Young Candidates for Coronary Heart Disease

Gender differences in artery wall biomechanical properties throughout life

“…Body size A number of studies have emphasized the relationship of short stature and risk of coronary artery disease [21,22]. At every age, most women are of shorter stature and smaller size than most men.…”

Somatotype and indicators of metabolic fitness in youth

“…There is a relationship between physique and coronary heart disease in adults (Gertler et al, 1951;Spain et al, 1953Spain et al, , 1955Spain et al, , 1963Gertler and White, 1954;Damon, 1965;Damon et al, 1969;Smit et al, 1979). Several studies have also examined associations between somatotype and indicators of metabolic fitness in adults, specifically risk factors for coronary heart disease.…”

A Comparative Study of Myocardial Infarction in the White and Negro Races

“…The rarity of myocardial infarction in females, and especially in those of the younger age groups has been regarded to be quite valuable in the differential diagnosis of chest pain.23 In a recent review of the literature, Thomas and Cohen24 found it generally accepted that myocardial infarction may occur in a few young men under the age of 40 but is extremely rare among young women of this age. They cited current reports confirming the following widely held views: (1) that there is a sharp increase in the incidence of coronary atherosclerosis between the ages of 30 and 49 in men and between the ages of 50 and 69 in women and (2), that the incidence of marked coronary atherosclerosis in necropsy studies reaches a maximum between 50 and 59 years of age in men, whereas in women, a plateau is reached after the seventh decade.25 26 Clinically, the initial appearance of myocardial infarction is said to occur most often between the ages of 56 and 60; in a recent study, however, 39 per cent of cases sustained the initial attack after the sixtieth year.27 28 In the present study, only four white females (6.6 per cent) suffered an infarction prior to the fiftieth year of life, yet this occurred in 43 (33.6 per cent) of the Negro women. Before the age of 60, 81 Negro females (63 per cent) had suffered a myocardial infarction as contrasted to only 13 (22 per cent) of white females.…”