Caerphilly Heart Disease Study
[1] The initial aim was to examine relationships between a wide range of social, lifestyle, dietary and other factors with incident vascular disease.
The study was initiated by Professor Peter Elwood, Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit for South Wales.
Undoubtedly, the most important of their joint studies was a randomised controlled trial of aspirin showing a reduction of vascular mortality.
[2] Reported in the British Medical Journal in 1974, this was the first study to demonstrate a protective role for aspirin in the reduction of death and reinfarction.
In 1979, all men aged between 45 and 59 years, who were on the electoral registers and/or general practice lists for Caerphilly and the adjoining villages of Abertridwr, Senghenydd, Trethomas, Bedwas and Machen were invited to co-operate in a long-term health study.
[citation needed] From the start of the study, the term 'Collaborative' was usually added to the title, paying tribute to the many physicians, laboratory technicians and other colleagues, expert in a wide range of clinical and metabolic disciplines, who were actively involved in the work.
This enabled a number of joint reports on vascular disease, and in particular on the relevance of blood lipids, to be based on the five thousand subjects within the two cohorts together.
Platelet collection and analysis was undertaken in close collaboration with Dr John O'Brien, Consultant Haematologist in St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth, Professor Serge Renaud, a Director of Research in the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Lyon, and Professor Rod Flower FRS, then at the University of Bath.
The work was done in a specially equipped mobile platelet laboratory, lent to the Caerphilly team by Serge Renaud, and towed by him from INSERM in Lyon, France, to the Miners' Hospital.
[9] Detailed work was also completed on thrombosis and haemostatic factors with the active involvement of John O'Brien and in collaboration with Professor Gordon Lowe, in the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences.
Over half of the men obtained these details, and results showed that having been breast fed conferred some protection against the loss of cognitive function later in life, particularly in those whose birth weight had been low.
[26] Detailed analyses of the dietary data identified a number of food items related to vascular disease risk.
The consumption of fatty fish was associated with lower levels of blood lipids,[27] and a reduction in vascular disease mortality was confirmed in a randomised trial.
[34] Many analyses of foods and dietary factors were conducted, as well as an examination of Helicobacter pylori and other infections, and vascular disease risk.
