Technical Report No. 15-87
A comparison of the 12-year mortality and predictive factors of coronary heart disease among Japanese men in Japan and Hawaii
Yano K, MacLean CJ, Reed DM, Shimizu Y, Sasaki H, Kodama K, Kato H, Kagan AEditor’s note: A publication based on this report was published in Am J Epidemiol 127:476-87, 1988.
Summary
The mortality and predictive factors of coronary heart disease (CHD) among men of Japanese ancestry in Japan and Hawaii were compared on the basis of 12-year follow-up data using comparable methods of case ascertainment and risk factor measurements. Among 1,687 men (Japan) and 7,536 men (Hawaii) who were free of CHD and aged 45-69 at baseline examination, 20 (Japan) and 123 (Hawaii) cases of fatal CHD were identified. The age-adjusted mortality rate was 40% higher in Hawaii than in Japan. The difference was not statistically significant, but consistent with earlier studies. More than half of this difference in mortality rate was attributed to different levels of known risk factors in the two cohorts. In multivariate analysis using the combined population, age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, serum glucose, cigarette smoking, and alcohol intake (inversely) remained as significant predictors of CHD mortality. Although the associations of risk factors with CHD tended to be stronger in Hawaii than in Japan, there was no statistically significant difference in regression coefficient for any of the risk factors studied. These findings cannot be claimed definitive because of the small number of cases, especially in Japan.
The mortality and predictive factors of coronary heart disease (CHD) among men of Japanese ancestry in Japan and Hawaii were compared on the basis of 12-year follow-up data using comparable methods of case ascertainment and risk factor measurements. Among 1,687 men (Japan) and 7,536 men (Hawaii) who were free of CHD and aged 45-69 at baseline examination, 20 (Japan) and 123 (Hawaii) cases of fatal CHD were identified. The age-adjusted mortality rate was 40% higher in Hawaii than in Japan. The difference was not statistically significant, but consistent with earlier studies. More than half of this difference in mortality rate was attributed to different levels of known risk factors in the two cohorts. In multivariate analysis using the combined population, age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, serum glucose, cigarette smoking, and alcohol intake (inversely) remained as significant predictors of CHD mortality. Although the associations of risk factors with CHD tended to be stronger in Hawaii than in Japan, there was no statistically significant difference in regression coefficient for any of the risk factors studied. These findings cannot be claimed definitive because of the small number of cases, especially in Japan.