets, where they are all available for the exams where they were collected. The curated datasets contain detailed records of variables from participant exams and tests collected over multiple core and neuropsychological (NP) exam cycles.
Each entry in the curated dataset represents data captured during a specific exam cycle for an individual participant. This offers a longitudinal view of their medical status, so health metrics can be tracked and analyzed over time.
In the curated dataset as well as other FHS derived datasets, some variable names can have descriptive suffixes including which FHS exam or NP test they are from (e.g., “_core10” or “_NP10” respectively). This allows users to quickly identify repeated measurements of similar data, especially useful for longitudinal analysis. Not all variables have these suffixes, such as variables which are not longitudinal or refer to a single event occurrence. The numbers in the description column refer to exam numbers in the three cohort groups that the variable is available in. These three groups are Gen 1; Gen 2 and Omni 1; and Gen 3, Omni 2, and NOS.
Categories:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Demographics | Basic demographic information including ID, core exam date, age, sex, race and education |
| Anthropometric Measurements | Basic physical measurements of the body |
| Smoking | Smoking status |
| Blood Pressures, Heart Rate, Ventricular Hypertrophy and Antihypertensives | Metrics of blood pressure, heart rate, ventricular hypertrophy presence and antihypertensive intake |
| Blood Glucose, Diabetes and Treatment | Measures of blood glucose metrics, and diabetes metrics and treatment |
| Lipid Panel and Hyperlipidemia Treatment | Cholesterol measurements and information about related treatment |
| Creatinine | Serum creatinine measure |
| Alcohol Consumption | Measures of alcohol consumption |
| Neuropsychological assessments | Data from the from the neuropsychological (NP) exams, which are separate from the core exams. The NP data contains measurements from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, which includes a wide variety of cognitive tests that measure different aspects of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning by examining various aspects of brain function. |
| Matching NP Dates with Core Exam Dates | Core exams and NP exams are not synchronized and take place on different days and cycles. These variables help to match the exam dates. |
| Verified Outcomes – Dementia and Related Variables | Documented dates and other information about dementia and other cognitive impairment. From FHS dementia review, which involves a systematic approach to identify and evaluate participants for dementia-related endpoints. |
| Verified Outcomes – First Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Event | Documented date of first coronary heart disease (CHD) event |
| Verified Outcomes – First Stroke (CVA) Event | Documented date of first stroke (CVA) event |
| Verified Outcomes – First Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Event | Documented date of first atrial fibrillation (AF) event |
| Verified Outcomes – First Cancer and Related Variables | Documented dates and other information related to first cancer event |
| Survival Information | Dates of last documented contact and death of participant |
| Prevalence | History of certain conditions present at core and NP exams |
| FHS CVD Risk Score | FHS CVD risk score and component scores |
| FHS Stroke Risk Profile | FHS stroke risk profile and component scores |
| Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) | Scores of MMSE questionnaire, used to test for cognitive impairment. Data from core exam. |
| Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) | Scores of CES-D questionnaire, used to test for depression. Data from core exam. |
| Neuropath Data and Availability | Neuropathological data relating to presence of brain disease, from FHS participants who volunteered to donate their brains for research purposes. Neuropathological evaluation of autopsied brains was performed and gross neuropathological findings were recorded. |
In addition, we have pages for some categories that are not contained in the curated dataset. These are categories related to legacy data collection and processing.
(Coming Soon)
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Traumatic Brain Injury Retrospective Chart Review | Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are either an occurrence of injury to the head that is documented in a medical record. This data also includes measurements related to the TBI. |
| Qualitative Errors in Neuropsychological Exams | This dataset contains measurements related to Boston Process Approach (BPA) Errors which participants made during their neuropsychological assessments, administered between 2005 and 2021. |
| Hand score clock drawing test | Test involving participant manually drawing clocks and the results being graded. Widely used in both research and clinical practice to assess cognitive function, particularly in elderly individuals and those with neurological or psychiatric disorders. |
The subpages linked to from this page include variables from all three curated datasets. The datasets respectively are for Gen 1; Gen 2 and Omni 1; and Gen 3, Omni 2, and NOS. Each of the curated datasets has its own coding manual that contains documenation information for each variable. The coding manuals, which are publicly accessible, are below.