Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) represents a leading cause of death and disability for the elderly. Although increased age is associated with increased CAD risk, the aging process is associated with deleterious changes in other CAD risk factors. One hundred thirty-eight healthy non-smoking men, mean age of 42.5 +/- 9.9 years, with no family history of CAD showed a significant positive correlation =/< 0.05) between age and percent body fat, total plasma cholesterol, plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, plasma triglycerides, and blood glucose. Analysis also showed an inverse correlation between age and plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and VO2max. A trend toward decreasing leisure-time physical activity with increasing age suggests that changes in CAD risk factors attributed to increasing age may be behaviorally related. This emphasizes that preventive cardiology in the elderly should target the modification of CAD risk factors associated with aging-related behaviors such as decreased physical activity and attributes such as increased body weight. Verf.-Referat