title: The role of cigarette smoking in atherosclerotic disease: an epidemiologic analysis.
abstract: The Bowling Green Study of the Primary and Secondary Prevention of Atherosclerotic Disease has accumulated an age-sex register of 668 consecutive patients who developed some form of atherosclerotic disease between 4 November 1974 and 1 January 1997. Observational data relating to levels of lipids and glucose, blood pressure, body-mass index, and cigarette-smoking status are included in the age-sex register. Analysis of this database clearly shows that cigarette smoking is the main cause of atherosclerotic disease, including events in each of the vascular trees, as well as multiple-system disease and death, at ages much earlier than the ages at which similar atherosclerotic events occur in ex-smokers. Ex-smokers, in turn, suffer corresponding events at earlier ages than do never-smokers. Cigarette smoking produces atherosclerotic events at roughly the same age irrespective of status of other risk factors and is therefore the single most important risk factor for atherosclerosis.
authors.affiliation: The Bowling Green Study Center, Ohio 43402, USA.
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Feeman
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*