Early medical intervention in asymptomatic individuals at risk is the most effective strategy to combat atherosclerotic heart disease (ASHD). The major roadblock to effective ASHD prevention is that conventional tools to assess ASHD risk are inadequate and new methods are needed to identify susceptible individuals before the disease process is established. Other successful public-health screening programs have incorporated direct imaging procedures (e.g. mammography, colonoscopy); yet in ASHD, direct imaging of the vasculature has not been incorporated into the risk stratification algorithms.

The Dallas Heart Study (DHS-1) is a large, multi-ethnic, population-based epidemiological study designed to identify determinants of ASHD in a representative US urban environment. This study completed enrollment in 2003.

In DHS-2 we will transform the Dallas Heart Study from a cross-sectional health survey (DHS-1) into a longitudinal cohort study (DHS-2). We will perform state-of-the-art cardiovascular (CV) imaging coupled to biomarkers, genetic markers and classical ASHD risk factors. We will repeat the detailed clinical phenotyping performed between 2000-2003 to capture interval changes in ASHD risk and disease burden. Our objective is to pinpoint factors contributing to progression:

1. from health to ASHD risk;
2. from ASHD risk to subclinical ASHD; and
3. from subclinical to clinical ASHD.

Identification of the critical factors in these transitions will enable targeted implementation of appropriate therapy to interdict before clinical ASHD develops.