[Prevalence of microscopic coronary atheroma in young adults from Mexico City]

The prevalence of microscopic atheroma in the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery was studied in thirty young males aged 20 to 29 years, living in Mexico City, who died in urban accidents. All of them were either unemployed or labor workers with a socioeconomical status considered to be representative of the majority of young males living in Mexico City. It was found that coronary atheroma was present in 11 of them (33%) with variable degrees of luminal obstruction. In two of them the luminal obstruction was greater than 75%. The prevalence found in this group was significantly different to that found in younger and older males who also died in accidents. Since the prevalence of coronary atheroma was not related to ventricular hypertrophy, valvular or congenital heart disease our findings indicate that in Mexico City as in other geographical regions, coronary atherosclerosis is not an unusual finding in males in the third decade of life, with a low socioeconomical status.