Key result
CDC heart disease publications amass ~89,000 citations and widespread guideline impact over two decades.
Why the study?
This study aimed to describe the scientific productivity, focus, and reach of the CDC Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention across two decades of cardiovascular disease prevention work.
Two decades of CDC DHDSP cardiovascular prevention research generated 841 publications with substantial citation impact and integration into 637 policy documents and 410 clinical guidelines.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
CDC DHDSP output shows strong policy and guideline integration; leaves open causal effects on cardiovascular outcomes.
BACKGROUND: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) provides national leadership for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, including efforts to improve hypertension control. Scientific publications document surveillance, program implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence-based strategies. This study describes DHDSP's scientific productivity, focus, and reach across two decades of CVD prevention work. METHODS: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications authored or coauthored by DHDSP staff during 2006-2025. Publications were identified from internal records and PubMed searches, verified for eligibility, and categorized by condition and topic area. Citation metrics, Relative Citation Ratio (RCR), Altmetric Attention Scores, policy and guideline mentions, authorship role, and collaboration indicators were summarized descriptively. RESULTS: DHDSP contributed to 841 publications ranging annually from 12 in 2006 to 67 in 2017. Publications accrued 88,636 citations (median: 19; 25-75 percentiles: 7;48). Median RCR was 1.15 (25-75 percentiles: 0.50-2.53), and median Altmetric Attention Score was 6.0 (25-75 percentiles: 0.5-23.5). DHDSP publications were cited or mentioned in 637 policy documents and 410 guidelines indexed by Altmetric. Most focused on core DHDSP conditions, including hypertension, with surveillance and epidemiology the most common topic. Overall, 240 publications (28.5%) included a focus on hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: DHDSP's publication portfolio demonstrates sustained scientific productivity and broad dissemination across two decades of CVD prevention. Hypertension was an important component, alongside research addressing heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes. The portfolio documents the evolution of public health science and contributes to the evidence base for cardiovascular disease prevention and control.
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Coronado et al. (2026) studied Cardiovascular disease prevention and hypertension control (n=841). CDC Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) scientific publication portfolio was evaluated on Scientific productivity, citation metrics, Relative Citation Ratio (RCR), Altmetric Attention Scores, and policy/guideline mentions.
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