Dietary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease: The Finnish Mental Hospital Study
Abstract
A controlled intervention trial, with the purpose of testing the hypothesis that the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) could be decreased by the use of serum-cholesterol-lowering (SCL) diet, was carried out in 2 mental hospitals near Helsinki in 1959--71. The subjects were hospitalized middle-aged men. One of the hospitals received the SCL diet, i.e. a diet low in saturated fats and cholesterol and relatively high in polyunsaturated fats, while the other served as the control with a normal hospital diet. Six years later the diets were reversed, and the trial was continued another 6 years. The use of the SCL diet was associated with markedly lowered serum-cholesterol values. The incidence of CHD, as measured by the appearance of certain electrocardiographic patterns and by the occurrence of coronary deaths, was in both hospitals during the SCL-diet periods about half that during the normal-diet periods. An examination of a number of potential confounding variables indicated that the changes in them were small and failed to account for the considerable reduction in the incidence of CHD. It is concluded that the use of the serum-cholesterol-lowering diet exerted a substantial preventive effect on CHD.
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Most of the Finnish Mental Hospital Studies were non-randomized and did not follow a cross-over design.
“Most of these studies were non-randomized and did not follow a cross-over design (30), (31).”
From Saturated Fat Restriction for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
Sacks et al. and Mozaffarian et al. included the Finnish Mental Hospital Studies (30), (31), which are non-randomized cross-over trials.
“Moreover, those authors included the Finnish Mental Hospital Studies (30), (31), which are non-randomized cross-over trials.”
From Saturated Fat Restriction for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
Differences in patient characteristics and treatment policies other than diet, and in the interventional and conventional diets between the 2 mental hospitals, may have influenced the results.
“In addition, differences in patient characteristics and treatment policies other than diet, and in the interventional and conventional diets between the 2 mental hospitals, may have influenced the results (30), (31).”
From Saturated Fat Restriction for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
The Finnish Mental Hospital Studies were excluded from the present study because they were non-randomized cross-over trials.
“However, the Finnish Mental Hospital Studies (30), (31), which were included in the analysis by Mozaffarian et al. (26), were excluded from the present study because they were non-randomized cross-over trials.”
From Saturated Fat Restriction for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
In the Finnish Mental Hospital Study involving 676 hospitalized male patients, only 36.4% (n = 246) remained hospitalized during both interventional and control periods.
“In a study involving 676 hospitalized male patients, only 36.4% (n = 246) remained hospitalized during both interventional and control periods (30).”
From Saturated Fat Restriction for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
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- Authors
- TURPEINEN, O., J, M., PEKKARINEN, M., MIETTINEN, M., ELOSUO, R., & PAAVILAINEN, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Kellokoski Hospital (FI)
- Venue
- International Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1979
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 99-118
- ISSN
- 0300-5771 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3685
- OpenAlex
- W2049646863
- Cited by
- 384
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 19.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Lipoproteins and Cardiovascular Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors
- Keywords
- coronary artery disease, dietary prevention, low-fat diet, cholesterol, polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat, serum cholesterol, coronary heart disease mortality, electrocardiographic changes, middle-aged men, mental hospital patients, dietary intervention trials, confounding variables
- MeSH terms
- Adipose Tissue, Adult, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, Clinical Trials as Topic, Coronary Disease, Diet, Fatty Acids, Finland, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Phospholipids, Smoking, Triglycerides
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