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Biomedical subjects

J Stamler

Publications and source records attributed to J Stamler.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

Is relationship between serum cholesterol and risk of premature death from coronary heart disease continuous and graded? Findings in 356,222 primary screenees of the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT).

The 356,222 men aged 35 to 57 years, who were free of a history of hospitalization for myocardial infarction, screened by the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) in its recruitment effort, constitute the largest cohort with standardized serum cholesterol measurements and long-term mortality follow-up. For each five-year age group, the relationship between serum cholesterol and coronary heart disease (CHD) death rate was continuous, graded, and strong. For the entire group aged 35 to 57 years at entry, the age-adjusted risks of CHD death in cholesterol quintiles 2 through 5 (182 to 202, 203 to 220, 221 to 244, and greater than or equal to 245 mg/dL [4.71 to 5.22, 5.25 to 5.69, 5.72 to 6.31, and greater than or equal to 6.34 mmol/L]) relative to the lowest quintile were 1.29, 1.73, 2.21, and 3.42. Of all CHD deaths, 46% were estimated to be excess deaths attributable to serum cholesterol levels 180 mg/dL or greater (greater than or equal to 4.65 mmol/L), with almost half the excess deaths in serum cholesterol quintiles 2 through 4. The pattern of a continuous, graded, strong relationship between serum cholesterol and six-year age-adjusted CHD death rate prevailed for nonhypertensive nonsmokers, nonhypertensive smokers, hypertensive nonsmokers, and hypertensive smokers. These data of high precision show that the relationship between serum cholesterol and CHD is not a threshold one, with increased risk confined to the two highest quintiles, but rather is a continuously graded one that powerfully affects risk for the great majority of middle-aged American men.

Adult↗

Risk factors, exercise fitness and electrocardiographic response to exercise in 12,866 men at high risk of symptomatic coronary heart disease.

The association between coronary heart disease (CAD) risk factors with submaximal exercise performance was examined among 12,866 men at high risk in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT). Men were selected from a risk score based on serum cholesterol level, diastolic blood pressure and number of cigarettes smoked per day. Multivariate analysis using exercise ST depression as the dependent variable showed age, diastolic blood pressure and serum cholesterol level were significant positive predictors of ST depression and cigarettes per day, body mass index and heart rate at rest were significant negative predictors of ST depression. Similarly, multivariate analysis, using exercise duration as the dependent variable, revealed that age, cholesterol level, body mass index and heart rate at rest were significant negative predictors of exercise duration, whereas cigarettes per day and leisure-time physical activity were significant positive predictors. Some of these relationships with exercise performance are consistent with established epidemiologic CAD risk factor associations and others are not. The MRFIT selection process, which resulted in smokers who were significantly younger and who had significantly lower levels of other CAD risk factors than nonsmokers, was partially responsible.

Adult↗

Prevalence and prognostic significance of hypercholesterolemia in men with hypertension. Prospective data on the primary screenees of the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial.

To assess the impact of serum cholesterol level on the risk of fatal coronary heart disease for men with high blood pressure, the six-year follow-up data from 361,662 men (aged 35 to 57 years) screened in 18 cities in the recruitment effort for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial were evaluated. Of these men, 356,222 reported no history of hospitalization for myocardial infarction; 100,032 of these 356,222 had a baseline mean diastolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 90 mm Hg. For those men with high blood pressure, the overall age-adjusted six-year rate of coronary heart disease death was 79 percent higher than for those with diastolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg. Compared with men with diastolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg and serum cholesterol below 182 mg/dl, men with diastolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 90 mm Hg had the following relative risks, based on the serum cholesterol level: for those with a serum cholesterol level less than 182 mg/dl, risk was 1.64; for those with a level of 182 to 202 mg/dl, risk was 2.14; for those with a level of 203 to 220 mg/dl, risk was 3.14; for those with a level of 221 to 244 mg/dl, risk was 3.29; and for those with a level equal to or greater than 245 mg/dl, risk was 5.14. Thus, for men with high blood pressure, serum cholesterol related to coronary heart disease risk in a strong, graded way, over the entire distribution of serum cholesterol, from levels of 182 mg/dl and higher. This was the case for hypertensive male smokers and nonsmokers, with cigarette use associated with a further marked increase in risk--at least a doubling of the mortality rate--at any level of serum cholesterol. These data underscore the necessity for a strategy of comprehensive care for persons with high blood pressure, including approaches to both nutritional and hygienic counseling and drug treatment, aimed at controlling all of the established major risk factors influencing prognosis.

