Relationship of Serum Cholesterol to Socioeconomic and Dietary Factors in Puerto Rican Veterans

A study of socioeconomic factors, diet, and serum cholesterol in an unselected sample of 240 Puerto Rican veterans hospitalized between 1958 and 1962 was performed. This study was motivated by the reported lower incidence of arteriosclerotic heart disease in rural as compared to urban Puerto Ricans. The results indicated that the rural area veterans had a lower income, spent less money for food, had a lower serum cholesterol and consumed less calories, fat and proteins than veterans from urban areas. The serum cholesterol was significantly associated with the amount of money spent for food. It was also significantly correlated with body weight and with the actual to ideal weight ratio. None of the other predictive factors for coronary disease that were studied discriminated between the two groups. It is believed that socioeconomic factors that affect the nutritional-energy consumption balance may operate to establish the suspected protection from atherosclerosis in rural Puerto Rican veterans.