Coronary risk factors and autopsy findings in Japanese-American men

During the years 1965 to 1974, 481 men who had participated in a standardized examination at the Honolulu Heart Study died. Autopsies were conducted in 226 of the men, and in 137 the extent of coronary and/or aortic atherosclerosis was estimated by the American Heart Association panel method. This method was found to be simple and highly reproducible. In multivariate analysis, statistically independent associations were found between aortic atherosclerosis and age at death, cigarettes per day, serum cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure; between coronary atherosclerosis and relative weight, cigarettes per day, and serum cholesterol; and between heart weight and height, relative weight, and systolic blood pressure. Alcohol consumption was lower and hematocrit was higher in men with infarcts than in other decedents, but no statistically significant relation between these variables and coronary or aortic atherosclerosis could be demonstrated.