Adult↗

Initial antihypertensive drug therapy: alpha blocker or diuretic. Interim report of a randomized, controlled trial.

A two-center, randomized, controlled trial designed to evaluate and compare an alpha blocker and a diuretic as initial antihypertensive drug treatment is currently in progress. Approximately 100 men and women, aged 30 to 69 years, are being randomly assigned to treatment with either of these two agents. If diastolic blood pressure is not reduced to its target level and is 85 mm Hg or higher, the alternate agent is added. The alternate agent is substituted if a patient does not tolerate the assigned agent. This preliminary report presents data concerning 62 patients who completed at least three of the planned 12 months of drug treatment. At that point, the alpha blocker prazosin and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide were similar in their ability to lower the average diastolic blood pressure to normal levels. Serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels declined in prazosin-treated patients but increased in hydrochlorothiazide-treated patients, a difference that was statistically significant. No significant weight change, a possible confounding variable, occurred in either group. More patients were unable to tolerate prazosin than were unable to tolerate hydrochlorothiazide (10 of 30 receiving prazosin, compared with three of 32 receiving hydrochlorothiazide). For those able to continue with prazosin, the favorable lipid response appears to be an asset in regard to reducing possible atherogenic effects of treatment.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists↗

Overall and coronary heart disease mortality rates in relation to major risk factors in 325,348 men screened for the MRFIT. Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial.

The influence of risk factors on CHD and all-cause mortality rates in 35- to 57-year-old men is examined by means of data on 325,348 white men who were screened for the MRFIT. This large data set permits an unusually detailed analysis of factors associated with the 6968 deaths, including 2426 ascribed to CHD, that were detected in the Social Security Administration data set during 6 years of follow-up. Simple cross classification of the data confirms the independent effect of serum cholesterol concentration, diastolic blood pressure, and cigarette smoking as risk factors for CHD and all-cause mortality rates. A distinct escalation of risk is noted for combinations of these risk factors. The strength of the association of each of the risk factors with CHD and all-cause mortality rates diminished with increasing age, although the number of excess deaths attributable to the risk factors increased because of the higher death rates in older men. Comparison of these findings with those observed in the five populations studied in the Pooling Project revealed an overall similarity in the risk relationships. It is estimated that elimination of these risk factors has the potential for reducing the CHD mortality rate by two thirds in 35- to 45-year old men, and by one half in 46- to 57-year-old men.

Adult↗

Prognostic value of exercise electrocardiogram in men at high risk of future coronary heart disease: Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial experience.

The prognostic value of the exercise electrocardiogram was examined in the 6,438 usual care men of the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial in relation to fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease events, rest electrocardiographic abnormalities and coronary heart disease risk factors. An abnormal response to exercise, defined as an ST depression integral of 16 microV-s or more, was observed in 12.2% of the men. There was a nearly fourfold increase in 7 year coronary mortality among men with an abnormal response to exercise compared with men with a normal ST segment in exercise (risk ratio 3.8, 95% confidence limits 2.5 to 5.5). The risk ratio for coronary death, adjusted for age, diastolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol and smoking status at baseline was 3.5, and the corresponding adjusted risk ratio for death from all causes was 1.6. A similar trend toward excess coronary events was seen for angina pectoris (risk ratio of 1.6). The trend was not significant for nonfatal myocardial infarction. Multivariate analyses indicated that the ST depression integral was a strong independent predictor of future coronary death (p less than 0.001). Men with an abnormal electrocardiogram at rest (mainly high amplitude R waves) and with an abnormal ST response to exercise had an over sixfold relative risk for coronary death compared with men with an abnormal electrocardiogram at rest and a normal ST response to exercise. These results suggest that exercise testing may be indicated for improved risk assessment and the assessment of the significance of minor rest electrocardiographic abnormalities in middle-aged men with elevated levels of coronary heart disease risk factors.

