The risk factors for ischemic heart disease in Tibetan highlanders.

The risk factors for ischemic heart disease (IHD) in 35 Tibetan highlanders were investigated and compared with those in 30 age- and sex-matched healthy Japanese controls. Although Tibetans had remarkably high hematocrit values, and a decrease of eicosapentaenoic acid in both serum total lipids and serum phospholipid (PL) possibly due to their diet, they were considered to have a low incidence of IHD from our door-to-door study. These positive risk factors are likely counteracted by other negative risk factors as follows; Tibetans rarely exhibited systolic hypertension, and had lower levels of serum cholesterol and serum apolipoprotein (apo) B, and apo B/apo A-I ratio. In addition, Tibetan highlanders showed a decreased level of palmitic acid and an increased level of linoleic acid in serum PL which may protect against atherosclerosis.