Associate Epidemiologist, Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital

fran.grodstein@channing.harvard.edu

Dr. Grodstein’s research focuses on healthy aging, particularly in women. Her primary research base is the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS). During the past 10 years, she has established a study of cognitive function among older participants of the Nurses’ Health Study. This has developed into one of the largest existing studies of cognition, with several repeated measures of function in 20,000 women aged 70 years and over. In addition, she has incorporated cognitive testing into three large-scale randomized clinical trials of cardiovascular disease prevention (the Women’s Health Study, the Women’s Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study, and Physicians’ Health Study II with a total of 16,000 participants in the cognitive cohort). Overall her work encompasses a large variety of research topics, from identifying lifestyle and dietary factors that influence cognition to exploring biomarkers to predict eventual risk of cognitive impairment.

Another area of interest is risk factors for incontinence, in the Nurses’ Health Study. Incontinence is a common problem in older women, with important public health consequences, yet little is known about its epidemiology or prevention. She is exploring a variety of factors, such as body mass index, type 2 diabetes , cigarette smoking, and is also examining incidence rates of incontinence, which have not been tracked in any large population-based studies.

Weuve J, Kang JH, Manson JE, Breteler MM, Ware JH, Grodstein F. Physical activity, including walking, and cognitive function in older women. JAMA 2004;292:1454-61. [abstract]

Okereke O, Hankinson SE, Hu FB, Grodstein F. Plasma c-peptide level and cognitive function among older women without diabetes mellitus. Arch Intern Med 2005;165:1651-6. [abstract]

Kang JH, Ascherio AL, Grodstein F. Fruit and vegetable consumption and cognitive decline. Ann Neurol 2005;57:713-20. [abstract]

Stampfer MJ, Kang JH, Chen J, Cherry R, Grodstein F. Effects of moderate alcohol on cognitive function in women. New Engl J Med 2005;352:245-53. [abstract]

Danforth KN, Townsend MK, Lifford K, Curhan GC, Resnick NM, Grodstein F. Risk factors for urinary incontinence among middle-aged women. Am J Ob Gynecol 2006;194:339-45. [abstract]