Cardiovascular risk factors among Japanese and American telephone executives.

Cardiovascular risk factors were determined among two similar groups of telephone executives in Tokyo, Japan and New York City, USA. Both historical and electrocardiographic evidence pointed to a marked excess of coronary heart disease among American executives compared with their Japanese counterparts. In keeping with this finding, the Americans ate diets higher in animal fat, were fatter, and had higher serum cholesterol values but lower triglyceride levels. Mean blood pressures were slightly higher among the Japanese, and showed a greater increase with age. Urinary sodium/creatinine ratios were much higher among the Japanese, suggesting a higher salt intake. Cigarette smoking was more common among the Japanese. A review of other comparative studies between Japanese and Americans indicated that the only risk factors uniformly consistent with the frequency of coronary heart disease in the two countries were dietary fat, obesity, and serum cholesterol.