Coronary Heart Disease : Epidemiology in Korea

Suh, Il

Abstract

Korea is known as the country with the lowest coronary heart disease mortality in the world. The pattern of coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality in Korea has changed remarkably during the last two decades. The objective of this review is to address the recent epidemiologic study findings of CHD in Korea. The age-adjusted mortality from CHD increased significantly during the period 1984~2000. In 2000, the rates for Korean men and women were 15.0 and 10.7, respectively. These rates were 5 times higher than those in 1984 for both men and women. The event rates of CHD, which were estimated in a city in Korea and standardized to the world population for men and women, were 93 and 33 per 100,000, respectively. According to studies conducted in Korea, the major risk factors for CHD are smoking, hypertension and high serum total cholesterol level, similar in western populations. The population attributable risks of smoking, hypertension, and high serum cholesterol level were 41%, 21%, and 20%, respectively. Because Korean men show the highest prevalence rate of smoking in the world (65% in men aged 20 years and older) and the prevalence of hypertension is also high (30% in men aged 30 years and older), a high health priority should be granted to the prevention and control of smoking and hypertension in order to avert the epidemic of CHD.