Mortality due to acute myocardial infarction in the Silesian Voivodship (Poland) in 2009-2014.

OBJECTIVES

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data, 13% of deaths recorded in the European Union in 2010 were related to coronary heart disease. The Polish Central Statistical Office data show that cardiovascular mortality in 2014 was at the level of 100.1/100 000 general population. The aim of the study was to assess the current burden of deaths due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with the assessment of temporal and spatial variability in the Silesian Voivodeship, Poland.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Depersonalized data obtained from the Silesian Voivodeship Branch of the National Health Fund of Poland, based in Katowice, were used as the study material. The death rate due to acute or subsequent myocardial infarction in each of the subregions of the Silesian Voivodeship was standardized to the European Standard Population 2013. The analyses of the annual AMI death rate for 2009-2014 were performed and assigned to all the subregions of the Silesian Voivodeship, according to the patients' domicile.

RESULTS

In this study, 37.7% of the patients (N = 20 806) were females, and 30 142 healthcare services were granted to them, accounting for 36.64% of all services provided to all patients. The average patient's age during the service provision was 66±12 years, with women being about 6.5 years older than men (70±12 years vs. 64±11 years, respectively). The standardized death rate (SDR) values in each of the 8 subregions of the Silesian Voivodeship were analyzed. In 2009-2014, a substantial decrease in the SDR was noted in 7 of them, except for the Sosnowiec subregion in which an increase in the average annual SDR value was observed. Moreover, its values were the highest in the whole Silesian Voivodeship.

CONCLUSIONS

The obtained results confirmed the spatial variability of mortality due to AMI in the study region. The worst situation was observed in the Sosnowiec subregion in which the number of specific deaths continuously increased, probably due to the limited availability of cardiological and invasive cardiology treatments or adverse health conditions. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2021;34(3):363-72.