The objectives of this study are to examine the role of isolated systolic hypertension and other predictors of all cause and coronary heart disease (CHD) survival in blacks and whites of the Charleston Heart Study Cohort of 1960 to compare and pool our findings with those of the Evans County Georgia Heart Study in order to develop a logistic risk function for blacks; to identify predictors of physical functioning in older blacks; and whites; and to prepare rosters of the off-springs of the Charleston Cohort for future studies investigating genetic/familial influences on cardiovascular disease. The Charleston Heart Study, and epidemiological investigation of prospective cohort design, began in 1960 with the extensive physical examination of 2,184 randomly selected residents of Charleston County who were 35 years of age and above. The study population consisted of blacks (35%) and whites (65%) of both sexes. In 1964, 103 select high social blacks were added to the study. The strategy of this proposal will be to re-visit the original 1960 cohort during 1983/84 when 61% of the members will be 68 years or older. A feasibility study by us during 1982 indicated we could locate 86% of the 1960 cohort. The Evans County Study is the only other major epidemiologic study which has a large number of blacks. This study also began in the early sixties and has many variables in common with the Charleston Study. The early 1960's phase of the Charleston Heart Study included genetic, biochemical, social, demographic, life style, environmental and aging measurements. These included blood pressure, smoking cholesterol and lipoprotein fraction, glucose, ASC genotype, RH phenotype, occupation and leisure physical activity, education, water sources, arcus senilus, greying and balding. Preliminary examination of data accumulated in the Charleston Heart Study indicates there may be marked racial difference in all cause mortality and risk factors for acute myocardial infarction, and gross differences in the incidence of hypertension and mortality attributable to socioeconomic status in the blacks. This investigation will make important contributions applicable to treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by identifying the role of ISH and other factors in the onset of CVD, the race specific risk factors for CHD and the racial differences in manifestations of CHD.
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