Metacarpal cortical area and risk of coronary heart disease: the Framingham Study

The objective of this study was to determine the relation between bone mass and the incidence of coronary heart disease in women and men. Participants included 2,059 cohort members of the Framingham Study (1,236 women and 823 men aged 47-80 years) who underwent posteroanterior hand radiography and were free from cardiovascular disease at baseline (1967-1970) and who were then followed for 30 years through the end of 1997 for the incidence of coronary heart disease. The incidence of coronary heart disease decreased from 15.65/1,000 person-years among women in the lowest metacarpal cortical area quartile to 11.76/1,000 person-years among women in the highest quartile (p(trend) = 0.03), and the inverse relation persisted after adjustment for confounders (highest vs. lowest quartile of metacarpal cortical area: hazard ratio = 0.73, 95% confidence interval: 0.53, 1.00; p(trend) = 0.03). In contrast, no association was present in men (highest vs. lowest quartile of metacarpal cortical area: hazard ratio = 1.14, 95% confidence interval: 0.84, 1.56; p(trend) = 0.55).     

Physical activity and coronary heart disease among asymptomatic hypercholesterolemic men (the Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial).

We examined the relation between reported regular strenuous exercise or hard physical labor and the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) death and nonfatal myocardial infarction among 1,533 hypercholesterolemic men aged 35-59 years who were in the placebo group of the Lipid Research Clinics Coronary Primary Prevention Trial. The mean follow-up of the cohort was 7.4 years. The men were free of clinical heart disease at entry; men with an abnormal resting electrocardiogram or graded exercise test also were excluded. Regular physical activity was not associated with the incidence of CHD (RR = .94, 95% CI = .68, 1.38) in this study population. Adjustment by the proportional hazards model for age, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking, family history of CHD, and occupation did not alter this finding. This observation suggests that reported regular physical activity may not be related to the risk of coronary heart disease among asymptomatic, hypercholesterolemic, middle-aged men.     

Coronary heart disease risk factors and attributable risks in African-American women and men: NHANES I epidemiologic follow-up study.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed associations of risk factors with coronary heart disease incidence in African Americans. METHODS: The participants in the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-Up Study included in this analysis were 1641 Black and 9660 White persons who were aged 25 to 74 years when examined and who did not have a history of coronary heart disease. Average follow-up for survivors was 19 years. RESULTS: Significant, independent risk factors for coronary heart disease were age, systolic blood pressure, and smoking in Black women and age, systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol, low education, and low family income in Black men. In this cohort, 19% of incident coronary heart disease in Black women and 34% in Black men might be prevented if systolic blood pressure were below 140 mm Hg. In Black men, attributable risk for low education (46%) was even higher than that for elevated blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated systolic blood pressure and smoking were predictive of coronary heart disease incidence in African Americans. Estimates of population attributable risk were highest for elevated systolic blood pressure in women and education less than high school in men. Further studies of serum lipids, education, and coronary heart disease in Black women are needed.     

Diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease incidence, and death from all causes in African American and European American women: The NHANES I epidemiologic follow-up study

Few data are available on risk for coronary heart disease in African American women with diabetes mellitus, a well-established coronary risk factor in European American women. This study tests the hypothesis that medical history of diabetes predicts coronary heart disease incidence in African American women in a national cohort. Participants in the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study in this analysis were 1035 African American and 5732 European American women aged 25-74 years without a history of coronary heart disease. Average follow-up for survivors was 19 years (maximum 22 years). Risk of incident coronary heart disease by baseline diabetes status was estimated. Proportional hazards analyses for African American women aged 25-74 revealed significant associations of coronary heart disease risk with diabetes after adjusting for age (RR = 2.40; 95% CI, 1.58-3.64, P < 0.01). After adjusting for age, smoking, and low education, there was an elevated risk in diabetics age 25-74 (RR = 2. 34; 95% CI, 1.54-3.56, P < 0.01); this association did not differ significantly from that for European American women. Excess coronary incidence in African American compared to European American women aged 25-64 was statistically explained by controlling for diabetes history, age, education, and smoking but only partly explained by age and diabetes history. In African American women aged 25-74, diabetes was also associated with increased coronary heart disease, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality. The population attributable risk of coronary heart disease incidence associated with a medical history of diabetes was 8.7% in African American women and 6.1% in European American women. Medical history of diabetes was a significant predictor of coronary heart disease incidence and mortality in African American women and explained some of the excess coronary incidence in younger African American compared to European American women.     

