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Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.K., but the incidence of myocardial infarction has fallen in recent years. British Regional Heart Study investigators have examined whether this decline reflects changes in cardiovascular risk factors.
Among 7735 men who were followed for 25 years, the age-adjusted hazard for MI decreased by 3.8% annually, which corresponded to a 62% decline during the 25-year period. Beneficial trends were decreases in cigarette smoking, systolic blood pressure, and non–HDL cholesterol levels, and increases in HDL cholesterol and physical activity levels. A potentially harmful trend was increased body-mass index. No significant changes in alcohol consumption were noted, and diabetes was not asses…