Risk factors for the presence of coronary artery disease may differ from those influencing its angiographic extent and severity, as smoking history did not correlate with disease severity.
This study was designed to test the relationship between each of nine risk variables and the extent and severity of coronary artery disease in 15,298 patients with coronary artery disease proven by arteriography who were enrolled in the Coronary Artery Surgery Study. The extent and severity of the disease were highly significantly (p less than 0.001), but modestly, correlated with age, sex, cholesterol levels, history of diabetes, and history of hypertension. Interestingly, no positive correlation (indeed, in some subgroups, a negative correlation) occurred between the arteriographic measures of disease and the cigarette smoking history (ever or never, number of pack-years of smoking, duration of cigarette smoking, and peak daily cigarette consumption). These results suggest that the risk factors for presence of disease may differ from those influencing angiographic extent and severity.
Vlietstra et al. (1982) studied this question.