Risk factors for ischaemic heart disease in a Cretan rural population: a twelve year follow-up study.
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.


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) > or = 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).


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Karalis
Ioannis K
IK
Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece. ioannis.karalis@gmail.com
Alegakis
Athanasios K
AK
Kafatos
Antonios G
AG
Koutis
Antonios D
AD
Vardas
Panos E
PE
Lionis
Christos D
CD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012423:Rural Health; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology