Epedemiological Studies on Cardio-Vascular Diseases

Abstract

Mass examination was carried out in a rural district (Hirai, Fujioka City) of Gunma Prefecture in order to compare manifestations of cardiovascular diseases between Japanese urban and rural adults. Examinees numbered 1, 285, aged above 40 (559 males and 726 females). In the report are given serum total cholesterol levels and fat deposits (skin-fold thickness) at 31 sites of the body, obtained from 472 subjects (185 males and 287 females) who were screened as having essential hypertension ; and these are compared with the results of similar survey performed by Dr. Suda with 398 essential hypertensive patients of similar ages (233 males and 165 females) in the 1st Tokyo National Hospital. Important findings are as follows : 1) Average serum total cholesterol level is higher in the urban (Tokyo) than in the rural (Hirai) regions without regard to age and sex. 2) Male fat deposits tend to be greater in Tokyo than in Hirai, whereas female ones (especially in abdominal region) can conversely be said greater in Hirai, despite lower serum total cholesterol level. 3) In both regions, serum total cholesterol level rises with age, or remains the same as in the previous decades, whereas fat deposits show marked fall from the respective preceding decades in the fifties in the male and in the seventies in the female. 4) In neither of the regions serum total cholesterol level and fat deposits can be said greater in those whose systolic blood pressure exceeds 200 mmHg.