Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Patterns in Georgia and North Carolina

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Abstract
For white men aged 45-64 and 35-74, the southern Blue Ridge area and adjacent counties of Georgia and North Carolina have the lowest death rates in these 2 states for all cardiovascular diseases, coronary heart disease, and all causes, for the 10-year period 1950-59. These rates differed little from the low rates in the USA western plains. In the 2 states, the highest rates (Savannah and Augusta, Georgia, and Raleigh, North Carolina, and the areas south of Augusta and Raleigh) were generally twice as high as those in the low-rate areas for coronary heart disease and all cardiovascular diseases. Specified methods were used to reduce random error and to test and increase the adequacy of death rates for epidemiologlc study of cardiovascular diseases. The geographic pattern of rates was generally quite similar for 1950-59, 1949-51, and 1959-61. Also, the pattern of death rates for white men aged 65-74 years was similar to that for those aged 55-64 years. A marked degree of association was noted between death rates and soil types in Georgia, sufficient to encourage further epidemiologic study. A high correlation was also noted between death rates for coronary heart disease and lung cancer.