Abstract
A study was carried out in which mortality from coronary heart disease during 1973-7 in men aged under 55 years in the British army was compared with that in men in the civilian population. An inverse relation was found between mortality from coronary heart disease and rank in the army similar to that seen among the civilian social classes, but soldiers aged under 40 years had a significantly higher mortality than their civilian counterparts irrespective of the civilians' social class. Correspondingly, officers had a significantly lower mortality, which suggests that strenuous exercise and other exigencies of military life per se, with the possible exception of cigarette consumption, are not to blame. Possibly the extremes of risk in the army are due mainly to factors associated with the identification of subgroups of high and low risk within the social classes and to the higher prevalence of cigarette smoking among soldiers.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Crowdy J. P., Sowden R. R. Cigarette smoking and respiratory ill-health in the British army. Lancet. 1975 May 31;1(7918):1232–1234. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)92210-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Crowdy J. P. The soldier's food. Practitioner. 1974 Apr;212(1270 Spec No):560–569. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lynch P. Soldiers, sport, and sudden death. Lancet. 1980 Jun 7;1(8180):1235–1237. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)91691-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Miller N. E., Rao S., Lewis B., Bjłrsvik G., Myhre K., Mjłs O. D. High-density lipoprotein and physical activity. Lancet. 1979 Jan;1(8107):111–111. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(79)90107-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morris J. N., Everitt M. G., Pollard R., Chave S. P., Semmence A. M. Vigorous exercise in leisure-time: protection against coronary heart disease. Lancet. 1980 Dec 6;2(8206):1207–1210. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)92476-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Opie L. H. Sudden death and sport. Lancet. 1975 Feb 1;1(7901):263–266. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)91155-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]