ACTA FAC. MED. NAISS. 2004; 21 (4):231-236

   Originalan rad
       

Nataša Rančić¹, Branislav Petrović¹, Mirko Ilić¹, Branislav Tiodorović¹, Zoran Veličković¹, Maja Nikolić², Zorana Deljanin²

Public Health Institute in Niš
¹Department of Epidemiology
²Department of Hygiene and Medical Ecology

   SUMMARY

    The paper objective was to determine descriptive epidemiological characteristics of myocardial infarction in the area of Niš. The data on patients were obtained from the municipal population register of myocardial infarction. The research included all the registered myocardial infarction affected patients in the territory of the City of Niš during the period of 1999-2003. The descriptive epidemiological study was applied. Unstandardized and standardized incidence rates were calculated, while the population data were taken from the Census of 2002. Rates were calculated per 100 thousand inhabitants, both for the entire city population and for the population over 30 years of age, in which myocardial infarction is generally registered. The direct standardization method was applied and standardization was carried out according to the European standard population. The total registered number was 1804 cases, out of which 1136 were male and 668 female patients. The average annual unstandardized incidence rate was 144.2 per 100 thousand inhabitants (185.7 in male and 104.2 in female population). The standardized incidence rate was 111.3% for the observed five-year period. The average annual incidence rate in the city population over 30 years of age was higher for the same period, and it amounted to 227.0% (298.7 in men and 161.2 in women). On the average, men suffered from myocardial infarction by 1.9 times more than women. Annual rates are increasing slightly but continuously. The number of affected urban population (1431; 76.8%) was three times greater as compared to the rural one (432; 23.2%). The male patients were 61.8 years old and the female ones had 65 years on the average. Myocardial infarction is registered in both sexes after the age of 30, it is highly increased after the age of 49 and it reaches its maximum after the age of 70. The greatest number of male patients belonged to the age group of 60-69, while it was in the age over 70 for female patients. The highest sex difference is among younger patients, up to the age of 40 (the m/f ratio of 4.1:1), while the lowest sex difference regarding myocardial infarction appears after the age of 70 (the m/f ratio of 1.4:1). The number of patients older than 65 was 49.7% of the total number of affected population. The average annual unstandardized incidence rate was 583.7 in patients over 65 years of age.
    Among the patients, most were retired persons - 46.1%, there were almost equal numbers of white-collar (25.2%) and blue-collar workers (25.7%), while the group of housewives made 3% of the diseased. The average profession-based incidence rate was the same among all group of workers (227%). The registered number of patients coming from urban areas was three times greater as compared to the patients from rural settlements. The difference in coming down with the disease between urban and rural population is statistically significant (x²=14.04 p=0.000).

    Key words: myocardial infarction, register, epidemiology, incidence