GENETICS AND RESPONSE TO EXERCISE: THE HERITAGE FAMILY STUDY864

The aim of the HERITAGE Family Study (HEalth, RIsk factors, exercise Training And GEnetics) is to document the role of the genotype in the cardiovascular, metabolic and hormonal responses to aerobic exercise-training. A consortium of 5 universities in the US and Canada are involved in carrying out the study. A total of about 750 sedentary subjects (500 Caucasians and 250 Blacks) have been recruited, initially tested, exercise-trained in the laboratory with the same program for 20 weeks, and re-tested. Subjects come from 100 families of Caucasian descent and families or pairs of relatives of African-American ancestry. The study design and the aims of the project will be described. The training program, the quality control program and the reproducibility of the tests, assays and measurements will be reviewed. The effects of the training program on plasma lipids and lipoproteins will be presented. Data on familial resemblance in the sedentary state and in the response to training for selected phenotypes will be considered.