University study celebrates 30 years of a community's heartfelt help

Beth Blecha performs a carotid ultrasound on Muscatine resident Susan Miller. Miller, 42, has been a part of the Muscatine Heart Study since she was 13 years old and a student at West Middle School. Photo by Rex Bavousett.

Impressed, Rost thought, "Someday I want to work for this guy." And since 1983 she’s been doing just that as the study’s administrative and research coordinator.

Rost helps manage the massive amount of medical and demographic data gathered from the decades-long project, which consists of a series of studies involving Lauer as well as Larry Mahoney, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology; Trudy Burns, professor of biostatistics; and Patricia Davis, associate professor of neurology.

Some children from the project’s early years are now participating as adults in their 30s and 40s. The findings point to the tremendous impact obesity has on cardiac health and why heart disease may run in some families.

The study staff also includes Kathleen Schreiber-Slycord, program assistant; Elizabeth Fletcher, research assistant; and Tamra Rominger, office assistant; who have been with the project, respectively, for 26, 21, and 14 years. They are on the front line, working in Muscatine with the school system and conducting the physical exams that provide the height, weight, blood pressure, and skin-fold data. John Witt, a 20-year veteran, and Rick Paulos, with the project for more than 15 years, are responsible for data management.

While measurements such as the skin-fold test are mainstays, Rost says, "Technological advances make it possible to study this group of people in ways not available 15 years ago."

An Ultrafast CT scanner allows researchers to check noninvasively for calcification of coronary arteries, a condition which can lead to heart disease, while genetic studies lend insight into hereditary influences on high cholesterol and obesity.

Dan Fick, a 30-year participant in the study, also notices how technology has advanced the study. Fick, now a UI professor of family medicine, was seven when he joined the study in its inaugural year.

"I remember getting the back of my arm pinched," he recalls. "I didn’t quite know what it meant, but by high school I understood the meaning of ‘looking for coronary risk factors.’"

In high school, he and his cross-country teammates would compete with each other when the study tested them on stationary bikes. Most recently, the study had him go through a coronary calcium test.

"I have a sense of pride that my hometown of Muscatine participated in the study and that I’ve come through the study all these years," Fick says.

While children, with their parents’ approval, participated in the Muscatine Study to help advance the greater good, a few found more personal benefit. Shawn Dietrich, a clerk in the UI Hospitals and Clinics Business Office, was nine years old when she joined her mother as a study participant. Her first test showed a blood pressure reading of around 255/170.

"The nurse thought something was wrong with her blood pressure kit," Dietrich says, "so they had three other nurses test me."

The study coordinator alerted Dietrich’s mother, who talked with their family physician in Muscatine. The reading led to Dietrich being diagnosed with a birth defect that had damaged her kidneys. She now takes blood pressure and other medication to maintain good health.

Dietrich appreciates that her participation led to a diagnosis that helped with her own health, but she sees even wider benefits.

"At that time, my physician and many others weren’t thinking to check children’s blood pressure," she says. "But after learning about my condition, he began to make it a regular occurrence with his nurses to check all his patients for blood pressure."

As the Muscatine Study begins its fourth decade, Rost looks forward to the work to come.

"It’s been a wonderful career," she says, "and it’s been great to be able to contribute to this unique research project."

Article by Becky Soglin