OBJECTIVES: To describe the relation between the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index and the incidence and mortality in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the northern, partly subarctic area of Sweden. DESIGN: Comparison of a time series of daily variations in the AO index and register data on the daily number of fatal and nonfatal AMIs. SETTING: The northernmost two Swedish counties, Norrbotten and Västerbotten. SUBJECTS: All inhabitants in the Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties were followed for the occurrence of an AMI between 1985 and 1999 within the framework of the WHO MONICA (multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants of CArdiovascular disease) Project. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Fatal and nonfatal AMIs. RESULTS: There was a consistent positive relation between increasing AO index and an increase in AMI incidence and mortality. The maximum impact on AMI incidence of the AO came after a lag phase of 3 days. A one unit increase in AO index was associated with an increase in: the daily number of AMIs (+3.8%), the case fatality in AMI within 28 days (+5.1%), the number of nonfatal AMIs (+3.4%), and the number of sudden cardiac deaths (+8.3%). CONCLUSIONS: An AO index increase, bringing warmer weather over Scandinavia, was associated with an increase in the incidence and mortality in AMI in northern Sweden.
The aim of the present study was to compare the dietary intake and the levels of traditional cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors in edentulous middle-aged individuals and individuals of the same age and sex who still had natural teeth. The study was performed within the framework of the MONICA-project. Population registers were used to sample randomly 1287 men and 1330 women aged 25-64 yr. Data were collected from a mailed questionnaire, blood analyses, registrations of blood pressure and anthropometric measures. The estimated daily energy intake did not differ between the two groups, but edentulous men and women ate more sweet snacks compared to those who still had teeth. Edentulous men also ate less fruits, vegetables and fibre and edentulous women ate more fat than dentates. Edentulous men and women were more obese and had lower serum HDL-cholesterol concentrations than those with remaining teeth. Edentulous women also had significantly higher concentrations of total cholesterol and triglycerides in serum than dentate women. Edentulous men and women were more often regular smokers, but not snuff users, than dentates of the same age and sex. Thus, the presence of two or more cardiovascular risk factors was more common in edentulous individuals than in those who still had natural teeth. In summary, these results support the hypothesis that edentulous middle-aged individuals have a more unfavourable risk factor profile for CVD. Counselling on balanced dietary habits and non-smoking given by dental personnel to orally diseased patients--recommendations given to improve resistance to dental caries or periodontitis--might therefore improve general health and possibly also improve risk factors for CVD.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate diabetes as a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) from a population perspective in a region with high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. DESIGN: Population screenings for diabetes and a population-based AMI register. SETTING: Northern Sweden MONICA area. SUBJECTS: Representative sample (Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties) of 2432 men and women 35-64 years was investigated 1990 and 1994. All patients with AMI aged 35-64 years were included, in total 3031 between 1989 and 1993. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes was 5% in men and 4.4% in women. The relative risk (RR) in diabetic men was 2.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.6-3.4, and in diabetic women, RR 5.0; CI 3.9-6.3. The risk for re-infarction was about twice as large in patients with diabetes as in patients without diabetes. In both sexes the overall 28 day case fatality (CF) was significantly higher in diabetic compared to non-diabetic subjects. When compared to the non-diabetic population, the overall mortality from AMI in the diabetic population was 4 times higher among men and 7 times higher among women. The population attributable risk (PAR), a crude estimate of all AMIs ascribed to diabetes, was 11% in men and 17% in women. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes increases the risk for AMI attack rate, incidence, case-fatality, recurrence and mortality and is an important contributor to all AMIs in middle-aged people.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate sex differences in reaching diagnosis, medical management and case fatality (CF) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the population aged 35-64 years in northern Sweden. METHODS: Within the framework of the World Health Organization Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Diseases (MONICA) Project, definite AMI was monitored in people aged 35-64 years from 1989 through 1995 (target population 510 000 in 1991). SETTING: In a population based coronary register, all coronary events were recorded in nine hospitals in 1989-95. RESULTS: The number of events included in the definite coronary myocardial infarction register was 2483 men and 669 women. On admission, a higher proportion of men with definite AMI had chest pain or ECG changes typical for AMI (P
AIM: To investigate fatalities from myocardial infarction at 28 days and one-year among patients aged 35-64 years in the Nordic and Lithuanian centres participating in the World Health Organization MONICA (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease) Project. METHODS AND RESULTS: Altogether 9100 myocardial infarction events registered according to the protocol of the MONICA Project were included in the study. For these events, one-year follow-up was carried out using routine mortality statistics. Fatalities were expressed as age-standardized means per year for a 3-year period from the mid-1980s. The myocardial infarction fatalities at 28 days (including out-of-hospital deaths) in the eight participating populations varied among men, between 36.5% (95% confidence interval 32.6-40.4%) in Iceland and 54.6% (51.2-57.9%) in Kaunas, Lithuania, Among women, it varied from 32.4% (26.4-38.4%) in Iceland to 57.5% (51.8-63.2%) in Glostrup, Denmark. More than half of this mortality occurred suddenly and the patient did not reach hospital alive. Fatalities for the period from day 28 to one year varied among men, from 5.3% (2.9-7.6%) in Iceland to 10.9% (8.0-13.8%) in North Karelia, Finland, and among women from 3.5% (0.4-6.5%) in Kuopio, Finland, to 13.5% (7.2-19.7%) in Glostrup, Denmark. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately half of the myocardial infarction patients died within one year after the onset of the attack and half of those who died, died out-of-hospital. While the myocardial infarction fatalities differed considerably between the participating populations, differences of this magnitude are unlikely to be totally explained by differences in the registration procedures. Further comparisons of acute coronary care and secondary prevention measures are warranted.
