For the study, the U of M researchers analyzed data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which is an ongoing multi-center research project that has been examining how heart disease risk factors evolve over a lifetime. The CARDIA study began in the mid-1980s with more than 5,115 18- to 30-year-old adults from Minneapolis and three other cities: Birmingham, Chicago and Oakland.