Apollo, sudden death, and Homer's "Odyssey": a warning from the past that we may be unable to eradicate coronary artery disease.
Over recent years there has been a gratifying decrease in the incidence of recorded deaths from coronary artery disease in the Western world. The common view is that coronary artery disease is a recent phenomenon, that we have been subject to an epidemic in the mid-20th century that is now tailing off, and that with appropriate risk modification we may eradicate this disease or make it very rare. However, this article examines the cases of sudden, nontraumatic death described in Homer's Odyssey, which dates from c. 800 BCE. The results suggest that a high incidence of death from coronary artery disease may not be a recent phenomenon. Together with other described evidence, this study casts doubt on the view that coronary artery disease is a modern epidemic that can be eradicated.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 3RS, United Kingdom. lindsay.john@nhs.net
Lindsay C H
LC
John
D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D012307:Risk Factors