Population dietary-metabolic characteristics and mortality from major cardiovascular disease subtypes: the Seven Contries Study 60-year follow-up.

Background And Aim: During the last few years, the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases (SCS) produced some new analyses dealing with the relationships of a dietary score, the pool of dietary fatty acids and serum cholesterol with major types of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in 10 cohorts of 6 countries made of middle-aged men followed-up for 60 years until extinction. This sparse evidence is condensed here to provide a coherent view.

Methods And Results: The Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI, a dietary score whose high levels depict the characteristics of the Mediterranean Diet), was highly and significantly associated in an inverse way, at country levels, with the Atherogenicity (ATI) and the Thrombogenicity (THI) indexes that included a series of dietary fatty acids.

Time Changes of Survival and Cardiovascular Determinants in a Cohort of Middle-Aged Men Followed Up for 61 Years until Extinction.

Objective: To study possible determinants of longevity in a cohort of middle-aged men followed for 61 years until extinction using measurements taken at baseline and at years 31 or 61 of follow-up.

Material And Methods: In 1960, two rural cohorts including a total of 1712 men aged 40-59 years were enrolled within the Italian section of the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases, and measurements related to mainly cardiovascular risk factors, lifestyle behaviors, and chronic diseases were taken at year 0 and year 31 of follow-up (when only 390 could be examined). Multiple linear regression models were computed to relate personal characteristics with the length of survival in both dead men and survivors.

Marital status and long-term cardiovascular risk in general population-RIFLE project (Italy).

Background: The impact of marital status on cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains controversial in the general population.

Aim: The present investigation sought to delineate the association between marital status and long-term major non-fatal and fatal CVD, along with all-cause mortality within the scope of the RIFLE project (Risk Factors and Life Expectancy).

Methods: We examined the incidences of CVD, including cerebrovascular accidents and coronary heart disease (CHD), as well as all-cause mortality.

Dietary atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indexes predicting cardiovascular mortality: 50-year follow-up of the Seven Countries Study.

Background And Aim: To study the relationships of an Atherogenicity Index (ATI) and a Thrombogenicity Index (THI), with 50-year mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD), other heart diseases of uncertain etiology (HDUE) and cerebrovascular disease or stroke (STR), in 16 international cohorts of middle-aged men.

Methods And Results: Foods from a dietary survey in subsamples of men in each cohort of the Seven Countries Study (SCS) were chemically analyzed for several types of fatty acids that were converted into ATI and THI identifying each of 16 cohorts. Ecological correlations of the ATI and THI were calculated with the three fatal CVD conditions and with all-cause mortality at 25 and 50 years.

Mortality Time-Trends of Different Cardiovascular Diseases in a Practically Extinct Cohort of Italian Middle-Aged Men Followed-Up for 61 Years: A Possible Etiological Explanation?

Purpose: To study a male Italian cohort (initially aged 40-59, n = 1712) during 61 years and the natural history of major CVD mortality categories including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and other heart diseases of uncertain etiology (HDUE), including congestive heart failure) along with their risk factor relationships.

Methods And Results: Cox models were run with 12 covariates as possible predictors measured at entry to the study. About 93% of all CVD deaths were covered by the three major groups selected here (N = 751): 37.

Physical activity and physical fitness in prediction of all-cause mortality and age at death in European extinct cohorts of middle-aged men followed for 60 years.

Aims: A study of the power of physical activity (Phyac) and physical fitness (Fitscore) in predicting very long-term all-cause mortality and age at death (AD) is missing.

Methods And Results: A total of 5482 middle-aged men were examined with measurement of several risk factors and followed for 60 years until the virtual extinction of cohorts. Phyac in three classes was estimated from their type of work while Fitscore was derived from the linear combinations of levels of arm circumference, heart rate, and vital capacity computed as a factor score by principal components analysis.

In Search of Risk Factors: The Origin and Early Stages of Cardiovascular Epidemiology.

