( ic Status (LCSES) study is investigatin...)Male Combat Veterans Rank High In Heart Disease Risk

Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the LCSES study examined 5,368 black and white men who participated in the larger Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. White males represented 80 percent of this study population and black males, 20 percent. The men were 44 to 66 years old during the initial interviews from 1987-89.

Combat veterans represented 22 percent of the study population (1,183); non-combat veterans represented 40 percent (2,131); and non-veterans represented 38 percent (2,054). Of the combat veterans, 13.5 percent were black. About 22 percent of the men served in the World War II era, 31 percent during the Korean War era and 21 percent in the Vietnam era, with 4 percent serving in multiple eras and 22 percent between wars.

The LCSES study also is examining the association between socio-economic status and cardiovascular disease. More non-veterans tended to have higher incomes post-war compared to combat veterans and non-combat veterans. Non-combat veterans tended to enter professional or managerial occupations more often than combat veterans or non-veterans.

Women were not included in this analysis because so few women veterans were in the study population, Johnson said.

In the future, the ongoing LCSES study will investigate the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and morbidity and mortality.