Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) incidence reflects levels of risk factors in the general population and influences coronary heart disease mortality rates. We examined trends in AMI incidence in Norway during 2001-2009 and potential differences between sex and age groups.
All AMI hospitalizations (ICD9 410; ICD10 I21, I22) and coronary out-of-hospital deaths (ICD9 410-414; ICD10 I20-I25) in Norway for individuals =25 years were obtained during 1994-2009. Incident AMI was defined as a hospitalization or out-of-hospital death due to AMI with no prior hospitalization for AMI during the previous 7 years. Age-standardized and age-group specific rates were calculated and expressed per 100,000 persons. The annual changes in rates were obtained from Poisson regression analyses. The total change in incidence rates during 2001-2009 were then calculated based on the estimated annual change.
We identified 148,522 incident AMIs (41% women; 21% out-of-hospital deaths) during 2001-2009. Incidence rates declined by 24% (incidence rate ratio, IRR, 0.76, 95% CI 0.75-0.78). Out-of-hospital death rates declined more than hospitalization rates (IRR 0.54, 95% CI 0.52-0.56 vs. IRR 0.84, 95% CI 0.82-0.85; p?