Role of hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus in the development of coronary atherosclerosis in Japan

The present study evaluated the effect of hypertension (HT), dyslipidemia a nd diabetes mellitus (DM) on the development of coronary atherosclerosis in the Japanese population, using a cross-sectional study of 433 patients (25 4 men and 179 women) aged 30 years or older who underwent coronary angiogra phy for suspected or known coronary heart disease angina at 5 cardiology de partments in the Fukuoka area between September 1996 and August 1997. Patie nts with a disease duration of 6 months or more were excluded. The main out come measure was angiographic ally defined coronary artery stenosis and was found to a significant degree in 146 patients (33.7%). HT, DM, low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and hypertriglyceridemia re mained as significant coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors even after controlling for age, sex, hospital, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index and leisure time physical activity. However, hypercholesterolemia was not a significant risk factor after adjusting for these variables. After control ling for these variables, DM, low HDL-C and hyper-triglyceridemia were sign ificant CAD risk factors for men, but only DM was a significant CAD risk fa ctor in women. These results indicate that in Japan DM, low HDL-C and hyper triglyceridemia may be more important CAD risk factors than hypercholestero lemia.