Epidemiological and Clinical Studies of Abnormal Lipid Metabolism in Rural Areas / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Age-corrected mortality due to ischemic heart diseases was low in mountainous rural areas but high in rural areas near large cities in Japan. Total cholesterol levels, a risk factor of ischemic heart diseases, were high in rural areas near large cities but no clearly significant increases were seen in mountainous rural areas. HDL cholesterol levels showed negative correlation with prevalence of ischemic heart diseases and positive correlation with the atherogenic index in typical mountainous rural areas in Akita, Nagano and Shimane Prefectures. Nationwide data on the degree of lesions, determined by coronary angiography, when compared with that on serum lipid levels, showed positive correlation with total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, atherogenic index, Apo-A<SUB>1</SUB>, Apo-B, Apo-B/Apo-A<SUB>1</SUB> and negative correlation with HDL-cholesterol. TG showed positive correlation only in females. The lack of significant differences in TG in males is thought to be partly due to large variability in males due to their life-style, e. g. eating habits and alcohol consumption patterns. Eating habits change not only with time and geography but with age as well, and people show a tendency to like fish and shellfish as they get older, making it difficult to determine fatty acid-related risk factors of arteriosclerosis. In addition, fatty acid levels are likely to be affected by meals taken on the previous day. It will therefore be necessary to compare the date on fatty acid obtained with that on fatty acid composition in phospolipid fractions, which is less influenced by meals.<BR>The findings obtained in the present study suggest that low calorie and low serum albumin levels contribute to the progression of coronary arterial lesions.