title: The West Point Study: occurrence of coronary artery disease after 34 years.
abstract: This report reviews the current status of the West Point Study and addresses the prediction of risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) based on cholesterol levels measured at various times during the study. Subjects were grouped into quintiles by their risk index score calculated from the Framingham risk equation. The number of cases of CAD among the subjects in each of the quintiles was tabulated. The cases of CAD in these quintiles increased from the lowest to the highest quintiles and produced a significant correlation between the risk score and the percent of subjects in the quintiles having CAD, even when the data used for calculating the risk scores had been collected up to 26 years earlier. The numbers of CAD cases are small; they are only approximately 50% of the expected numbers computed for U.S. males of comparable ages, despite the increases in serum cholesterol and low density lipoprotein levels recorded during the first 6 years of the study. The authors speculate about possible explanations of these findings.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks Air Force Base, TX 78235-5301.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Tolan
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hickman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000097:blood; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL; D010743:Phospholipids; D002784:Cholesterol