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Corneal arcus and coronary heart disease mortality.

1984; BMJ; Volume: 68; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/bjo.68.8.603

1468-2079

S T Halfon, Curtis G. Hames, Siegfried Heyden,

Corneal surgery and disorders

Corneal arcus and coronary heart disease mortality SIR, Previous studies in western countries reported an association between corneal arcus and coronary heart disease (CHD).'2 In-hospital studies have shown that corneal arcus is a useful discriminator between CHD patients and controls.'The mechanism of the statistical association between arcus and CHD is unclear, and several studies suggest that the two are not directly related but rather that both are associated (independently) with elevated chol- esterol levels.24"Evans County, Georgia, a biracial, rural community located in the high stroke region7 of the south-eastern United States, has been the subject of a longitudinal study of car- diovascular disease since its inception in 1960.All county residents aged 40 and older and 50% of those less than age 40 were invited to participate in the study. 3102(92%) agreed and were examined during 1960-2.The race and sex composition of the cohort is as follows: 947 white males, 972 white females, 537 black males, and 646 black females.Visual inspection of corneal arcus was included in the base- line physical examination and was diagnosed in 625 persons.Mortality surveillance for this cohort has been maintained.Causes of death extracted from death certificates were classified according to the eighth revised edition of the International Classification of Disease (ICD).As of mid 1980 64% of the original cohort were known to be alive, 34% deceased, and 2% were lost to follow-up.The present data included examinees aged 40 and older at baseline.Of these 2216 subjects 60 have been excluded because their arcus status was unknown, and an additional 90 are excluded because of prevalent heart disease at baseline examination.An additional 35 people are excluded because, although deceased, their death certificates were not available, and exact date of death is unknown.The age, sex, and race specific means of serum cholesterol, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and weight/height2x 10(X) (Quetelet index)