COMPARISON OF CARDIOVASCULAR RISK PROFILE BETWEEN MALE EMPLOYEES OF 2AUTOMOTIVE COMPANIES IN FRANCE AND SWEDEN

To determine whether or not the lower rate of coronary disease in Fran ce, in comparison with Sweden, might be explained by different cardiov ascular risk profiles, a cross-sectional analysis (first step of a lon gitudinal study) of comparable samples of automotive workers was carri ed out in corporate occupational health clinics of Renault and Volvo. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were evaluated and the Framing ham coronary risk was estimated for 1000 randomly selected 45-50 years old Caucasian males from each company, Compared with the Frenchmen, t he Swedish men consisted of more white collar workers and were slightl y older. After adjustment for age and blue/white collar status, the Sw edish men showed lower body mass indexes, waist to hip rations and hea rt rates, lower frequency of treatment of hypercholesterolemia and dia betes than the Frenchmen, The Swedish males also exhibited higher aver ages of blood cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol a nd glucose, but lower frequencies of hypercholestrolemia and diabetes, and a higher frequency of family histories of cardiovascular disease, Blood pressure, hypertension prevalence, triglycerides level, and hig h density lipoprotein (HDL) did not differ between the groups. The ave rage number of traditional risk factors was 1.1/person for the Frenchm en and 0.8/person for the Swedes. However, the coronary risk as estima ted using the Framingham index was not different between the groups. T his, together with the more frequent family history of cardiovascular disease in Swedish men, suggests a lower susceptibility to risk factor s as a possible explanation for the lower cardiovascular disease preva lence reported in France, and/or the possibility that factors not meas ured were involved.