Atherosclerosis and biochemical composition of coronary arteries in Finnish men. Comparison of two populations with different incidences of coronary heart disease.

Men in Eastern Finland show a substantially higher rate of coronary heart disease (CHD) than men in the Western part of the country. To study possible differences in the biochemical composition and atherosclerotic involvement of coronary arteries between these two populations, we analyzed major lipid and non-lipid components of coronary arteries from 15- to 60-year-old Finnish men after accidental death. The material consisted of 59 age-matched pairs from East and West Finland, respectively, collected at successive autopsies during 1979-1983. The coronary arteries from East Finland contained significantly more esterified cholesterol and a higher percentage of oleate in cholesteryl esters. The findings were most conspicuous under the age of 40 years, and imply a higher degree of atherosclerosis together with an increased rate of intracellular cholesterol esterification in coronary arteries in Eastern as compared with Western Finland. The vessels from East Finland also tended to contain more free cholesterol and raised lesions, but the differences were not statistically significant. No major regional differences were seen in total phospholipids, phospholipid subfractions, DNA, calcium, collagen, total protein, or glycosaminoglycans.