Coronary risk factors in jerusalem medical students

Thirty-nine male and 25 female Jerusalem medical students participated in a class exercise to determine their own risk factors for coronary heart disease. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, body-mass index, and proportion of smokers were all lower in females and gave them a significantly lower estimated coronary heart disease (CHD) risk function. There was no sex difference for measures of serum cholesterol. A comparison of the Israeli data with those from three studies of American medical students revealed that Israelis smoke more than their American counterparts but otherwise appear to have similar risk profiles. The authors felt that the exercise was useful in helping these soon-to-be physicians understand the significance of the concepts of risk factors and risk and hope it will induce some of them to improve their own modifiable risk factors.