Effects of passive smoking in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial

The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT), conducted in 1973-1982, provided a unique opportunity to study the effect of passive smoking on men whose wives smoke. MRFIT participants who reported at entry that they had never smoked tobacco products were classified according to the smoking status of their wives. Men with wives who smoked had similar mean levels of serum thiocyanate (54.3 vs. 53.9 mumol/liter, p = 0.83) but higher mean levels of expired carbon monoxide (7.7 vs. 7.1 ppm, p = 0.001). Lower levels of pulmonary function (by maximum forced expiratory volume in one second) were also observed in these men (3,493.1 vs. 3,591.9 ml, p = 0.04). The relative risks, for men whose wives smoked compared with men whose wives did not smoke, for the endpoints coronary heart disease death, fatal or nonfatal coronary heart disease event, and death from any cause were 2.11 (p = 0.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69-6.46), 1.48 (p = 0.13, 95% CI 0.89-2.47), and 1.96 (p = 0.08, 95% CI 0.93-4.11), respectively. When smokers who quit prior to entry were included in the analyses, the relative risks, for men whose wives smoked compared with men whose wives did not smoke, for the above endpoints were 1.45 (p = 0.25, 95% CI 0.77-2.73), 1.19 (p = 0.29, 95% CI 0.85-1.65), and 1.72 (p = 0.01, 95% CI 1.12-2.64), respectively. These relative risk estimates did not change appreciably after adjusting for other baseline risk factors. The results suggest that passive exposure to cigarette smoke may have a deleterious impact on the health of nonsmokers and that nonsmokers may be at an increased risk of death through passive exposure to cigarette smoke.     

Plasma fibrinogen and coronary heart disease in urban Japanese

There is little information on the relation of plasma fibrinogen concentration to the risk of coronary heart disease in Asians, including Japanese, whose plasma fibrinogen concentration has been reported to be low by Western standards. The authors conducted a prospective study with 4.8 years of follow-up of 11,977 men and women aged 21-89 years (mean value of fibrinogen = 267 mg/dl) living or working in Osaka, Japan, in 1990-1996 to examine the relation of plasma fibrinogen with the incidence of coronary heart disease (myocardial infarction and angina pectoris). Mean fibrinogen concentration was 293.6 mg/dl for men who developed coronary heart disease (n = 35) compared with 261.6 mg/dl for men free of coronary heart disease (n = 8,094; difference, p < 0.01), and 355.2 mg/dl for women who developed coronary heart disease (n = 6) compared with 276.8 mg/dl for women free of coronary heart disease (n = 3,842; difference, p < 0.01). With a Cox proportional hazards model to adjust for cardiovascular risk factors, the relative risk for the highest fibrinogen quartile (> or =295 mg/dl) compared with the lowest (<228 mg/dl) was 4.8 (95% confidence interval: 1.4, 16.8, p = 0.01) for coronary heart disease, and 3.8 (95% confidence interval: 1.1, 13.4, p = 0.04) for myocardial infarction. Plasma fibrinogen is useful to predict the risk of coronary heart disease among urban Japanese, whose mean plasma fibrinogen is relatively low.     

Coronary heart disease mortality in the Western Collaborative Group Study. Follow-up experience of 22 years

In 1960-1961, 3,154 healthy, middle-aged men were entered into the Western Collaborative Group Study, a long-term study of coronary heart disease. A 22-year mortality follow-up of this cohort in 1982-1983 accounted for almost 99% of the cohort, and determined that 214 of the men had died of coronary heart disease. The risk of coronary heart disease mortality was studied for several variables measured at baseline, i.e., Type A/B behavior, systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol level, cigarette smoking status, and age. Using a proportional hazards regression model, systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol level, cigarette smoking status, and age were highly significant predictors (p less than 0.001) of 22-year coronary heart disease mortality. Type A/B behavior showed no association with 22-year coronary heart disease mortality (standardized relative hazard (SRH) = 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.85-1.12). Systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol, and age showed relatively consistent positive associations with coronary heart disease mortality over four successive time intervals after the baseline examination. Cigarette smoking showed a significant positive association in the first and second intervals and a nonsignificant positive association in the third and fourth intervals. Type A/B behavior was positively but not significantly associated with coronary heart disease in the first and third intervals, significantly negatively associated (SRH = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.53-0.93) in the second interval and not associated in the fourth interval. The results confirm the importance of the traditional coronary heart disease risk factors, and raise a substantial question about the importance of Type A/B behavior as a risk factor for coronary heart disease mortality.     

