The Framingham Heart Study is a major epidemiological investigation of prospective relationships between risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD risk factors) and CVD risk factor outcomes. The Framingham Study and other large, prospective studies have resulted in an extensive literature on the impact of CVD risk factors (including age) and CVD outcomes. Comparatively, there have been many fewer studies of the impact of CVD risk factors on cognitive functioning, and possibly no studies of the effect of objectively measured, competing risk factors on cognitive functioning.