The Oslo study: CHD risk factors, socioeconomic influences, and intervention

This article reviews the methods and results of the large-scale, 10-year Oslo study. Two controlled intervention trials are described, one in healthy, normotensive men at high risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), the other in healthy men with mild hypertension. Cause-specific mortality is related to the major CHD risk parameters of serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking, and blood pressure and was found to be highest among the lowest socioeconomic class. Morbidity from myocardial infarction and total cardiovascular incidence decreased with lowered blood lipid levels and cessation of cigarette smoking in one trial. There was no difference, however, in total cardiovascular incidence as a result of antihypertensive therapy in the other trial. The effects on blood lipids of six commonly used single antihypertensive drug preparations and five combination preparations were examined. The study concluded that the beneficial lipid-lowering effect of the alpha-adrenergic blocker prazosin made it the antihypertensive drug of choice.