Lung function, respiratory symptoms, and mortality: results from the Busselton Health Study

PURPOSE: This study examines the association between lung function [percentage predicted FEV, (forced expiratory volume in 1 s)] and respiratory symptoms (asthma, bronchitis, wheeze, dyspnea) and mortality from all causes; coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and respiratory disease in a cohort of 2,100 men and 2,177 women in the Busselton Health Study followed for 20-26 years for mortality. METHODS: A total of 840 men and 637 women died during the follow-up period, and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the relationships between risk factors and mortality. RESULTS: Lung function was significantly and independently predictive of mortality from all causes, coronary heart disease, cancer, and respiratory disease in both men and women, and of mortality from stroke in women. There was evidence that, among men, the association was stronger in current and former smokers as compared to those who never smoked. After adjustment for age, smoking, lung function, coronary heart disease, blood pressure, treatment for hypertension, total cholesterol, body mass index, and alcohol consumption, dyspnea was significantly related to total mortality in men and women and to respiratory disease mortality in men, and asthma was significantly related to respiratory disease mortality in women. CONCLUSIONS: Lung function is associated with mortality from many diseases independent of smoking and respiratory symptoms. Although most respiratory symptoms are associated with smoking and lung function, after controlling for smoking and lung function, only dyspnea is associated with mortality from nonrespiratory causes.     

Sex differences in time from self-reported heart trouble to heart disease death in the Alameda County Study. Significance of time dependence of risk variable effects

In a previous analysis from the Alameda County Study, it was observed that although men had higher heart disease mortality rates than women, there was no male excess in the prevalence of self-reported heart disease morbidity at baseline or in new reports of morbidity 9 years past baseline. This apparent contradiction might occur because women report less severe heart disease than men. In the present study, this hypothesis was evaluated by examining whether self-reported heart trouble was more strongly associated with subsequent heart disease mortality for men than for women in a representative sample of the population of Alameda County, California, selected in 1965 and followed for mortality for 19 years (n = 3,742). In a time-dependent Cox model, self-reported heart trouble was a stronger predictor of heart disease mortality for men, but only during the early years of follow-up (p = 0.00). This effect was due to a shorter time to death for men who reported heart trouble. The relative hazard for men reporting heart trouble was 6.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.7-11.6) at baseline, declining to 3.2 (95% CI 2.2-4.5) by 5 years past baseline and 1.5 (95% CI 0.9-2.5) by 10 years past baseline. Self-reported heart trouble was a consistent predictor of subsequent heart disease mortality for women over the 19-year follow-up period (relative hazard = 2.0, 95% CI 1.4-2.8). Sex differences in the prognosis of self-reported heart trouble were masked in non-time-dependent analyses. These results illustrate that consideration of time dependence may be required for meaningful analysis of long-term cohort studies. Possible explanations of the shorter time to death for men who reported heart trouble are discussed.     

Plasma fluorescent oxidation products: independent predictors of coronary heart disease in men

Fluorescent oxidation products in plasma are stable with routine blood collection methods and reflect oxidation in food, animals, and in vitro. Whether plasma fluorescent oxidation products predict future coronary heart disease has not been established. Among US men without cardiovascular disease who provided blood specimens in 1994 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the authors confirmed 266 incident nonfatal myocardial infarction or fatal coronary heart disease endpoints during 6 years of follow-up. Using a nested case-control design, they measured baseline levels of fluorescent oxidation products. Each case was matched with two controls according to age, smoking status, and time of blood draw. The relative risk of coronary heart disease between extreme quintiles was 1.83 (95% confidence interval: 1.07, 3.13; p for trend = 0.005) in the multivariate analysis controlling for other cardiovascular risk factors and traditional lipid markers. Further adjustment for C-reactive protein and glycated hemoglobin A(1c) did not materially attenuate this association. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk between extreme quintiles was 3.36 (95% confidence interval: 1.33, 8.48; p for trend = 0.005) when the analysis was restricted to men who had fasted for more than 10 hours before blood draw. The authors found that plasma fluorescent oxidation products significantly and independently predicted coronary heart disease incidence among men without previous cardiovascular events.     

