title: The epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients admitted for coronary angiography to evaluate ischemic heart disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most of the known risk factors associated with ischemic heart disease are based on studies from Western countries; there is only limited information on Korean populations. This study was designed to analyze age related differences in epidemiologic and clinical characteristics in patients who were admitted for coronary angiography for the evaluation of ischemic heart disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of the multicenter KCAR (Korean Coronary Artery disease Registry) Study, the clinical data of 6,549 patients, who were evaluated at the cardiac catheterization laboratory by coronary angiography, at seven university hospitals in Korea from March 1999 to December 2005, were registered into the KCAR database and analyzed. All patients were divided into three groups according to age: age < or = 40, age 41-70 and age > or = 71. All demographic and coronary angiographic features were analyzed for the different groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The demographic data showed that compared to the older patients young patients < or = 40 had a higher prevalence of males and smokers, but a lower prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and prior history of stroke and myocardial infarction. For the lipid profiles, the younger patients had much higher levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol than the older groups; however, there was no difference in the HDL-cholesterol levels among the three age groups. The most common component of the metabolic syndrome was obesity (79%) in the younger patients and hypertension (92%) in the older patients. The most common reason for presentation was ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction in the younger patients and unstable angina in the older patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ischemic heart disease in younger adults < or = 40 had different demographic characteristics and clinical presentation than older patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Seon
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Hyun Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young Jo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: In Whan
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Seong
authors.forename: Jae Whan
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jong Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jin Man
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Myung Chan
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jang Whan
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Myung Ho
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Young Kun
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Kyu Rok
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Jun Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Mu Hyun
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking