LONGITUDINAL EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF CORONARY HEART-DISEASE IN A RURAL-POPULATION OF KHEDA DISTRICT, GUJARAT, INDIA

The present study was undertaken to determine the incidence and relate d risk factors for coronary heart diseases and hypertension in the rur al population of Kheda district Gujarat (India). The observations from the first five years of this ongoing project (May 1987-May 1992) are described in this paper: Out of an initial sample of 750 individuals i n the age group 30-62 years, who were selected by stratified random sa mpling, 714 persons (males=429; females=285) were actually studied aft er excluding those suffering from coronary heart diseases (CHD). initi ally all the included subjects were examined clinically and appropriat e laboratory investigations were done. A detailed socioeconomic histor y was also obtained. Subsequently all of them were followed up and bia nnual clinical and laboratory investigations were performed. Cases of CHD were diagnosed according to the recommendations of the New York He art Association. The overall five-year incidence of CHD was 25.17 per thousand persons. The incidence in males was 3 times higher than in fe males. More males suffered from myocardial infarction (Mi), while in t he females the incidence of sudden death was higher (33.3 %). The aver age yearly mortality rate due to CHD was 2.46 per thousand persons. CH D was significantly associated with increased blood pressure (both dia stolic and systolic), smoking, and family history of heart disease, an d was weakly associated with bodyweight (p = 0.06).