Adult↗

Fifteen year mortality in Coronary Drug Project patients: long-term benefit with niacin.

The Coronary Drug Project was conducted between 1966 and 1975 to assess the long-term efficacy and safety of five lipid-influencing drugs in 8,341 men aged 30 to 64 years with electrocardiogram-documented previous myocardial infarction. The two estrogen regimens and dextrothyroxine were discontinued early because of adverse effects. No evidence of efficacy was found for the clofibrate treatment. Niacin treatment showed modest benefit in decreasing definite nonfatal recurrent myocardial infarction but did not decrease total mortality. With a mean follow-up of 15 years, nearly 9 years after termination of the trial, mortality from all causes in each of the drug groups, except for niacin, was similar to that in the placebo group. Mortality in the niacin group was 11% lower than in the placebo group (52.0 versus 58.2%; p = 0.0004). This late benefit of niacin, occurring after discontinuation of the drug, may be a result of a translation into a mortality benefit over subsequent years of the early favorable effect of niacin in decreasing nonfatal reinfarction or a result of the cholesterol-lowering effect of niacin, or both.

Adult↗

Characteristics and prognosis of incomplete right bundle branch block: an epidemiologic study.

A cohort of 1,960 white men aged 40 to 56 years without initial apparent heart disease and with 11 years of annual rest electrocardiograms and 20 year mortality data was followed in the Chicago Western Electric Company Study. Incomplete right bundle branch block was found in 134 men (6.8%) at entry. During follow-up, 222 men developed such block, an incidence rate of 13.6%. Left axis deviation of -30 degrees or less was more frequent in men with than in those without incomplete block at entry (8.2 versus 2.4%). Men with left axis deviation also had a higher incidence of incomplete right bundle branch block. Similarly, men developing incomplete block had a significantly greater risk of developing left axis deviation. The associations between incomplete block and left axis deviation were unrelated to age and body weight. Men with incomplete block had a significantly greater likelihood of developing complete right bundle branch block. The 11 year incidence rate of complete block was 5.1% for men with baseline incomplete block and 0.7% for those without. Complete block developed in 2 of 220 incident cases of incomplete block but in none of the 440 control men matched by age and duration of follow-up. Although incomplete right bundle branch block was not related to an increased risk of death in 20 years from coronary heart disease and cardiovascular diseases, the study data suggest that such block is frequently a manifestation of primary abnormality of the cardiac conduction system in middle-aged men.

Actuarial Analysis↗

Persantine-Aspirin Reinfarction Study. Part II. Secondary coronary prevention with persantine and aspirin.

In the Persantine-Aspirin Reinfarction Study, Part II (PARIS II), 3,128 persons who had recovered from myocardial infarction, suffered from 4 weeks to 4 months previously, were randomized into two groups: dipyridamole (Persantine) plus aspirin (n = 1,563) and placebo (n = 1,565). The average length of follow-up was 23.4 months. Prespecified primary end points were coronary incidence (definite nonfatal myocardial infarction plus death due to recent or acute cardiac event), coronary mortality (death due to recent or acute cardiac event) and total mortality, each at 1 year of patient follow-up and at the end of the study. Coronary incidence in the Persantine plus aspirin group was significantly lower than in the placebo group, both at 1 year (30% reduction) and at the end of the study (24% reduction). The statistically significant differences in coronary incidence, at 1 year and at the end of the study, in favor of the combination treatment remained after adjustment for multiple baseline variables and adjustment for multiple testing (three end points for two time periods). Although there were reductions for other end points, these differences were not statistically significant. Coronary mortality was 20% lower in the Persantine plus aspirin group compared with the placebo group at 1 year, and 6% lower overall. Total mortality in the treated group compared with the placebo group was 11% lower at 1 year and 3% lower overall. The reduced rates of coronary incidence largely reflected lower rates of definite nonfatal myocardial infarction in the Persantine plus aspirin group. Several subgroups were defined a priori and at the end of the study. The beneficial effect of Persantine plus aspirin compared with placebo for coronary incidence tended to be greater for the following groups of patients: those who had a non-Q wave infarct; those who were not taking digitalis; those who were receiving beta-receptor blocking drugs at baseline; those who were in New York Heart Association functional class I; those who had had only one myocardial infarction; or those who were enrolled in the study early, that is within 85 days of the qualifying myocardial infarction.

