[Characteristics of a cohort of 4,000 French patients with angina. The ELAN study]

The ELAN (Etude Longitudinale dans l'ANgor) study was carried out to evaluate factors influencing the occurrence of death, myocardial infarction and revascularization procedures in patients with known angina pectoris. Analysis of baseline data collected in January 1997 involves 4,035 patients throughout France, which were recruited by 613 cardiologists practising on a private, hospital or mixed basis. The study population comprised 75% of men with a mean age of 65 years and 25% of women with a mean age of 70 years. Eighty eight percent of the patients had at least one cardiovascular risk factor, and nearly half of them had two or more factors; hypercholesterolemia and hypertension were the two most frequent ones. Reported cardiovascular past events included myocardial infarction in 47% of patients, PTCA in 33% and aorto-coronary bypass in 24%. Angina pectoris had been diagnosed within the previous year in 39% of patients. Exertional angina was the most common type (66%), with grade I/II angina being most frequently found (more than 70% of all cases). Management strategies are especially described for angina patients diagnosed within the previous year. More than half of the patients had undergone exercise testing within the previous 12 months, while scanning and coronary arteriography had been performed in 15% and 72%, respectively. Ninety five percent of patients were under antianginal drug therapy, with combined therapies being used in 58% of them. The most frequently prescribed drugs were betablockers (63%) and nitrates (53%). In 74% of patients, aspirin was given in addition to conventional antianginal agents. These data will be reviewed in a one-year cohort analysis as potential predictive factors for the occurrence of cardiovascular events.