Based mainly on their personal experience, the authors try to describe the origin of cardiovascular disease (CVD) epidemiology and the problems and difficulties practitioners attempted to tackle and solve during the first few decades of this discipline, which started around the middle of the last century. Beyond identifying the characteristics of those who became CVD epidemiologists, a description is given of the initial structures of the involved studies, participation rates, risk factors measurements and standardization, clinical measurements and diagnostic criteria, mortality data collection and coding, data loading and analysis, plus a number of problems still unsolved at the beginning of the 2000s. Despite many obstacles, and the initial hostility of the medical-scientific establishment, CVD epidemiology represented a revolution in researching in the bio-medical field.

Competing Risks of Coronary Heart Disease Mortality versus Other Causes of Death in 10 Cohorts of Middle-Aged Men of the Seven Countries Study Followed for 60 Years to Extinction.

Objectives: To assess whether competing risks help explain why regions with initially high serum cholesterol have higher mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) and lower mortality from stroke and other major heart diseases, while the reverse is found for those with initially lower serum cholesterol.

Material And Methods: Ten cohorts of men (N = 9063) initially aged 40-59 in six countries were examined and followed for fatal outcomes for 60 years. Major cardiovascular disease (CVD) groups were CHD, stroke, and other Heart Diseases of Uncertain Etiology (HDUE), or the combination of stroke and HDUE (STHD), along with all other causes of death.

Cardiovascular Mortality in 10 Cohorts of Middle-Aged Men Followed-Up 60 Years until Extinction: The Seven Countries Study.

Objectives: To investigate mortalities from three major groups of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in a pooled cohort and followed up until extinction.

Materials And Methods: Ten cohorts of men ( = 9063) initially aged 40-59, in six countries, were examined and followed-up for 60 years. The major CVD groups were coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular diseases (STROKE) and other heart diseases of uncertain etiology (HDUE).

Marital status and long-term cardiovascular risk in general population (Gubbio, Italy).

To investigate whether marital status is associated to long-term major fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events in men and women from the Gubbio Population Study. The incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD) and CVD death together with all-cause mortality were analyzed. The analysis included 2832 persons (44% men, 54 ± 11 years old).

Focus on age at death in field epidemiology.

Age at death (AD) is an old metric recently re-evaluated for the study of longevity and mainly used in demography. Developed experience using AD in field epidemiology is summarized with cohorts followed-up for variable periods of time, frequently until extinction or close to extinction, a must to correctly adopt this metric. For practical purposes, a small number of examples is reported condensing previously published results to highlight various aspects of the problem.

Heart Diseases of Uncertain Etiology: A New Definition of Heart Failure for Epidemiological Studies.

It has been a long time since, in the spectrum of ischemic (IHD) or coronary (CHD) heart diseases, a differentiation was performed between the forms presenting with and those without pain [...

Cardiovascular mortality in Northern and Southern European cohorts of the Seven Countries Study at 60-year follow-up.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe and interpret differences in major cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality during 60 years between Northern European and Southern European cohorts of the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Material And Methods: Northern Europe included two cohorts from Finland and one from the Netherlands, and Southern Europe included two cohorts from Italy and two from Greece, for a total of 2360 and 2792 CVD-free men, respectively, at entry examination. Coronary heart disease (CHD), STROKE and other Heart Diseases of Uncertain Etiology (HDUE) deaths were the outcomes and Cox models were solved separately based on 12 risk factors.

Cardiovascular risk factors predict age at death in 60-year follow-up of the Seven Countries Study.

Objectives: To study age at death (AD) and its determinants in cohorts of middle-aged men followed-up until extinction.

Material And Methods: A total of 9063 middle-aged men enrolled in 10 cohorts of 6 countries (USA, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Japan) within the Seven Countries Study were examined and then followed up for 60 years until extinction. AD was computed and a small number of risk factors were tested through multiple linear regression as possibly related to attained AD.

Lifestyle behaviours predicting major cardiovascular diseases mortality in a practically extinct cohort of middle-aged men followed-up for 61 years.

To study lifetime relationships of three major lifestyle behaviours with cardiovascular mortality in a cohort of middle-aged men that reached practical extinction. In the Italian Areas of the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases (SCS), 1712 men were enrolled and examined in 1960, and behavioural habits were measured: smoking habits, physical activity and diet each divided into three classes. Follow-up for mortality was extended for 61 years.

High R wave as a risk factor for cardivoascular and all-cause mortality. A 45-year follow-up of 13 cohorts of the Seven Countries Study.

Objectives: To study the role of high R waves predicting cardiovascular (CVD) and all-cause mortality in a male middle-aged population followed-up 45 years.

Material And Methods: A total of 7985 CVD-free men aged 40-59 years were enrolled in 13 cohorts in seven countries (USA, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Serbia, Greece, Japan) and high R waves were classified by Minnesota Code 3.1 (as a dichotomous variable) from baseline resting otherwise normal ECG at entry examination together with other personal characteristics.

Relationship between lifestyle factors and hypertension: a cross-sectional analysis from the Gubbio study.

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a well-established and a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle behaviours for its prevention and control are recommended within worldwide guidelines. Their relationship with HTN need more investigations.

Dietary habits, cardiovascular and other causes of death in a practically extinct cohort of middle-aged men followed-up for 61 years.

Background And Aim: To test a dietary score produced from individual data of middle-aged-men enrolled in 1960 based on an a-posteriori approach and to study its association with some specific causes of death during 61 years until their practical extinction.

Methods And Results: In 1960 the Italian Rural Areas of the Seven Countries of Cardiovascular Diseases were enrolled and 1712 men aged 40-59 were examined with measurement of several risk factors and the collection of dietary history. Using 18 food groups a factor score was obtained from a Principal Component Analysis, that was divided into three classes, arbitrarily called non-Mediterranean, Intermediate and Mediterranean diets.

Determinants of longevity and age at death in a practically extinct cohort of middle-aged men followed-up for 61 years.

Objectives: To explore possible determinants of longevity as a function of many personal characteristics in a cohort of middle-aged men followed-up until practical extinction.

Materials And Methods: In the Italian Rural Area of the Seven Countries Study, 1712 men aged 40-59 were examined in 1960 and 35 personal characteristics were measured. The subsequent follow-up for life status was of 61 years when only 3 men survived.

Simple versus complex carbohydrates and health: A frequently neglected problem.

Aims: For several decades, there has been a notion that dietary fat is made of different components (at least SAFA, MUFA, and PUFA) that exhibit different and sometimes contrasting effects when associated with health and diseases: coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in general. A similar fact is not noticed in carbohydrates and their components considering that even some major recent studies on the issue did not segregate simple carbohydrates from complex carbohydrates. In this study, we aimed to stress this need.

Chronic bronchitis in the 50-year follow-up of the European cohorts of the Seven Countries Study: prevalence, mortality and association with cardiovascular diseases.

Objectives: To study prevalence of chronic bronchitis (CB) in residential populations and its relationship with mortality in a 50-year follow-up.

Material And Methods: In the late 1950's-early 1960's, 7047 men aged 40-59 years were enrolled in 10 European cohorts of the Seven Countries Study (in Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Serbia and Greece). After baseline examination, follow-up for mortality was extended during 50 years (45 year in the Serbian cohorts).

Lifestyle as determinant of all-cause mortality and age at death. A middle-aged male population followed-up 60 years until the survivors were aged 100 years.

Objectives: To relate major lifestyle habits with all-cause mortality in an almost extinct male middle-aged population.

Material And Methods: A 40-59 aged male population of 1712 subjects was enrolled and examined in 1960 and then followed-up for 60 years. Baseline smoking habits, working physical activity and dietary habits, each subdivided into 3 classes, were related to 60-year mortality, by Kaplan-Meier survival curves, Cox proportional hazards model and to age at death during 60 years by multiple linear regression.