Background– Coronary calcium has recently emerged as a marker of subclinical coronary heart disease. Although there has been much interest in race differences in calcification, heterogeneity within race or ethnic groups has not been investigated. Methods and Results– Data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a population-based study of coronary calcification, were used to… Continue reading Acculturation and Socioeconomic Position as Predictors of Coronary Calcification in a Multiethnic Sample

The 10-year follow-up examination in 1995-1996 to the population-based Coronary Artery Disease Risk Development in Young Adults Study was used to compare the strength with which socioeconomic indicators at the individual and area levels are related to smoking prevalence and to investigate contextual effects of area characteristics. When categories based on similar percentile cutoffs were… Continue reading Area Characteristics, Individual-Level Socioeconomic Indicators, and Smoking in Young Adults: The Coronary Artery Disease Risk Development in Young Adults Study

The authors investigated whether neighborhood socioeconomic charactenstics are associated with coronary heart disease prevalence and risk factors, whether these associations persist after adjustment for individual-level social class indicators, and whether the effects of individual-level indicators vary across neighborhoods. The study sample consisted of 12,601 persons in four US communities (Washington County, Maryland; Forsyth County, North… Continue reading Neighborhood Environments and Coronary Heart Disease: A Multilevel Analysis

The cross-sectional associations of social class indicators with coronary heart disease prevalence and subclinical atherosclerosis were investigated among 15,800 persons from four US communities between 1987 and 1989. Among persons without clinical atherosclerotic disease, ultrasound-determined intimal-medial wall thickening of the carotid arteries was used as an indicator of subclinical atherosclerosis. Odds ratios for coronary heart… Continue reading Social Inequalities and Atherosclerosis The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Mechanical stress to alveolar walls may cause progressive damage after an early-life insult such as exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). This hypothesis was examined by using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a population-based cohort aged 45-84 years, free of clinical cardiovascular disease, recruited from 6 US sites in 2000-2002. The MESA-Lung… Continue reading Association of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Childhood With Early Emphysema in Adulthood Among Nonsmokers: The MESA-Lung Study