Accounting for CHD risk: How much do major risk factors explain?
Emberson JR., Whincup PH.
Although studies have shown that cigarette smoking and elevated serum cholesterol and blood pressure levels are the greatest risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD), it has been suggested that they account for only 50% of cases. The relationship between these risk factors and CHD, however, is often underestimated because of "regression dilution bias." Using data from the British Regional Heart Study, we estimated the population-attributable risk fraction for these risk factors after adjusting for regression dilution bias and found that they account for at least 75% of major CHD events in middle-aged men.