Pesonen E, Norio R, Sarna S
Circulation. 1975 Feb;51(2):218-25. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.51.2.218.
In Finland, mortality from coronary heart disease is high, and much higher in the eastern than in the western countries. Both left and right coronary arteries of 141 children who died under one year of age at the Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki, were investigated. Thirty-two of these children formed a western and 41 an eastern group according to the birthplaces of their grandparents in Finland. Correlations were tested between this geographical distribution and some dimensions of the coronary arteries, as well as other clinical variables. The inner vascular layers of the left coronary arteries were found to be thicker in the eastern group (P less than 0.05 in analysis of variance and P less than 0.01 in regression analysis). No other significant correlations were observed. This association of infants having thick inner vascular layers in the coronary artery with a population group where mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) is very high supports the hypothesis that the thickenings are prearteriosclerotic. The difference found between the arteries of the western and eastern groups might be due to a difference in the vulnerability of the inner vascular wall to extrinsic deleterious factors. The association substantiates the existence of a genetic component in the etiology of CHD and supports the theory that two separate groups of settlers originally colonized Finland.
在芬兰，冠心病死亡率很高，且东部地区比西部地区高得多。对赫尔辛基大学儿童医院141名一岁以下死亡儿童的左右冠状动脉进行了调查。根据其祖父母在芬兰的出生地，其中32名儿童组成了西部组，41名儿童组成了东部组。对这种地理分布与冠状动脉的一些维度以及其他临床变量之间的相关性进行了测试。发现东部组左冠状动脉的内血管层更厚（方差分析中P<0.05，回归分析中P<0.01）。未观察到其他显著相关性。冠状动脉内血管层增厚的婴儿与冠心病死亡率非常高的人群组之间的这种关联支持了增厚是动脉粥样硬化前期的假设。在西部组和东部组动脉之间发现的差异可能是由于内血管壁对外源性有害因素的易感性不同。这种关联证实了冠心病病因中存在遗传成分，并支持了最初有两组不同的定居者在芬兰殖民的理论。
