Coronary artery stenosis in an Australian population

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent and severity of coronary stenosis in an Australian population. The subjects were autopsy cases among people aged 20-69 yrs dying in and out of hospital in the Newcastle area of New South Wales in 1985-86. Three groups were compared: coronary deaths, deaths from other natural causes and deaths due to external causes. Cross-sectional luminal narrowing in each major subepicardial artery was measured by stereological point counting. Stenosis was found, as expected, to be more severe in males than in females, increased with age and was greatest in those who died from coronary disease. Even in non-coronary deaths mean percentage luminal narrowing in the narrowest segments ranged from about 40% in people aged 20-29 yrs to over 60% in those aged 60-69 yrs. Narrowing was more pronounced in the left anterior descending artery and least in the left circumflex artery. To the extent that results from this autopsy study can be generalized to the whole population, these findings illustrate that, despite declining mortality from ischemic heart disease in Australia, coronary atherosclerosis remains a widespread problem.