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Trends in ischaemic heart disease in the Hunter Region of New South Wales 1985–1989
Author(s) -
Dobson Annette J,
Alexander Hilary M,
Heller Richard F,
Malcolm John A,
Steele Paula L
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1991.tb93926.x
Subject(s) - medicine , myocardial infarction , confidence interval , chest pain , mortality rate , population , coronary heart disease , observational study , demography , ischaemic heart disease , coronary disease , cause of death , cardiology , disease , environmental health , sociology
Objective: To find out whether trends in rates of non‐fatal myocardial infarction (Ml) parallel trends in rates of coronary death. Design: A population‐based observational study involving continuous surveillance of all suspected heart attacks or coronary deaths from 1985 to 1989. Study population: Residents of the Hunter Region of New South Wales aged under 70 years. Main outcome measures: Rates of non‐fatal definite or possible Ml or fatal Ml or coronary death, as defined by the diagnostic criteria of the WHO MONICA Project. Results: For men, mortality rates declined by an average of 16.2 per 100 000 per year (95% confidence interval [CI]: ‐23.8, ‐8.7); rates of non‐fatal definite Ml declined by 16.2 per 100 000 (95% CI: ‐27.8, ‐4.6); rates of non‐fatal possible Ml increased initially and then stabilised. For women smaller changes occurred in the same directions. Conclusion: In this population trends in rates for non‐fatal definite Ml paralleled the declines in mortality rates. Rates for less severe non‐fatal possible Ml did not follow this pattern, perhaps reflecting increased medical attention to chest pain.