Abstract： Objective To investigate the clinical and coronary characteristics in the male patients with premature coronary artery disease.Methods Data of 1 054 consecutive male patients with coronary artery disease confirmed by coronary angiography who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention from January 2010 to February 2011 were retrospectively analyzed.The patients were divided into premature group (pre group,＜55 years old,414 cases) and nonpremature group (N-pre group,≥55 years old,640 cases).The baseline demographic data,cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension,diabetes mellitus,dyslipidemia,smoking,drinking,etc),laboratory tests (fasting blood glucose,lipid,blood urea nitrogen,creatinine,hemoglobin,platelet),coronary angiography and intervention data were analyzed and compared between the two groups.Results Compared with N-pre group,pre group had higher proportions of smoking and drinking history and a lower proportion of stroke[73.2％ (303/414) vs 60.3％ (386/640),30.3％ (125/414) vs 22.5％ (144/640),0.5％ (2/414) vs 10.6％ (68/640),P＜0.05].The levels of hemoglobin,white cell,platelet,serum total cholesterol,triglyceride and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly higher,the levels of serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol,blood urea nitrogen,creatinine were significantly lower in pre group than those in N-pre group [(150 ± 12) g/L vs (144 ± 14) g/L,(7.1 ± 1.8) × 109/L vs (6.7 ± 1.7) × 109/L,(212 ±57) × 109/L vs (196±54) ×109/L,(4.3±1.0) mmol/L vs (4.1 ±0.9) mmol/L,(2.4±1.7) mmol/L vs (1.7±1.0) mmol/L,(2.6 ±0.8) mmol/L vs (2.4 ±0.7) mmol/L,(1.0 ±0.4) mmol/L vs (1.1 ±0.3) mmol/L,(5.7 ± 1.6) mmol/L vs (6.3 ± 2.0) mmol/L,(84 ± 19) rnol/L vs (92 ± 60) μmol/L] (all P ＜ 0.05).In pre group there were more single vessel diseases compared with N-pre group [47.3％ (196/414) vs 34.1％ (218/6d0),P ＜ 0.05];both groups had high rate of target lesions in the left anterior descending coronary artery [68.1％ (82/414) vs 72.5％ (464/640)] with no significant difference (P ＞0.05);there was a lower rate of target lesions in the right coronary artery and the left main coronary artery in pre group compared with N-pre group [45.4％ (188/414) vs 53.0 (339/640),6.5％ (27/414) vs 12.3％ (85/640),P ＜0.05].The pre-group had a lower rate of calcification and long diffuse coronary lesion compared with N-pre group [1.7％ (7/414) vs4.1％ (26/640),43.5％ (180/414) vs 50.0％ (320/640),all P＜0.05].Conclusions Dyslipidemia,smoking,high level of hemoglobin and platelet are major risk factors of premature coronary artery disease in the male patients.Single vessel disease is common in premature coronary artery disease.