Actuarial Analysis↗

Relationship of clinical diabetes and asymptomatic hyperglycemia to risk of coronary heart disease mortality in men and women.

This epidemiologic study explored the sex differential in risk of death from coronary heart disease in persons with or without clinically diagnosed diabetes or asymptomatic hyperglycemia. Use was made of 9-year follow-up data from the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry for 11,220 white men and 8,030 white women aged 35-64 years at entry to the Project (November 1967-January 1973). Both clinically diagnosed diabetes and asymptomatic hyperglycemia were associated with an increased risk of death from coronary heart disease. The extent of this association was greater in women than in men in regard to relative risk. However, absolute excess risk for both diabetics and those with asymptomatic hyperglycemia was larger for men than for women. Clinical diabetes appeared to be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease in both men and women based on multivariate Cox regression analyses. On the other hand, for men, no significant independent effect of asymptomatic hyperglycemia was apparent. Women with asymptomatic hyperglycemia had significantly higher coronary heart disease death rates than normoglycemic women, with adjustment for major coronary heart disease risk factors; in multivariate analyses, the relationship of asymptomatic hyperglycemia to risk of coronary heart disease was of borderline significance (p = 0.054). This study indicates the independent associations of diabetes and possibly asymptomatic hyperglycemia with coronary heart disease mortality, with greater relative significance in women than in men.

Adult↗

The role of weight in the positive association between age and blood pressure.

This study used cross-sectional data for 19,704 white men and 13,895 white women from the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry (November 1967 to January 1973) to investigate whether weight explains the association between age and blood pressure, and in particular, whether age is associated with blood pressure and hypertension in the absence of overweight. The relations among age, relative weight, and blood pressure were examined through assessment of mean blood pressure levels and prevalence of hypertension in 25 subgroups stratified by age (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 years) and by relative weight (less than 100%, 100-109%, 110-119%, 120-134%, and greater than or equal to 135%). For all five relative weight groups, for both men and women, mean diastolic blood pressure was higher at successive ages. This phenomenon was also seen for systolic blood pressure after ages 35-44 years for men, and after ages 25-34 years for women. On the other hand, the higher the relative weight was, the higher the blood pressure was. Regression analysis demonstrated that the observed relation between age and blood pressure was consistent for all five relative weight groups, including those at desirable weight. These data indicate that for US subjects, age and blood pressure are generally associated in the absence of overweight.

Adolescent↗

Time trends in the US racial difference in hypertension.

This paper explores time trends in racial differences in hypertension and in mortality from complications from hypertension in the United States. Mortality data were derived from death certificate data compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics and presented in the 1981 Report of the Working Group on Arteriosclerosis. Prevalence data were obtained from five populations--6,672 people screened in 1960-1962 by the National Health Examination Survey (NHES); 20,749 screened in 1971-1975 by the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES I); 158,539 screened in 1973-1974 by the Hypertension Detection and Followup Program (HDFP); 1 million persons screened in 1973-1975 by the Community Hypertension Evaluation Clinics (CHEC); and 20,325 screened in 1976-1980 by the second Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES II). Mortality data indicate that the nonwhite/white ratios for mortality from complications of hypertension increased between 1940 and 1967 and decreased between 1968 and 1978. Prevalence data show a corresponding recent decrease in black minus white mean blood pressure. Some of the decrease appears to be due to a greater improvement in hypertension control for blacks than for whites. Time trends in the black/white ratio in prevalence of hypertension were examined with differential treatment effects controlled by inclusion as hypertensive those on drug therapy. The results indicate that in addition to differential changes in therapy, the ratio of black/white prevalence of hypertension may also be decreasing. Additional studies are needed to confirm this finding and to explore time changes in racial patterns of risk factors for hypertension.

Black People↗

Timed overnight sodium and potassium excretion and blood pressure in steel workers in North China.

Three timed overnight urinary sodium (Na), potassium (K) and creatinine measurements, standardized to 8 h, as well as three blood pressures on corresponding consecutive days were obtained on a sample of 90 steel workers (40 men, 50 women) aged 34-56 years in Beijing, North China. For three indices of electrolyte excretion - absolute Na and K output/8 h, Na:K ratio and 8 h creatinine output - the ratios of intra- to inter-individual variations were less than 1.0 for men, but higher for women in contrast to findings for U.S. population groups of similar age. This fact, probably reflecting greater stability of day to day electrolyte intake by Chinese than Americans, enables reasonably precise characterization of dietary electrolyte intakes of individual Chinese, particularly men, with only a few timed overnight urine specimens. With 3-day mean values for each person, nominally significant (i.e. not adjusted for multiple testing) positive simple correlations were found for urinary Na, Na:K and Na:creatinine with blood pressure [both systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP)] for men; and women for Na:K with SBP and DBP, but Na:creatinine with SBP only. With control for age, body mass index and pulse in multivariate analyses, only the relationship of Na:K and Na:creatinine to SBP and DBP remained significant for men; a similar, though less strong and consistent, trend was found for women, and K was inversely related to SBP for women. These data are consistent with an association between habitual intake of sodium and risk of hypertension, and also suggest that habitual potassium intake may have a countervailing influence in this regard.

Adult↗

Serum lipid response to oat product intake with a fat-modified diet.

Healthy adult volunteers (no. = 208), men and women aged 30 to 65 years, participated in a 12-week study on dietary fat modification plus oat product ingestion (60 gm/day) to test whether moderate daily intake of oat bran and oatmeal enhanced serum lipid response. During weeks 0 to 6, all participants followed the American Heart Association fat-modified eating style. At 6 weeks, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. All participants continued to follow the fat-modified eating pattern; groups 1 and 2 were asked during weeks 7 to 12 to consume two servings of either oat bran or oatmeal per day, for a total of 60 gm/day isocalorically substituted for other carbohydrates. Group 3 ingested no oat products. At baseline, the group mean cholesterol level was 208.4 mg/dl. After 6 weeks of dietary fat intervention, the level was 197.6--a fall of 10.8 mg/dl (5.2%). At 12 weeks, the mean serum cholesterol level fell further, by 5.6, 6.5, and 1.2 mg/dl for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Group mean weight loss was small--1.9 lb during the first 6 weeks and 0.6 to 0.8 for the three groups during weeks 7 to 12. Reported oat product ingestion was 39 and 35 gm per person per day, respectively, for groups 1 and 2 (2.2 and 1.4 servings per person per day, respectively). Dietary fat composition remained similar among the three groups during weeks 7 to 12. Pooled results indicated that the addition of oat products at a moderate and practical level enhanced serum lipid response (p less than .05) to a fat-modified eating pattern among free-living adults.

Adult↗

Relationship of blood pressure to coronary and stroke morbidity and mortality in clinical trials and epidemiological studies.

