Healthy Living BEYOND Weight™ Study Privacy Policy
The American Heart Association (“AHA”) cares about your privacy and wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use, and disclose information. This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information (including personal information) that we, or our Website providers (Third-Party Representatives) collect through the Website from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy. By providing personal information to us or by using the Website, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy.
USE BY MINORS
The Website is not directed to individuals under the age of 18, and we request that these individuals not provide any information through the Website. If your child has submitted information and you would like to request that such information be removed, please contact us as explained below under Contacting Us.
INFORMATION COLLECTION
This Website may ask you to submit information, including personal information, in order for you to benefit from certain features (such as updating your password or contacting the support team). “Personal information” is data that is associated with an identifiable individual, such as contact information (for example, name, email address, or phone number). We may combine account information from the Website with account information you submit through the Healthy Living BEYOND Weight Study (e.g., to allow us to reset your password on the website and connect this information back to your app account information).
SENSITIVE INFORMATION
Unless we specifically request or invite it, we ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any sensitive personal information (e.g., Social Security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, sex life or sexual orientation, health, criminal background, or biometric or genetic data for the purpose of uniquely identifying an individual) on or through the Website or otherwise to us.
As part of our commitment to conducting ethical and responsible research, we ask certain sensitive questions to determine eligibility for our study. These questions include inquiries about pregnancy, life expectancy, and incarceration status. Here’s why we ask these questions:
Pregnancy: By identifying pregnancy status, we can take necessary precautions or exclude individuals from studies where participation could be harmful.
Life Expectancy: To ensure that the study results are reliable and that participants can complete the study. Studies often require long-term follow-up, and knowing life expectancy helps
Incarceration: To comply with legal and ethical guidelines. Incarcerated individuals are considered a vulnerable population, and special considerations are required to protect their rights and well-being. By identifying incarceration status, we can ensure that our study complies with regulations and ethical standards, providing additional protections for these participants.
We understand that these questions are sensitive, and we assure you that all information provided will be kept confidential and used solely for the purpose of determining study eligibility. Your privacy and trust are of utmost importance to us.
AUTOMATIC INFORMATION COLLECTION AND USE
We and our Third-Party Representatives may automatically collect and use information in the following ways as you navigate around the Website:
Through your browser: Certain information is collected by most browsers, such as your computer type (Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, and Internet browser type and version. We may collect similar information, such as your device type, if you access the Website through a mobile device. We use this information to ensure that the Website functions properly.
Using cookies: Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the computer you are using. Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the Website, pages visited, and language preferences. We and our Third-Party Representatives use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience while using the Website. We also use cookies to recognize your computer. In addition, we use cookies to gather statistical information about Website usage in order to continually improve its design and functionality, understand how individuals use it, and to assist us with resolving questions regarding it. Cookies further allow us to select which of our advertisements or offers are most likely to appeal to you and display them while you are on the Website. We may also use cookies in online advertising to track consumer responses to our advertisements.
You can refuse to accept these cookies by following your browser’s instructions; however, if you do not accept them, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Website. To learn more about cookies, please visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org.
Using pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs, or other similar technologies: These may be used in connection with some website pages and social media sites to, among other things, track the actions of users, measure the success of our marketing campaigns, create new audiences to enhance our ad placement, and compile statistics about our website’s usage.
IP address: Your IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer by your internet Website provider. An IP address is identified and logged automatically in the server log files of our Third-Party Representatives whenever a user visits the Website, along with the time of the visit and the pages visited. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many online Websites. Our Third-Party Representatives may use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating Website usage levels, diagnosing server problems, and administering the Website, and may also derive your approximate location from your IP address.
HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE INFORMATION
We use and disclose information you provide to us as described in this Privacy Policy. Third-Party Representatives may have access to your information on behalf of AHA to support certain activities, including to provide the functionality of the Website to you and to provide you with related customer service.
We may also disclose your information that is collected through the Website to the following individuals and entities to support the Website, limited to only the minimum amount of information needed and only permitted to be used for the purposes described above:
- to other members of the AHA group of companies which are legal affiliates or subsidiaries, and subject to internal AHA review processes and approvals, for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy; and
- to our Third-Party Representatives, such as contractors and consultants working for or on behalf of AHA.
We may use and disclose information we collect automatically as described above under “Automatic Information Collection and Use.”
In addition, we may use and disclose your information as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) to comply with legal process or applicable law; (b) as permitted by applicable law to respond to requests from public and government authorities; (c) to enforce our terms and conditions; and (d) to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others.
In addition, we may use and disclose information that is not in personally identifiable form for any purpose permitted by law and in support of the AHA.
Except in connection with the sale, transfer, merger, consolidation or other transaction involving all or any part of our company, we will not sell, license, or otherwise transfer any rights to your personal information to any third party, except as specifically described above. If we combine information that is not in personally identifiable form with information that is identifiable, we will treat the combined information as personal information as long as it is combined.
SECURITY
We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures designed to protect personal information under our control. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any account you have with us has been compromised), please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.
RETENTION PERIOD
We will retain your personal information collected from the Website for as long as needed or permitted for the purpose(s) for which it was obtained as described in this Privacy Policy.
THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site or online Website (including, without limitation, any application) that is available through this Website or to which this contains a link. The availability of, or inclusion of a link to, any such site or property on the Website does not imply endorsement of it by us or by our affiliates.
CONTACTING US
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected].
UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may change this Privacy Policy. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Website. Your use of the Website following these changes means that you accept the revised Privacy Policy. We recommend that you regularly review the Privacy Policy when you visit the Website. This Privacy Policy was last updated April 25, 2025