Leukocyte count and risk of major coronary heart disease events.

The association between leukocyte count and subsequent risk of major coronary heart disease events was examined using data from three prospective cohort studies--two from the United States and one from Great Britain. A total of 28,181 middle-aged men were followed for 6-12 years. A total of 1,768 men had a nonfatal myocardial infarction or died of coronary heart disease. In all three cohorts, there was a positive, statistically significant relation between baseline leukocyte count and risk of subsequent major coronary heart disease events after adjustment for age, serum total cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, and number of cigarettes smoked per day (relative odds = 1.32 (p less than 0.0001), 1.15 (p = 0.0001), and 1.14 (p = 0.003), corresponding to a 2,000/mm3 difference in leukocyte count). The associations persisted when all nonsmokers (former smokers plus never smokers) and never smokers alone were considered and when those with evidence of preexisting coronary heart disease at baseline were excluded. Leukocyte count appears to be an indicator of a person's future risk of major coronary heart disease events.     

Short- and long-term association of serum cholesterol with mortality. The 25-year follow-up of the Finnish cohorts of the seven countries study.

The association of serum cholesterol with cause-specific and all-cause mortality was assessed in a cohort of 1,426 men aged 40-59 years who were free of clinically evident heart disease at baseline (1959). A total of 748 deaths (53 percent of the participants) occurred during the 25-year follow-up period. Men with high serum cholesterol levels at baseline had high mortality due to coronary heart disease during both the early and later parts of the follow-up period. In contrast, the association of serum cholesterol with mortality due to causes other than coronary heart disease changed during follow-up (interaction of cholesterol with follow-up period: p = 0.004). During the first 10 years of follow-up, despite their high coronary mortality, men with high cholesterol levels had lower all-cause mortality (age-adjusted relative risk = 0.71 for serum cholesterol above 5.79 mmol/liter vs. below 5.80 mmol/liter; p = 0.03) because of their low cancer mortality (relative risk = 0.55, p = 0.03) and residual mortality (relative risk = 0.49, p less than 0.01). During the last 15 years of follow-up, cholesterol at baseline was no longer associated with mortality due to causes other than coronary heart disease, and consequently, because of their high coronary mortality, men with high cholesterol levels also had higher all-cause mortality (relative risk = 1.22, p = 0.05). The results suggest that to fully analyze the association of serum cholesterol with all-cause mortality, the follow-up period should be sufficiently long--possibly more than 10 years--and the possibility of a change in the direction of the association studied should always be considered.     

Water, other fluids, and fatal coronary heart disease: the Adventist Health Study

Whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, hematocrit, and fibrinogen are considered independent risk factors for coronary heart disease and can be elevated by dehydration. The associations between fatal coronary heart disease and intake of water and fluids other than water were examined among the 8,280 male and 12,017 female participants aged 38-100 years who were without heart disease, stroke, or diabetes at baseline in 1976 in the Adventist Health Study, a prospective cohort study. A total of 246 fatal coronary heart disease events occurred during the 6-year follow-up. High daily intakes of water (five or more glasses) compared with low (two or fewer glasses) were associated with a relative risk in men of 0.46 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.28, 0.75; p trend = 0.001) and, in women, of 0.59 (95% CI: 0.36, 0.97). A high versus low intake of fluids other than water was associated with a relative risk of 2.47 (95% CI: 1.04, 5.88) in women and of 1.46 (95% CI: 0.7, 3.03) in men. All associations remained virtually unchanged in multivariate analysis adjusting for age, smoking, hypertension, body mass index, education, and (in women only) hormone replacement therapy. Fluid intake as a putative coronary heart disease risk factor may deserve further consideration in other populations or using other study designs.     

