Smoking in Relation to Atherosclerosis of the Coronary Arteries

IN numerous studies of male populations it has been found that death rates and incidence rates of coronary heart disease (International List category 420) are higher among cigarette smokers than among nonsmokers and increase with amount of cigarette smoking.1 2 3 4 5 6 However, the epidemiologic evidence does not necessarily indicate an association between cigarette smoking and atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries.7 This paper is concerned with autopsy evidence on the subject.SubjectsBetween January 1, 1955, and December 31, 1960, 2761 men died in the Veterans Administration Hospital, East Orange, New Jersey, and post-mortem examinations were performed on 1972 of them. Several weeks . . .