Mortality from coronary heart disease in the British army compared with the civil population
Lynch, P.; Oelman, B.J.
British Medical Journal 283(6288): 405-407
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0267-0623 PMID: 6789985 Document Number: 393666
Mortality from coronary heart disease during 1973-1977 in men aged under 55 yr in the British army was compared with that in men in the civilian population. An inverse relation was found between mortality from coronary heart disease and rank in the army similar to that seen among the civilian social classes, but soldiers aged under 40 yr had a significantly higher mortality than their civilian counterparts irrespective of the civilians' social class. Correspondingly, officers had a significantly lower mortality, which suggests that strenuous exercise and other exigencies of military life per se, with the possible exception of cigarette consumption, are not to blame. Possibly the extremes of risk in the army are due mainly to factors associated with the identification of subgroups of high and low risk within the social classes and to the higher prevalence of cigarette smoking among soldiers.