On Monday August 30, 2004, the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star
newspapers had front page coverage of a "landmark Canadian-led study", the
Interheart Study,  which has concluded that "the causes of heart disease
are the same in all people, regardless of age, sex, colour, culture or
where they live" (Globe & Mail p A1).

The research leader Dr. Salim Yusuf, director of the Population Health
Research Institute at McMaster University indicated his surprise at the
findings of the research involving nearly 30,000 people in 52 countries,
indicating that he expected to find differences in risk factors based on
ethnicities. He commented that he "never expected that we'd be able to
explain 90% of the global risk of heart disease". (Globe & Mail)

Interestingly, in the middle of the extensive articles was a short
statement that researchers "have yet to take into account socioeconomic
risk factors". The results might be differently interpreted if income and
class were considered - but we will have to wait for those results.

The two newspapers devoted considerable space to the study results.
Carolyn Abraham of the Globe and Mail has an article on how the 9 risk
factors associated with heart attacks vary by region of the world.
see:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040830/HEARTETHNIC30//?query=Yusuf
or http://tinyurl.com/5kn2z
The main article: "Heart Attacks Ignore Sex, Age, Genetics and Culture"
can be found at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040830/HEARTMAIN30//?query=Yusuf
or http://tinyurl.com/4q3s7

The Toronto Star lead article "Risk of Heart Attacks The Same Worldwide"
can be read at: http://tinyurl.com/6wakx
or at http://tinyurl.com/6uge2

Discussion on these findings, and what might be found when/if there are
studies of the socio-economic risk factors, would be welcome on this list.

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