A Study of Subjective Symptoms of Arteriosclerosis in a Population

• Published in: Nihon Rōnen Igakkai zasshi Vol. 4; no. 5; pp. 246 - 256
• Main Authors: Ito, Masao, Takahashi, Haruo, Iwatsuka, Toru, Yamada, Kazuo, Mizuno, Yasushi, Ozawa, Naohiko, Ohno, Yoshiyuki, Okada, Hiroshi, Yoshida, Kohei, Aoki, Kunio, Horibe, Hiroshi, Kuriyama, Kosuke, Sobue, Itsuro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japan Geriatrics Society 1967
• ISSN: 0300-9173
• DOI: 10.3143/geriatrics.4.246

Practical significance of subjective symptoms is quite high for clinical diagnosis of arteriosclerosis, because of the shortage of reliable laboratory tests. It is especially true for the screening of a population as a preventive action for cerebro vascular accidents or coronary heart diseases. The purpose of this paper is to clarify which complaints are highly correlated with arteriosclerotic signs in a rural community, Akabane Town, Aichi prefecture in Japan. Inquiry was made in 1714 males and females, aged 40 to 79yr, in the town, concerning their subjective symptoms and medical history through a questionaire fermat. They were also examined of their body build and cerebro-and cardio-vascular functions by means of urinalysis, 12 leads electrocardiogram, serum cholesterol measurement, ocular fundus camera and blood pressure measurement. All subjects were classified into one of five groups based on their possibility of arteriosclerosis through the laboratory test besides subjective symptoms. Age and sex adjusted relative frequencies of each subjective symptom in arteriosclerotic subjects were calculated to the control subjects. It was clearly demonstrated that subjective symptoms, such as “transient faintness”, “tongue staggered”, “chest oppression”, “dyspnea”, “intermittent claudication”, or “hot flashes” were significantly correlated with arteriosclerotic signs. On the other hand, the well known complaints, such as “headache”, “ dizziness”, “weakened memory” were not proved as arteriosclerotic in this study. A series of subjective symptoms were highly increased with advancing ages; “tongue staggered”, “decreased activity”, “unsteady walk”, “intermittent claudication”. The frequencies of these complaints in the seventies were five times or more of those in the forties. On the other hand, There were remarkable sex difference in the frequencies of complaints, “hot flash”, “edematous hands or feet”, “numb hands or feet” and “dizziness” were double or more frequent in females, while “hard to please”, “frequent calls for urination” and “chest oppression” were more frequent in males than in females. Overall frequencies of a subjective symptoms were as high as fifty per cent, “shoulder or neck stiffness”, and also “weakend memory”, “numb hands or feet”, “heavy head”, “headache”, and “dizziness” being complained by twenty per cent or more of the subjects. Reevaluation of the significance of subjective symptoms was stressed especially for the screening of arteriosclerosis as an causative factor of cerebrovascular accidents and coronary heart diseases.