Coronary artery disease and its risk factors in families of young men with angina pectoris and in controls

Abstract

The occurrence of coronary artery disease and its risk factors were assessed in 560 relatives of 104 men who developed angina pectoris before the age of 56 and in 498 relatives of 94 controls in two geographical areas, one with a moderate (South Finland) and another with a high (East Finland) incidence of coronary artery disease. The risk of dying from coronary artery disease before the age of 65 was 5 times greater for fathers of patients (25%) than for fathers of controls. For brothers of patients, the risk of developing fatal or nonfatal coronary artery disease was about 60 per cent which is 5.5 times greater than thatfor brothers of controls. The corresponding risk for sisters of patients was 30 per cent, which is 2.5 times greater than that for sisters of controls. The risk was not increasedfor mothers of patients. One quarter of families of patients showed distinct clustering of coronary artery disease (3 or more cases of coronary artery disease before the age of 65). Hyperlipidaemla, hypertension, and diabetes were 2 to 6 times more common among sibs free of clinical coronary artery disease in the families of patients compared with sibs in the families of controls. Coronary artery disease, hyperlipidaemia, and hypertension were significantly more common in control families in the East than in the South; the difference between families of patients in the two areas was less pronounced. Increased rate of coronary artery disease is closely associated with the increased prevalence of hyperlipidaemia and hypertension in families of patients in both areas and in control families in the East.