Effects of traditional coronary risk factors on rates of incident coronary events in a low-risk population. The Adventist Health Study.

BACKGROUND: California Seventh-Day Adventists have lower mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) than other Californians. Associations between traditional risk factor and CHD events have not been reported previously for Adventists. METHODS AND RESULTS: A cohort study allowed 6 years of follow-up of 27,658 male and female California Seventh-Day Adventists. Data collected included age, sex, physician-diagnosed hypertension and diabetes mellitus, body height, weight, previous and current cigarette smoking habits, and current exercise habits. Incident cases of definite myocardial infarction (MI) and definite fatal CHD were diagnosed according to recognized criteria. Both stratified and proportional hazards analyses demonstrated that in this low-risk population, the above traditional coronary risk factors exhibit their usual associations with risk of CHD events. It was noted that exercise had a strong negative association with fatal CHD events (relative risks [RR], 1.0, 0.66, and 0.50 with increasing exercise) but no association with risk of MI (either nonfatal or all cases). Conversely, obesity was much more clearly associated with MI (RR, 1.0, 1.18, and 1.83 with increasing tertiles of obesity) than with fatal events. The importance of the risk factors was similar in both sexes, except that the effect of cigarette smoking seemed more pronounced in women. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiology of coronary heart disease in this low-risk California population appears to be at least qualitatively similar to that seen in other groups. There was evidence that the effects of exercise and obesity may differ depending on whether fatal CHD and MI (either all MI or nonfatal alone) is the end point.

A possible protective effect of nut consumption on risk of coronary heart disease. The Adventist Health Study.

BACKGROUND: Although dietary factors are suspected to be important determinants of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, the direct evidence is relatively sparse. METHODS: The Adventist Health Study is a prospective cohort investigation of 31,208 non-Hispanic white California Seventh-Day Adventists. Extensive dietary information was obtained at baseline, along with the values of traditional coronary risk factors. These were related to risk of definite fatal CHD or definite nonfatal myocardial infarction. RESULTS: Subjects who consumed nuts frequently (more than four times per week) experienced substantially fewer definite fatal CHD events (relative risk, 0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.36 to 0.76) and definite nonfatal myocardial infarctions (relative risk, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.85), when compared with those who consumed nuts less than once per week. These findings persisted on covariate adjustment and were seen in almost all of 16 different subgroups of the population. Subjects who usually consumed whole wheat bread also experienced lower rates of definite nonfatal myocardial infarction (relative risk, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.89) and definite fatal CHD (relative risk, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.33) when compared with those who usually ate white bread. Men who ate beef at least three times each week had a higher risk of definite fatal CHD (relative risk, 2.31; 95% CI, 1.11 to 4.78), but this effect was not seen in women or for the nonfatal myocardial infarction end point. CONCLUSION: Our data strongly suggest that the frequent consumption of nuts may protect against risk of CHD events. The favorable fatty acid profile of many nuts is one possible explanation for such an effect.