[Coronary risk factors and social class. Screening in employees of a large industrial firm (author's transl)]

Abstract

In Munich, 1477 employees (868 males and 609 females) of a large industrial firm were examined with regard to coronary heart disease risk factors. The known risk factors--overweight, disorders of the lipometabolism, diabetes, cigarette smoking, hypertension, pathologic ECG, physical inactivity--as well as certain somatic complaints and mental stress were checked for their distribution within the various social levels. With the exception of cigarette smoking among women and professional worries among men, in both sexes the members of the upper social group are less burdened with danger factors than the average. Aside from high blood pressure and disorders of the lipometabolism, which predominate in males in the middle layers, and cigarette smoking, which prevails among females in the upper social group, the risk factors pile up in the lowest social level. Our results will be discussed and compared with other studies.