Arteriosclerotic Heart Disease in Roseto, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Data from a recent electrocardiographic survey provide no support for the claim that people in the town of Roseto, Pa, are relatively protected from myocardial infarction. The evidence offered from death data for 1955 to 1961 does not prove that in those years the people of Roseto differed significantly from average US white residents in the rate of death from arteriosclerotic heart disease. Consideration of the diet suggests that in the past Rosetans should have enjoyed considerable protection from arteriosclerotic heart disease. Failure to establish that fact could be expected from the inadequate size of the population concerned. There is no basis to propose a protective effect of the emotional climate of Roseto.