Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
Volume 22, Issue 5, 2002, Pages 832-837

Population-based twin study of the effects of migration from Finland to Sweden on endothelial function and intima-media thickness (Article) (Open Access)

Jartti L. , Rönnemaa T. , Kaprio J. , Järvisalo M.J. , Toikka J.O. , Marniemi J. , Hammar N. , Alfredsson L. , Saraste M. , Hartiala J. , Koskenvuo M. , Raitakari O.T.*
  • a Department of Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland
  • b Department of Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland
  • c Department of Public Health and General Practice, University of Oulu, Finland, Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland
  • d Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland
  • e Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland
  • f Research and Development Centre, Social Insurance Institution, Turku, Finland
  • g Division of Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
  • h Division of Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
  • i Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland
  • j Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland
  • k Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  • l Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland, University of Turku, PET-Centre, Turku, Finland, Turku PET-Centre, P.O. Box 52, FIN-20521, Turku, Finland

Abstract

Finnish men have higher coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality than Swedish men do. To assess the impact of migration to a country with lower CHD mortality on subclinical atherosclerosis, we measured early functional and structural atherosclerotic vascular changes in twins discordant for migration from Finland to Sweden. Conventional CHD risk factors, flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery, carotid intima-media thickness, and carotid artery compliance were measured in 74 male twin pairs (20 monozygous, 54 dizygous), aged 42 to 69 years, in which co-one twin had migrated more than 20 years ago permanently to Sweden. There were no significant differences in CHD risk factors except for diastolic blood pressure and body fat percentage, which were higher in Sweden. In all subjects, mean FMD was non-significantly higher in Sweden (5.7±4.3% vs 4.9±4.2%, P=0.22), but in monozygous twins the difference in FMD was highly significant (7.2±4.4 vs 3.7±2.9%, P=0.003). There was no significant difference in intima-media thickness or carotid artery compliance between Sweden and Finland. We conclude that in Finnish monozygous twins the endothelial function is better among the twins that have migrated to a country with lower CHD prevalence.

Author Keywords

Flow-mediated dilatation Higher coronary heart disease Carotid intima-media thickness

Index Keywords

brachial artery Finland Tunica Media Tunica Intima artery dilatation artery intima proliferation carotid artery artery blood flow Population Surveillance human coronary risk middle aged controlled study priority journal Aged artery compliance Endothelium, Vascular artery endothelium Sweden Humans monozygotic twins artery intima artery media Twins, Dizygotic Twins, Monozygotic male dizygotic twins population research prevalence Article major clinical study adult migration atherosclerosis body fat ischemic heart disease Emigration and Immigration diastolic blood pressure Coronary Disease mortality
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0036098101&doi=10.1161%2f01.ATV.0000013313.70875.A7&partnerID=40&md5=4f8465d5a648ba6aa2adc48fe3ffddbf
DOI: 10.1161/01.ATV.0000013313.70875.A7
ISSN: 10795642
Cited by: 49
Original Language: English