Coronary risk factors in a rural community which includes aborigines: Inverell Heart Disease Prevention Programme

A coronary risk factor screening and referral service was established in Inverell, New South Wales, in July 1978. In non-Aboriginal subjects, there was an increasing prevalence of coronary risk factors with age (hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and obesity), except for cigarette smoking which showed a reverse trend. Allowing for minor differences in sampling, the average level of plasma cholesterol, blood pressure and cigarette smoking in rural inverell closely resembled that in Sydney. However, Inverell subjects of both sexes were consistently more overweight at all ages. Aboriginal subjects of both sexes showed an increased prevalence of hypertriglyceridaemia and cigarette smoking compared with non-Aboriginal subjects, whilst hypertension and obesity were also more prevalent in the Aboriginal females. High Coronary risk Inverell subjects sustained significant improvements in serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking and body weight levels over one year of follow-up. Community-wide control of hypertension was initially unsatisfactory and this remained so.