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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 111, No. 1: 113-124
Copyright © 1980 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

THE CORNELL MEDICAL INDEX AS A PREDICTOR OF HEALTH IN A PROSPECTIVE CARDIOVASCULAR STUDY IN TAIWAN

CHARLOTTE A. WEAVER1, YUNG-HO KO2, E. RUSSELL ALEXANDER3,, YUN-LO PAO4 and NONG TING4

1Department of Medical Anthropology, University of California San Francisco, CA 94143
2Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, National Taiwan University School of Medicine Taipei, Taiwan
3Department of Epidemiology, SC-36, University of Washingon Seattle, WA 98195
4Department of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center Taipei, Taiwan

reprint requests to Dr. Alexander at this address

As part of a prospective study of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in middle-aged Chinese men in Taiwan, 1820 Chinese males, aged 40–59 years, from the middle and upper socioeconomic classes, were characterized at study entry by a history and physical examination with particular reference to cardiovascular status and by the Cornell Medical Index (CMI). Disease occurrence in the 1820 participants was observed over a seven-year period. Comparison of CMI test performance by specific disease incidence categories showed no group mean differences. In examining total disease occurrence in the form of prevalence, incidence of major morbidity and mortality and no illness occurrence, however, the authors found significant differences using the CMI. The highest scoring group on the CMI was non-survivors who had chronic illness at study entry, followed closely by those subjects who also had a chronic illness at study entry but who survived. Scoring lower than those with chronic illness at study entry, but significantly higher than the group remaining disease-free, were the subjects who incurred a major illness event and/or developed a chronic disease. The authors conclude that the CMI differentiated between those who stayed healthy and those who died or incurred a major illness in thls study population. Therefore, this study supports the use of the CMI as a measurement of general health, as well as a predictor of future health status, and suggests that it may be used in other cultures than the one in which it was developed.

medical history taking; epidemiologic methods; health surveys; psychological tests


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