Life-style factors and risk for abdominal aortic aneurysm in a cohort, of Finnish male smokers

Prospective studies evaluating risk factors for abdominal aortic aneurysm a re few. We studied the association of life-style factors with risk for abdo minal aortic aneurysm among 29,133 male smokers 50-69 years of age, partici pants in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study. Durin g a mean follow-up of 5.8 years, 181 were diagnosed with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm or nonruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm plus aneurysmecto my. Risk for abdominal aortic aneurysm was positively associated with age [ relative risk (RR) = 4.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.42-8.61 for >65 vs less than or equal to 55 years], smoking years (RR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.3 3-3.81 for >40 vs less than or equal to 32 years), systolic blood pressure (RR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.13-3.25 for >160 vs less than or equal to 130 mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (RR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.05-3.08 for >100 vs less t han or equal to 85 mmHg), and serum total cholesterol (RR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.09-3.12 for >6.5 vs less than or equal to5.0 mmol/liter). High-density li poprotein cholesterol showed a strong inverse association with risk for aor tic aneurysm (RR = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.08-0.32 for >1.5 vs less than or equal to0.9 mmol/liter). High energy intake was associated with lower risk for ao rtic aneurysm (RR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.38-0.94 for the highest quartile vs th e lowest), whereas no associations with nutrients were evident. We conclude that classical risk factors fur atherosclerotic diseases seem to be import ant in pathogenesis of large abdominal aortic aneurysms.