Predisposition to Atherosclerosis in the Head, Heart, and Legs

Findings from a 16-year follow-up study of 5,209 Framingham adults indicate that blood pressure, serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking, electrocardiographic evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy, and glucose intolerance are precursors common to all three major atherosclerotic events—atherosclerotic brain infarction (ABI), coronary heart disease (CHD), and intermittent claudication (IC). The dominant factor predisposing to ABI is high blood pressure. None is clearly dominant for CHD. Glucose intolerance is only weakly related to this disease while cigarette smoking is related weakly (if at all) to angina pectoris. All five factors play an important role in IC. In general, relationships appear to be as strong for women as men. When all five variables are considered jointly, they have a closer relationship with ABI and IC than with CHD, and equally strong relationships in every age group between 45 and 74 years of age.