Lifetime risk of coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, yet there were no estimates of the lifetime risk of coronary heart disease until this paper was published.

Participants were almost exclusively white. Between 1% and 10% of participants suffered from diabetes, between 19% and 49% were current smokers, between 15% and 69% suffered from hypertension and cholesterol levels ranged from 5.0 to 6.3 mmol/L. (The higher incidence of hypertension and higher cholesterol levels were among the older adults.)

The risk of developing coronary heart disease before 40 years old was low, 1.2% in men and 0.2% in women.

At 40 years old, the lifetime risk of coronary heart disease was 48.6% for men and 31.7% for women. Table 1 shows the risks for men and women at the next three decades