TY - JOUR
T1 - Risk factors for ischaemic heart disease in a Cretan rural population
T2 - A twelve year follow-up study
AU - Karalis, Ioannis K.
AU - Alegakis, Athanasios K.
AU - Kafatos, Antonios G.
AU - Koutis, Antonios D.
AU - Vardas, Panos E.
AU - Lionis, Christos D.
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - Background. Crete has been of great epidemiological interest ever since the publication of the Seven Countries Study. In 1988 a well-defined area of rural Crete was studied, with only scarce signs of coronary heart disease (CHD) despite the unfavorable risk profile. The same population was re-examined twelve years later aiming to describe the trends of CHD risk factors over time and discuss some key points on the natural course of coronary heart disease in a rural population of Crete. Methods and Results. We re-examined 200 subjects (80.7% of those still living in the area, 62.4 ± 17.0 years old). The prevalence of risk factors for CHD was high with 65.9% of men and 65.1% of women being hypertensive, 14.3% of men and 16.5% of women being diabetic, 44% of men being active smokers and more than 40% of both sexes having hyperlipidaemia. Accordingly, 77.5% of the population had a calculated Framingham Risk Score (FRS) > 15%, significantly higher compared to baseline (p < 0.001). The overall occurrence rate for CHD events was calculated at 7.1 per 1000 person-years (95% confidence interval: 6.8-7.3). Conclusion. The study confirms the unfavorable risk factor profile of a well defined rural population in Crete. Its actual effect on the observed incidence of coronary events in Cretans remains yet to be defined.
AB - Background. Crete has been of great epidemiological interest ever since the publication of the Seven Countries Study. In 1988 a well-defined area of rural Crete was studied, with only scarce signs of coronary heart disease (CHD) despite the unfavorable risk profile. The same population was re-examined twelve years later aiming to describe the trends of CHD risk factors over time and discuss some key points on the natural course of coronary heart disease in a rural population of Crete. Methods and Results. We re-examined 200 subjects (80.7% of those still living in the area, 62.4 ± 17.0 years old). The prevalence of risk factors for CHD was high with 65.9% of men and 65.1% of women being hypertensive, 14.3% of men and 16.5% of women being diabetic, 44% of men being active smokers and more than 40% of both sexes having hyperlipidaemia. Accordingly, 77.5% of the population had a calculated Framingham Risk Score (FRS) > 15%, significantly higher compared to baseline (p < 0.001). The overall occurrence rate for CHD events was calculated at 7.1 per 1000 person-years (95% confidence interval: 6.8-7.3). Conclusion. The study confirms the unfavorable risk factor profile of a well defined rural population in Crete. Its actual effect on the observed incidence of coronary events in Cretans remains yet to be defined.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=38949172097&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1471-2458-7-351
DO - 10.1186/1471-2458-7-351
M3 - Article
C2 - 18088432
AN - SCOPUS:38949172097
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 7
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
M1 - 351
ER -