[Mortality rates and causes of death in the "Basle study"]

The Basle Study of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) from 1960 to 1973 showed, in the original cohort, a mortality rate of 6% in 4858 men aged 15-65 at entry and of 2.2% in 1471 women aged 15-55. In the male cohort, the age-specific 10-year mortality is lower than in the general Swiss population, due to a smaller number of fatal accidents and a low incidence of various diseases with fatal outcome. This is not true of cardiovascular mortality, which accounted for 40%, or of tumors, which accounted for 35% of the observed mortality. In females, 59% of the fatal events were caused by tumors and 16% by CVD. The autopsy rate was 61% and allowed confirmation of the death certificate. Myocardial infarction was the cause of death in 51% of all males dying from CVD. A comparison of findings at the entry examination between subjects who died from CVD and those who died from other causes showed a significantly higher incidence of CVD in both the family history and the personal history in the cardiovascular mortality group. Cigarette smoking was more prevalent. Blood cholesterol, betalipoproteins, and blood pressure were significantly higher than in the non-cardiovascular mortality group. Our findings demonstrate that no measurable preventive action against CVD was taken even in a group of presumably healthy subjects interested in health maintenance. The necessity of increased efforts toward prevention of CVD is evident.