September 17, 2012


Many features of each person’s appearance, behavior, and health are passed down from his or her ancestors.  The material that carries this information from one generation to the next is called DNA, and DNA of different people can now be analyzed to find differences that affect health and disease.  The Jackson Heart Study is the largest study in history to investigate the inherited (genetic) factors that affect high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, diabetes and other important diseases in African Americans.  DNA has been obtained from every consenting participant in the Jackson Heart Study, and will be analyzed for many thousands of differences between people that may affect their health.  These studies are likely to lead to the development of new treatments that do more good and less harm than treatments that are available today. 

Clic here to view Genetics Brochure

Family Studies
The Jackson Heart Study Family Study is designed to detect new genes influencing risk factors for a variety of heart, lung, and blood disorders.   To this end, family enrollment was based on the overall JHS recruitment strategy.  The Family study is nested within the JHS population based sample, such that each participant eligible to participate in the JHS cohort study is a potential index family member ( or “index participant”; the initial family contact) for the family study.   This ensures that results obtained from the Family Study are generalizable to the greater JHS community.


Consent Tiers For Family Study Component Table (Updated: March 26, 2012) 
Click here to veiw Table