Referring to the results from various epidemiological studies in the world which have been conducted in the laterhalf of the 20th century, I have tried to review current status of the preventive cardiology, and consider prospects of the strategy for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the coming new century.
Although mortality from cerebrovascular disease (CVD) has been constantly reduced in Japan, CVD has still a higher incidence than coronary heart disease (CHD) for the current Japanese based on the data from cohort or registration studies in Japan. The long-term prospective study in Japan revealed that reduction-rates of CVD incidence get a slow-down since the middle of 1980s. This could be due to prevailing management of hypertension and increasing proportion of elderly population. Risk factors for CVD would be roughly divided into those related to hypertension and those associated with atherosclerosis. The former mainly affects the occurrence of intracerebral hemorrhage and lacunar stroke, and the latter has an effect on the incidence of cerebral embolism and the development of carotid atherosclerosis.
Risk factors for CHD are not so much different between Japanese and Caucasian. A difference in the prevalence of risk factors could contribute to the great difference in the incidence of CHD between the two. Diabetes mellitus, however, is recently emerging as an important risk factor of CHD for Japanese, which could accelerate atherosclerosis together with obesity, hyperlipidemia and hypertension through hyperinsulinemia.
Estrogen, inflammation and homocysteine were taken and reviewed in association with the advancement ofatherosclerosis. Lipid metabolism, coagulation and fibrinolysis, cytokine-network and nutrition were basically related in each other and the sum of all etiologies advances atherosclerosis.
The Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) on the treatment of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus has been seemingly to be successful in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, but there have been, unfortunately, no data specialized to the Japanese.
A search to find the associated gene with cardiovascular disease (single nucleotide polymorphism, SNP) is going to be widely favoured. This will be one of important tools for prevention of cardiovascular disease in the 21st century, because of the connection with order made medicine if utilizing thrifty gene. But gathering individual basic information and establishing standardized guideline of bioethics are essential to lead studies to the success.
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