Re-assessing the contribution of serum total cholesterol, blood pressure and cigarette smoking to the aetiology of coronary heart disease: impact of regression dilution bias.

AIMS: To estimate the combined contribution of serum total cholesterol, blood pressure and cigarette smoking to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk after adjustment for regression dilution bias. METHODS AND RESULTS: Six thousand, five hundred and thirteen middle-aged British men without CHD were followed for major CHD events over 10 years. The population attributable risk fraction (PARF) was predicted for a range of risk factor thresholds before and after adjustment for regression dilution of serum total cholesterol and blood pressure. Defining 'low-risk' individuals as being in the bottom tenth of the population distributions of serum total cholesterol (<5.2 mmol/l) and diastolic blood pressure (