Men who live at high altitudes are less likely to die from heart disease than those who live at sea level, a group of Harvard and Case Western Reserve University doctors concluded in a report released yesterday.

The doctors reported in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine the death rate from heart disease is lower in mountains because people get better exercise in the thin mountain air.

The researchers compared the death rates from coronary heart disease for men living at the lowest and highest altitudes in New Mexico. For every 100,000 men living at low altitudes, 403 deaths occured, while only 29 out of every 100,000 men died at the highest altitude.

Data Not Applicable to Women

For unknown reasons, this difference was not found among women, Dr. Richard R. Monson, professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health and a member of the research team, said yesterday.

The scientists discovered a 28 per cent lower incidence of death from heart disease among men living above 7000 feet compared to those who lived between 3000 and 4000 feet.

Edward A. Mortimer, director of the study and a professor at Case Western Reserve University, told the Associated Press that, even though the results are "highly significant," those who fear heart disease should probably lose weight and quit smoking, rather than move to the mountains.

"If you go to Santa Fe, N.M., from New York, you pant," Mortimer said. "And you never completely adjust. It gets better, but you never get used to that lack of oxygen, even though it's not something you notice."

Mortimer said the researchers considered race, general health and other factors that could possibly have contributed to the difference in death rates, but they felt that data proved these other factors insignificant.

Nothing Faulty

Mortimer said he could not find any evidence that his data was faulty.

He added that he thinks the research team has found "a real reduction in mortality."

Dr. Brian MacMahon, professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health and researcher in the study, was in New Mexico yesterday and was not available for comment.