Læknablaðið - 15.08.1996, Page 46

592
LÆKNABLAÐIÐ 1996; 82
Nýr doktor í læknisfræði
Pann 25. mars síðastliðinn varði Emil L. Sig-
urðsson heimilislæknir, doktorsritgerð við
Gautaborgarháskóla. Ritgerðin nefnist Coron-
ary Heart Disease among Iceiandic men. An
epidemiological cohort study. Aðalleiðbein-
andi Emils í doktorsnáminu var dr. Guðmund-
ur Porgeirsson, yfirlæknir á Landspítalanum,
en einnig naut Emil handleiðslu prófessors
Calle Bengtsson við heimilislæknadeild Gauta-
borgarháskóla. Fer ágrip doktorsritgerðarinn-
ar hér á eftir:
Coronary heart disease is the number one
cause of death in industrialised countries, and
in Iceland it accounts for about one-third of all
deaths. The purpose of this thesis is to describe
the epidemiological characteristics of various
manifestations of coronary heart disease am-
ong Icelandic men, with particular emphasis
on the prevalence, risk factor profile and
prognosis. The Reykjavik Study is a large
population based cohort study starting in 1967.
A total of 9139 men have participated at least
once in the study. On the first visit to the Heart
Preventive Clinic every participant was placed
in one of the following diagnostic categories:
1. Recognised myocardial infarction. 2. Un-
recognised myocardial infarction. 3. Angina
pectoris with electrocardiographic changes of
ischaemia. 4. Angina pectoris without el-
ectrocardiographic changes. 5. Angina pector-
is by Rose questionnaire only. 6. Participants
with silent ST-T changes on electrocardio-
gram. 7. Men with no manifestations of coron-
ary heart disease.
The prevalence of myocardial infarction
increased during the study period. However,
the prevalence of angina pectoris decreased,
and this was of sufficient magnitude to offset
the increase in the prevalence of myocardial
infarction, leading to a significant fall in the
Key words: Coronary heart disease, epidemiology, risk
factors, prognosis, ECG changes, cardiomegaiy.
prevalence of coronary heart disease (all forms
combined). The prevalence of coronary heart
disease was highly dependent on age. The risk
factor profile and the survival probability var-
ied considerably between the different cate-
gories. Cardiovascular risk factors maintained
their detrimental effects on prognosis in the
presence of coronary heart disease. Thus, age,
high serum cholesterol concentration, impair-
ed glucose tolerance and smoking were found
to be significant independent risk factors of
coronary heart disease mortality among men
with coronary heart disease. At least one-third
of all myocardial infarctions among Icelandic
men were unrecognised. The risk factor profile