Predictiveness of body mass index for fatal coronary heart disease in men according to length of follow-up: a 21-year prospective cohort study

AIMS: To test the association between body mass index (BMI) and other coronary risk factors and the risk of a fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) event in different time periods during follow-up. METHODS: Prospective cohort study with a 21 year follow-up period. A screened sample of 14,403 men aged 40-49 years initially free of CHD. Risk of fatal CHD was calculated for 21 years' cumulative follow-up and for four consecutive 5-year periods. RESULTS: After adjustment for age and the other risk factors, total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure retained their predictive strength for CHD mortality throughout follow-up. Though cigarette smoking remained a significant predictor, the relative risk decreased with time (test of trend: p=0.01). Intermediate to vigorous physical activity at leisure was protective for 10 years of follow-up and a question on mental stress for 5 years. The test of trend indicated that the risk associated with BMI increased with the duration of follow-up (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that coronary risk factors predicted CHD mortality differently according to the length of follow-up, and suggest that the harm associated with obesity may take more than a decade to become evident, in contrast to the classical CHD risk factors.     

Family history of stroke as an independent predictor of ischemic heart disease in men and stroke in women

The major known cardiovascular risk factors, age, cholesterol, blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and diabetes and family history of heart attack, explain only a proportion of cardiovascular disease. In a study of 1,491 men and 1,924 women aged 50-79 years in an upper middle-class Caucasian population in Rancho Bernardo, southern California, who were free of known cardiovascular disease at baseline in 1972-1974 and who were followed for an average of nine years, family history of stroke in any first-degree relative was an independent predictor of ischemic heart disease mortality in men 50-64 years of age (relative risk = 3.3, p less than 0.05) and of stroke mortality in women 50-79 years of age (relative risk = 2.3, p less than 0.05) after controlling for all the above risk factors. In contrast, family history of stroke was not predictive of stroke mortality in men or of ischemic heart disease mortality in women. These results suggest that family history of stroke may be used as a marker for high-risk subjects and to identify and investigate other major genetic or environmental determinants for cardiovascular disease, particularly sex differences.     

A prospective study of job strain and coronary heart disease in US women

BACKGROUND: Previous studies of job strain and coronary heart disease (CHD) in men have established job strain as a predictor of CHD risk. Despite the wealth of convincing evidence in men for an association between job strain and CHD, data in women remain sparse. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated the relation between job strain and CHD risk in the Nurses' Health Study. In this analysis, we followed a sample of 35 038 US female nurses aged 46-71 years, who completed questions about job strain in 1992 and who were free of diagnosed CHD, stroke, and cancer at baseline. The main outcome measure was the incidence of CHD occurring between baseline (1 June 1992) and 31 May 1996. RESULTS: During 4 years of follow-up, we documented 146 incident cases of CHD (108 non-fatal cases of myocardial infarction and 38 CHD deaths). No evidence was found for a relationship between job strain and risk of CHD. In multivariate analyses controlling for age, smoking, alcohol intake, body mass index, history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and other covariates, women in high strain jobs did not have an increased risk of CHD (relative risk [RR] = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.42-1.19) compared with women in low strain jobs. Neither women in passive jobs (RR = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.69-1.68) nor those in active jobs (RR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.54-1.53) had an increased risk of CHD. CONCLUSIONS: Job strain was not related to an increase in the incidence of CHD in the present cohort of nurses.     

Ischaemic heart disease: association with haematocrit in the British Regional Heart Study.

OBJECTIVES--To assess the relationship between haematocrit and risk of major ischaemic heart disease events. DESIGN--Prospective study of a cohort of men followed up for 9.5 years. SETTING--General practices in 24 towns in England, Wales, and Scotland (British Regional Heart Study). SUBJECTS--Altogether 7735 men aged 40-59 years at screening, who were selected at random from one general practice in each of 24 towns, were studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Fatal and nonfatal ischaemic heart disease events. RESULTS--Risk of major ischaemic heart disease events was significantly increased at haematocrit levels of > or = 46.0%. Men with raised haematocrit (> or = 46.0%) showed a 30% increase in relative risk (RR) of major ischaemic heart disease events (RR = 1.32; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.10,1.57, p < 0.01) compared with those with values below 46.0%, even after adjustment for age, social class, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, blood cholesterol, lung function (FEV1), and pre-existing evidence of ischaemic heart disease. Further adjustment for systolic blood pressure reduced the risk slightly (RR = 1.27; 95% CI 1.06,1.51, p = 0.02) but it remained significant. The relationship was seen in men with and without pre-existing evidence of ischaemic heart disease. The study suggests that an increased haematocrit level plays a part in the development of major ischaemic heart disease events.     