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Comment In: Eur Heart J. 1997 Jan;18(1):9-119049507
Favourable trends in the incidence and outcome of myocardial infarction in nondiabetic, but not in diabetic, subjects: findings from the MONICA myocardial infarction registry in northern Sweden in 1989-2000.
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare time trends in incidence, case fatality and mortality due to myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with or without diabetes. METHODS: This study was based on the Northern Sweden MONICA Project MI registry with a target population of about 200,000 inhabitants in the age group 35--64 years in the two northernmost counties of Sweden. During 1989--2000, 6254 patients who had had an MI according to MONICA criteria were included in this study: 4569 patients had a first MI and 1685 had a recurrent MI. Sixteen per cent of the men and 20% of the women had had diabetes mellitus diagnosed prior the MI. RESULTS: Over the 12-year period, there was a declining trend in incidence and case fatality in first MI. Also, the event rates (first ever and recurrent MI) declined in men without diabetes. In women without diabetes favourable time trends were seen in first ever MI, recurrent MI and in case fatality. There were no favourable time trends for any of these outcomes in patients with diabetes. CONCLUSION: In nondiabetic subjects below the age of 65, the incidence of, and case-fatality in, MI declined. This led to a decreased mortality over the 12-year period. These favourable trends over time were not observed in diabetic subjects.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyse time trends in survival after acute myocardial infarction with special emphasis on sex differences. DESIGN: Within the framework of the population-based WHO MONICA Project, all acute myocardial infarction events were recorded in the age group 25-64 years in northern Sweden during the period 1985-94. All first-ever myocardial infarction patients were followed for information on vital status. SUBJECTS: A total of 3397 men and 860 women with acute myocardial infarction, during the period between 1985 and 1994. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Case fatality rates after first-ever acute myocardial infarction. RESULTS: When compared with the 1985-86 cohort, the age-adjusted odds ratio for death within 1 year after acute myocardial infarction was 0.59 (95% CI 0.46-0.76) in the 1993-94 male cohort but 0.99 (95% CI 0.61-1.60) in the female 1993-94 cohort. Corresponding age-adjusted proportions of death within 1 year were 33.3% and 22.9% in men and 27.5% and 27.3% in women in 1985-86 and 1993-94, respectively. The odds ratio for 3-year case fatality amongst those who survived the first 28 days was 0.34 (95% CI 0.21-0.55) in 1991-92 compared with 1985-86 in men and 0.91 (0.43-1.94) in women. CONCLUSION: Both short- and long-term survival after AMI have improved markedly in men over the last decade. There is a disturbing sex difference in that, during the same period, survival in women with AMI has not improved at all. This sex difference was not explained by differences in conventional prognostic factors.
This study was undertaken to investigate whether there was any relation between the aurora borealis (measured as the geomagnetic activity) and the number of acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) in the northern, partly polar, area of Sweden. The AMI cases were collected from The Northern Sweden MONICA (multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants of CArdiovascular disease) AMI registry between 1985 and 1998, inclusive, and the information on the geomagnetic activity from continuous measurements at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna. In the analyses, both the relation between the individual AMI case and ambient geomagnetic activity, and the relation between the mean daily K index and the daily number of AMI cases were tested. We found no statistically significant relation between the number of fatal or non-fatal AMI cases, the number of sudden deaths or the number of patients with chest pain without myocardial damage, and geomagnetic activity. Our data do not support a relation between the geomagnetic activity and AMI.
AIMS: A global increase in diabetes is predicted due to higher body weight and less physical activity. Over the period 1986-1999, the body mass index (BMI) of the adult population of northern Sweden increased from 25.3 to 26.2 and the prevalence of obesity (BMI > or = 30) from 11% to 15%, although this was more distal than central adiposity. Our hypothesis was that this would lead to a higher prevalence of diabetes. METHODS: Four population surveys with new and independent cohorts of 2000 invited subjects, 25-64 years old, in 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1999. In the first three surveys an oral glucose tolerance test was carried out in 47%. RESULTS: Over the time period 1986-1999 there was no increase in the prevalence of known diabetes. No trends were noted in the finding of previously undiagnosed diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance over the period 1986-1994, although the confidence intervals are wide. Fasting, but not post-load, glucose levels increased with 0.040 mmol/year (95% CI 0.026; 0.055) in men and 0.033 mmol/year (0.023; 0.044) in women. CONCLUSION: In spite of a marked increase in BMI, we found no increased prevalence of known diabetes over a 13-year observation period, although our data cannot exclude minor increases in undiagnosed diabetes. The development of more distal than abdominal obesity, a diet with less saturated fat and lower glycaemic index and fewer regular smokers in the population may contribute to this. The effects of obesity may thus be attenuated by other secular trends in society and highlight potential ways of curbing the worldwide increase in diabetes.
We aimed to assess the effect of ovariectomy on cartilage turnover and degradation, to evaluate whether ovariectomized (OVX) rats could form an experimental model of postmenopausal osteoarthritis. The effect of ovariectomy on cartilage was studied using two cohorts of female Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 5 and 7 months. In a third cohort, the effect of exogenous estrogen and a selective estrogen receptor modulator was analyzed. Knee joints were assessed by histological analysis of the articular cartilage after 9 weeks. Cartilage turnover was measured in urine by an immunoassay specific for collagen type II degradation products (CTX-II), and bone resorption was quantified in serum using an assay for bone collagen type I fragments (CTX-I). Surface erosion in the cartilage of the knee was more severe in OVX rats than in sham-operated animals, particularly in the 7-month-old cohort (P = 0.008). Ovariectomy also significant increased CTX-I and CTX-II. Both the absolute levels of CTX-II and the relative changes from baseline seen at week 4 correlated strongly with the severity of cartilage surface erosion at termination (r = 0.74, P
