[Monitoring coronary and cerebrovascular events in Naples]

The Authors have monitored coronary and cerebrovascular events occurring in an area of Naples in 1995, using a register according to the simplified methodology derived from the MONICA project. Demographic and mortality data, hospital discharge diagnoses were collected. In people aged 25 to 64, acute coronary events were 365. The fatality rate was 34.8%, with 14.8% of deaths in hospital. 76% of death in hospital occurred within 24 hours. Acute cerebrovascular events were 173. The fatality rate was 23.1%, with 8.1% of deaths in hospital. 63.7% of those who died in hospital had survived more than one week. The attack rates for coronary events were 268.8 for males and 56.1 for females and respectively 96.3 and 56 for cerebrovascular events. Regarding coronary events, these values are greater than attack rates of MONICA project's Area Latina; for cerebrovascular events they are smaller. This study shows that the Naples register is useful for knowing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and for monitoring them.