A longitudinal study, for 15 years, of the myocardial infarction, in a population of middle aged men.

The long-term evolution of the patients with incident myocardial infarction (MI) was studied in a group of 5,000 men ranging in age from 40 to 60 years, included in an action of primary prevention of arterial hypertension (AHT) and coronary heart disease, in comparison with a second group of 5,000 other men with similar age and occupation, selected at random, who received medical assistance without primary prevention. The incidence of MI was of 2.34% (111 cases) in the group of intervention, with a cardiovascular mortality of 46.84%, while in the control group it amounted to 2.88%, with an overall mortality by cardiovascular diseases of 52.7%. The highest mortality rate was recorded in the patients with recurrent infarctions (72.6% and 60% of deaths, respectively). During a follow-up period of 15 years, the presence of AHT before the occurrence of MI proved to be an aggravation factor for the cardiovascular mortality which, in the group of intervention, was two times more frequent in such patients than in those with pre-existent angina. The pathologic association angina--AHT as well as the AHT alone, preceding the MI occurrence, have significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular mortality. The action of primary prevention has evidently reduced the immediate mortality, as well as that of the patients with angina before the MI.