Prevalence and change of cardiovascular risk factors among men born 1900-19: the Finnish cohorts of the Seven Countries Study.

In a 30-year follow-up survey of the Finnish cohorts of the Seven Countries Study in 1989, 470 men aged 70-89 years were examined in two rural areas of Finland, in the East and in the West. Life-style-related coronary heart disease risk factors were at high levels in both groups, but the difference between areas found in the same cohort in middle age had mostly disappeared or partially reversed. Mean levels of systolic/diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, fasting blood glucose, blood glucose after 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test, and plasma fibrinogen were higher in the West than in the East (p < or = 0.05), but serum thiocyanate which reflects smoking habits was higher in the East (p < 0.001). No significant differences between areas were found in mean levels of serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein A-I, apolipoprotein B, lipoprotein (a), plasma coagulation factor VIIc, and prevalence of current smoking.