Design and rationale of the Japanese Coronary Artery Disease (JCAD) Study: a large-scale, multicentered prospective cohort study.

Since there is in sufficient evidence on patients with coronary artery disease in Japan, the Japanese Coronary Artery Disease (JCAD) Study, in which 217 institutions participate, was designed to collect basic data based on evidence-based medicine (EBM). In this study, cardiac catheterization is performed on all cases to select study subjects confirmed as having CAD diagnosed based on the criteria that he or she has stenosis in at least one branch of a coronary artery to the extent of 75% or higher according to the AHA classification. Data including background information, risk factors, clinical management, and medication are to be collected over the web. The follow-up arm of the study consists of following each subject for three years to obtain data on the long-term prognosis of patients with CAD while the other arm is for enrolling new subjects every six months who will be followed for six months only for the purpose of determining the latest trend in patients. The two arms of the study have been ongoing since April 2000. As of September 30, 2003, 15,506 subjects have been enrolled in the follow-up arm and the follow-up data have been entered in the database. The authors plan to report data showing any correlation between incidence rate, focusing mainly on cerebrocardiovascular events, and other factors such as the management of risk factors, and type and dosage of medications obtained in the largest cohort ever studied in Japan of patients with a coronary artery lesion confirmed by cardiac catheterization.