Low-risk profile for cardiovascular disease and mortality in Japanese

Background: Some studies focusing on low-risk profiles for cardiovascular disease have been reported in Western countries. Yet, few reports have examined, with substantial longevity, the low-risk profile for cardiovascular disease in the Japanese population. This study examines whether having a favorable risk factor profile yields lower all-cause mortality and whether the proportion of those with a low-risk profile is larger in the Japanese population. Methods and Results: A total of 8,339 men and women aged 30-69 years without a history of cardiovascular diseases for 19 years, who had participated in the 1980 National Survey on Circulatory Disorders after being randomly selected from throughout Japan, were followed. Low risk was defined as having all of the following baseline characteristics: blood pressure (BP) <120/80 mmHg; no antihypertensive medication; serum cholesterol 160-240 mg/dl (4.14-6.22 mmol/L); no history of diabetes; and non-smoker. The long-term mortality of the low-risk group was compared with that of others using the Cox proportional hazard model. The prevalence of low risk was 9.4% of all participants. The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios for low-risk individuals compared with others were as follows: 0.33 (95% confidence intervals (CI), 0.15-0.74) for cardiovascular disease and 0.63 (95% CI, 0.46-0.88) for all-cause mortality. The most attributable risk factor for all-cause mortality was high BP (≥120/80 mmHg). Conclusion Japanese individuals with favorable cardiovascular disease risk profiles had lower mortality from cardiovascular disease and all-causes than those without.