FAMILY HISTORY AS A RISK FACTOR OF CORONARY HEART-DISEASE IN PATIENTSUNDER 60 YEARS OF AGE

The role of family history as a risk factor of coronary heart disease was explored in the first-degree relatives of 121 female and 586 male survivors of a recent acute myocardial infarction and in those of 130 control women. It was significantly more common for female patients th an male patients to have first-degree relatives with coronary artery d isease before the age of 65 (76% vs 62%, P=0.0026). For the sisters of the female patients the cumulative risk of coronary heart disease by the age of 65 years was almost twice that of the sisters of the male p atients (25.9% vs 15.8%, P=0.0123). The risk for the brothers of the f emales did not significantly differ from that of the brothers of the m ale patients, but it was 3.5 times that of the brothers of the control s. Thus, while a history of coronary heart disease in first-degree rel atives is a risk factor for the disease, the risk is greater in women than in men.