The Cornell Medical Index as a predictor of health in a prospective cardiovascular study in Taiwan.

As part of a prospective study of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in middle-aged Chinese men in Taiwan, 1820 Chinese males, aged 40--59 years, from the middle and upper socioeconomic classes, were characterized at study entry by a history and physical examination with particular reference to cardiovascular status and by the Cornell Medical Index (CMI). Disease occurrence in the 1820 participants was observed over a seven-year period. Comparison of CMI test performance by specific disease incidence categories showed no group mean differences. In examining total disease occurrence in the form of prevalence, incidence of major morbidity and mortality and no illness occurrence, however, the authors found significant differences using the CMI. The highest scoring group on the CMI was non-survivors who had chronic illness at study entry, followed closely by those subjects who also had a chronic illness at study entry but who survived. Scoring lower than those with chronic illness at study entry, but significantly higher than the group remaining disease-free, were the subjects who incurred a major illness event and/or developed a chronic disease. The authors conclude that the CMI diffentiated between those who stayed healthy and those who died or incurred a major illness in this study population. Therefore, this study supports the use of the CMI as a measurement of general health, as well as a predictor of future health status, and suggests that it may be used in other cultures than the one in which it was developed.