Dietary and antismoking advice and ischemic heart disease mortality in men with normal or high fasting triacylglycerol concentrations: a 23-y follow-up study.
BACKGROUND
In the Oslo Diet and Antismoking Trial, 1232 high-risk men aged 40-49 y were randomly assigned to either a lifestyle intervention group or a control group for 5 y. The study showed a significant reduction in ischemic heart disease (IHD) events in the intervention group.


OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to examine this cohort 23 y after the start of the trial.


METHODS
We examined the effect of group assignment on IHD mortality in subjects with a normal (below the median; range: 0.69-2.00 mmol/L; n = 615) or a high (at or above the median; range: 2.01-13.80 mmol/L; n = 617) fasting triacylglycerol concentration in 1972-1973 (at inclusion into the study). We recorded vital status on 31 December 1996 and ascertained causes of death by linkage to Statistics Norway.


RESULTS
In the men with a high triacylglycerol concentration, IHD death occurred in 25 (8.13%) subjects in the intervention group and in 44 (14.2%) subjects in the control group (relative risk: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.36, 0.91; P = 0.02). An adjusted Cox proportional hazards model yielded a hazard ratio of 0.56 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.93; P = 0.027). In the men with a normal triacylglycerol concentration, the intervention had no detectable effect on IHD mortality (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.66, 1.83; P = 0.7).


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that advice to change diet and smoking habits reduced the relative risk of IHD mortality after 23 y in men with high triacylglycerol concentrations. Men with normal triacylglycerol concentrations did not appear to achieve this long-term benefit of lifestyle intervention.
Department of Preventive Cardiology, Ullev degrees al University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. ingrid.ellingsen@ulleval.no
Ingrid
I
Ellingsen
Ingvar
I
Hjermann
Michael
M
Abdelnoor
Elsa M
EM
Hjerkinn
Serena
S
Tonstad
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D004032:Diet; D005215:Fasting; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015228:Hypertriglyceridemia / Q000150:complications / Q000178:diet therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000401:mortality*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol