CORONARY HEART DISEASE IN HIROSHIMA, JAPAN: ANALYSIS OF THE DATA AT THE INITIAL EXAMINATION, 1958-1960.

A long-term epidemiological study of cardiovascular disease in Hiroshima, Japan, was conducted in order to: present data on the prevalence of CHD in a large sample of a Japanese urban population; demonstrate the association of certain physiological and clinical factors with the disease; and to compare the results with those obtained in a similar study on an American population. The original sample included 11000 men and women, aged 30 and over, with varying histories of exposure to ionizing radiation at the time of the 1945 atomic detonation. A total of 96 cases (48 men and 48 women) were diagnosed as having CHD at the initial examination. The prevalence rates were 1.4% for men and 0.8% for women. The prevalence of CHD using the same classification (definite infarction, angina pectoris, and possible infarction) was compared between the Hiroshima and Framingham, Mass., populutions within the same age range. It was about 4 times as high in Framingham. The difference was particularly prominent in the younger age group. (P.C.H.)