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Innovation Incentive Initiative - Cardiopulmonary Science |
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Cardiopulmonary research is a long-standing strength of the University of Cincinnati and is very broad-based. Clinical and basic studies focus on both the normal function and diseases of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels, in children and adults. A wide variety of experimental approaches are utilized, ranging from genomic to molecular genetic to the whole organ level, as well as epidemiology, pathobiology, and population biology studies and clinical trials. Special research strengths include stroke (both hemorrhagic and thrombotic), hypertension, congestive heart failure, blood flow regulation and vascular smooth muscle biology.
These studies have great relevance to health in our society because cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in Western civilizations. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the nation's leading killer among both men and women, and affects all racial and ethnic groups. The disease is the leading cause of death among Americans in middle age, killing more than 160,000 people between ages of 35 and 64 each year in the United States. In Ohio, CVD is the number one cause of death and the primary cause of premature mortality for both men and women, assuming average life expectancy of 76.7 years. The two most common forms of CVD, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease (stroke), together account for more deaths in every Ohio county than any other cause of death. Among the 50 states and District of Columbia, Ohio ranks 19th highest for age-adjusted mortality rate for total cardiovascular disease, 8th highest for coronary heart disease, and 34th highest for stroke3. Morbidity and mortality from CVD are related to a number of modifiable risk factors, including unhealthy behaviors (cigarette smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and poor dietary habits) and adverse health conditions (high blood pressure, elevated blood cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity). (From an Ohio Department of Health report, Cardiovascular Disease in Ohio in 2001 - Profile of Cardiovascular Disease Mortality and Related Behavioral Risk Factors).
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