Influence of nutritional status and tobacco smoking on the development of atherosclerosis in male manual and brain workers.

Atherosclerotic changes in the aorta and coronary arteries (stained with Sudan IV) were appraised by a visual planimetric method. The material had been obtained in a WHO-sponsored epidemiological study of atherosclerosis, carried out in Tallin, Riga, Kharkov, Ryazan, and Yalta. The authors examined vessels obtained from 430 practically healthy men of various nutritional status, deceased when aged 40-69 years. The influence of tobacco smoking was investigated by analyses of vessels obtained from 313 men -- heavy smokers, and 82 non-smokers, deceased when aged 30--69 years. The results obtained justify the conclusion that the accelerating effects of over-nourishment and tobacco smoking on the development of coronary vascular atherosclerosis were much more pronounced in male brain-workers than in male manual workers.