Monitoring of atherosclerosis.

Population-based epidemiological studies of atherosclerosis using autopsy material is now impossible to perform in most countries due to declining autopsy rates. Based on epidemiological studies of atherosclerosis using autopsy material in five European cities which were carried out with an interval of 25 years in the 1960s and 1980s, respectively, we have shown that atherosclerosis in young so-called practically healthy people, 20-39 years of age, who died from accidental causes, closely reflects the level of atherosclerosis in the population as a whole. These people can thus be used for monitoring the development of atherosclerosis in a population since they are normally a subject to a medico-legal autopsy; therefore, material for such studies can be obtained. Furthermore, histomorphological studies of specimens that are taken from practically healthy people at standard places of coronary arteries and aortas also reflect this general level of atherosclerosis. These studies also provide information on the atherosclerotic process and its relation to various risk factors.