Influence of coronary heart disease risk factors (CHDRFs) on the natural history of coronary atherosclerosis as revealed by a post-mortem study.

A postmortem study was carried out on the whole coronary arterial bed of 430 selected apparently healthy subjects, aged 38 to 65 years, in an effort to reveal the influence exerted by coronary heart disease risk factors (CHDRFs) on the development of coronary obstructive plaques. A clear positive correlation was found in 31% of cases and in more than 50% of 28 selected topographic sites of the coronary arterial bed. On the other hand, the subgroup without CHDRFs also exhibited severe coronary narrowings. Each major CHDRF seems to exert its particular action on selected regions of the coronary arterial bed: proximal or intermediate segments of the major coronary arteries; branching points; nonbranched areas; vessels supplying the conduction system, etc.