Use of hospital care and hospital case-fatality of myocardial infarction during three years' follow-up in Finland

Abstract

The epidemiology and use of hospital care of myocardial infarction was studied at the population level with routinely collected hospital discharge data of the whole country during a three-year follow-up. The study population was a one-year-cohort of 13520 patients with an acute myocardial infarction in 1981 in Finland. The incidence figures were comparable with the previous data attained from expensive and laborious special registries or population studies. With the possibility of record linkage and follow-up we could get information on the use of hospital care of these patients. We conclude that routinely collected hospital discharge data in Finland give information valuable for epidemiological studies, for the planning of health services and for the evaluation of hospital care.