缺血性冠心病是当前西方工业化国家成人中的流行病。在美国,因动脉粥样硬化引起的心血管合并症的死亡占死亡总数的一半以上,约有1/3的人到60岁时将患冠心病。冠状动脉分流的开心手术已成为医疗业务中最主要的工作之一。对这个社会问题必须从一开始就重视它,进而去预防它。动脉粥样硬化性损害似乎开始于儿童时期。动脉潜在的、不可逆的器质性损害可能发生在生命的第三个或第四个十年。这种潜在的不可逆的损害在症状出现之前就已经存在了。 Ischemic coronary heart disease is an epidemic among adults in the current industrialized Western countries. In the United States, death from cardiovascular comorbidity due to atherosclerosis accounts for more than half of all deaths and about one third of people die of coronary heart disease by age 60. Happy coronary artery bypass surgery has become one of the most important medical services. We must pay attention to this social issue from the very beginning and then prevent it. Atherosclerotic lesions seem to start in childhood. Potential, irreversible, organic damage to arteries can occur in the third or fourth decade of life. This potential irreversible damage already existed before the symptoms appeared.