Serum triglycerides and risk of coronary heart disease among Japanese men and women

To examine the relation of triglycerides with coronary heart disease among populations with low mean total cholesterol, the authors conducted a 15.5-year prospective study ending in 1997 of 11,068 Japanese aged 40-69 years (4,452 men and 6,616 women with mean total cholesterol = 4.73 mmol/liter and 5.03 mmol/liter, respectively), initially free of coronary heart disease or stroke. There were 236 coronary heart disease events comprising 133 myocardial infarctions, 68 angina pectoris events, and 44 sudden cardiac deaths. The coronary heart disease incidence was greater in a dose-response manner across increasing quartiles of nonfasting triglycerides for both sexes. The multivariate relative risk of coronary heart disease adjusting for coronary risk factors and time since last meal associated with a 1-mmol/liter increase in triglycerides was 1.29 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.53; p = 0.004) for men and 1.42 (95% CI: 1.15, 1.75; p = 0.001) for women. The trend was similar for myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and sudden cardiac death. The relation of triglycerides with coronary heart disease was not influenced materially by total cholesterol levels or, in a subsample analysis (51% of total sample), by high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Nonfasting serum triglycerides predict the incidence of coronary heart disease among Japanese men and women who possess low mean values of total cholesterol. Further adjustment for high density lipoprotein cholesterol suggests an independent role of triglycerides on the coronary heart disease risk.     

Effects of moderate and vigorous physical activity on heart rate variability in a British study of civil servants

Physical inactivity and low resting heart rate variability (HRV) are associated with increased coronary heart disease incidence. In the Whitehall II study of civil servants aged 45-68 years (London, United Kingdom, 1997-1999), the strength of the association of moderate and vigorous activity with higher HRV was examined. Five-minute recordings of heart rate and HRV measures were obtained from 3328 participants. Calculated were time domain (standard deviation of NN intervals) and high-frequency-power measures as indicators of cardiac parasympathetic activity and low-frequency power of parasympathetic-sympathetic balance. Leisure-time physical activity (metabolic equivalent-hours per week) was categorized as moderate (>or=3-<5) and vigorous (>or=5). Moderate and vigorous physical activity were associated with higher HRV and lower heart rate. For men, linear trends of higher low-frequency power with increasing quartile of vigorous activity (304.6 (low), 329.0, 342.4, 362.5 (high); p < 0.01) and lower heart rate with increasing quartile of moderate activity (69.6 (low), 69.2, 68.9, 67.8 (high); p < 0.05) were found. These associations remained significant after adjustment for smoking and high alcohol intake. For men whose body mass index was >25 kg/m(2), vigorous activity was associated with HRV levels similar to those for normal-weight men who engaged in no vigorous activity. Vigorous activity was associated with higher HRV, representing a possible mechanism by which physical activity reduces coronary heart disease risk.     

The Framingham Disability Study: relationship of various coronary heart disease manifestations to disability in older persons living in the community.

The relation between coronary heart disease and disability was examined in 2,576 community-dwelling women and men ages 55-88 years. These Framingham Study participants were originally recruited in 1948-51 for an examination of cardiovascular disease. Twenty-seven years later, remaining members of the cohort were interviewed to ascertain physical abilities, and a score on a disability scale was assigned. Multivariate logistic analyses examined disability in relation to uncomplicated angina pectoris (AP), complicated AP, and coronary heart disease other than AP, controlling for possible confounders. In younger and older women and men, uncomplicated and complicated AP were associated with disability. Coronary heart disease other than AP was associated with disability only in the younger men. Congestive heart failure predicted disability only in the women. These results suggest that onset of AP should be recognized as a critical point in the development of disability and that AP is a better predictor of disability than is myocardial infarction or coronary insufficiency.