We compared pooled mortality and morbidity results from nine randomized trials of antihypertensive drug treatment (total n = 43,139), in which diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was reduced by a mean of 5.8 mmHg, with mortality and morbidity differences associated with the same DBP difference in two large prospective, observational studies [the follow-up study of the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) screenees and the Framingham Study]. These results indicate that the effect on stroke of BP reduction in the trials (-36%, 95% confidence interval +/- 10%) was about 80% of that estimated from the epidemiological studies, suggesting that the effects of long-term BP elevation on the cerebral vasculature are mostly reversible over 5-6 years of BP reduction. For coronary heart disease (CHD), the effect of BP reduction in the trials (-9 +/- 10%) was about 36% of that estimated from the epidemiological studies. This difference may reflect chronic processes involved in the pathophysiological association of BP with CHD; however, selective treatment of control patients at high risk of CHD and an adverse effect of diuretics on serum cholesterol may have influenced the effect of treatment in the trials.

Blood Pressure↗

Need to prevent and control high-normal and high blood pressure, particularly so-called "mild" hypertension: epidemiological and clinical data.

The need to prevent and control high blood pressure (HBP), including so-called "mild" hypertension [diastolic blood pressure (DBP) 90-104 mm Hg in adults age 30+] stems from the extensive data on the increased risks due to these common blood pressure (BP) levels, including risk of catastrophic cardiovascular events (coronary, cerebrovascular, etc.), both nonfatal and fatal. Prospective population data from the national cooperative Pooling Project and the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry illustrate the extensively documented facts. They also show that only a small minority of middle-aged and older Americans have optimal low-normal BP levels, i.e., DBP less than 80 mm Hg (SBP less than 120). Thus, the problem of BP above optimal level for health over a long life span is a population-wide problem. The data also show that the great majority of excess catastrophic events attributable to elevated BP occur among people with DBP 90-104 and 80-89 mm Hg, levels very common in the population. Most people with such BP levels also have one or more other major risk factors (e.g., hypercholesterolemia, cigarette use, ECG abnormalities) and thus are at markedly increased risk, both relative and absolute. In addition to these excess risks for major illness, disability, and death, people with BP above optimal levels are more highly prone to other events, clinical and subclinical, that have adverse effects on long-term prognosis, including development of target organ damage and severe hypertension. These data lead to the following inferences about medical care and public health strategy: (a) A key task is, by safe nutritional-hygienic means, to shift the entire population distribution of BP downward, for both primary and secondary prevention of HBP. Such means include prevention and control of obesity, high sodium and alcohol intake, and sedentary habit, from early childhood on. (b) People with DBP 80-89 mm Hg need to be identified promptly, with institution of nutritional-hygienic measures to prevent development of frank hypertension and to correct other risk factors. (c) People with DBP 90-104 and higher need to be identified promptly, with institution of measures to normalize BP and control other major risk factors, by nutritional-hygienic means alone whenever possible or in combination with drug treatment for HBP when necessary to prevent organ system damage, serious illness, disability, and premature death.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗

Coronary heart disease and all-causes mortality in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial: subgroup findings and comparisons with other trials.

The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) was a randomized primary prevention trial to test whether a special intervention (SI) program to reduce high blood pressure, elevated blood cholesterol, and/or cigarette smoking could lower coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality in middle-aged men at above average risk. After an average follow-up period of 7 years, risk factor levels were reduced substantially more in SI than in usual-care (UC) men; however, SI-UC differences in CHD mortality (7.1%) and total mortality (-2.1%) were not statistically significant. Subgroup analysis showed 35% fewer SI than UC CHD deaths (P = 0.14) but no all-causes mortality difference in men comparable to the cohort having dietary and smoking intervention in Oslo (the "Oslo-like" cohort). Among the subgroup hypertensive at entry, SI-UC differences in CHD and total mortality appeared to be heterogeneous: CHD mortality was 24% lower in SI than UC men with a normal resting ECG at baseline, but 67% higher if baseline ECG abnormalities were present (nominal P = 0.02, for difference in relative risk estimates). These findings were supported by within-group analyses and are generally consistent with results of other CHD/cardiovascular disease prevention trials. They pose a new hypothesis about possible adverse effects of diuretic therapy in a minority of the hypertensive population.

Adult↗