PREVALENCE OF MANIFEST ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN A WORKING POPULATION

Abstract

ACCURATE data on the prevalence of disease in the total population rarely obtainable. No previous attempt appears to have been made to determine the prevalence of atherosclerosis in an unbiased sample of a population.* An opportunity for such a study presented itself when a labor union, the New York Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, provided a grant for medical research at their outpatient clinic, the Sidney Hillman Health Center. The present report is concerned with the over-all prevalence of atherosclerosis among members of this union. It is the eventual purpose of the study to discover possible relationships between atherosclerosis and factors such as ethnic origin, familial predisposition, dietary habits, body build, and serum lipid patterns. The data collected are, as yet, insufficient to give definitive answers to all of these questions, which will be the subject of future reports. The union population is not, of course,