Regional variability in population acute myocardial infarction cumulative incidence and mortality rates in Spain 1997...

Myocardial infarction (MI) incidence and mortality display a high geographic variation.

The objective of the present study was to analyze MI mortality, cumulative incidence rate variability in seven regions of Spain from 1997 to 1998.

Standardized methods were used to identify, find, register, and classify MI cases that were classified as definite, possible, insufficient-data MI, and non-MI. The total population of the seven monitored regions was 7,364,682 inhabitants. Of the 11,256 cases fulfilling eligibility criteria to investigate, 10,660 were selected to calculate MI rates: 6554 (61.5%) non-fatal definite MI, 1179 (11.1%) fatal definite MI, 1859 (17.4%) fatal possible MI, 1068 (10.0%) fatal cases with insufficient data. The IBERICA 25-74 years age-standardized cumulative incidence rates for men and women, were 207 (range: 175-252) and 45 (range: 36-65) per 100,000, respectively. The age-standardized mortality rates for men and women, were 73 (range: 62-94) and 20 (range: 13-29) per 100,000, respectively. Age-standardized case-fatality was 31.4 and 24.2% in men aged 25-74 and 35-64 years, respectively, and 32.7 and 27.0%, respectively, in women.

MI cumulative incidence and mortality rates are low compared with other industrialized countries but, vary considerably among regions in a Mediterranean country like Spain.