ABSTRACT
Atheroma is derived from the Greek word for porridge, and because it causes by far the most heart disease in any Western country it deserves some expansion on its cause and underlying risk factors. It is not entirely clear whether atheroma was present in the last century because post-mortems then were not done to the standards of today, and in any case people died at a much earlier age due to infection. The dramatic increase in heart attacks in the 1920s and subsequently through to the present day has suggested that it is an epidemic which has hit the world in the 20th century.
